50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I'm not a La Stella hater, but I think people on both sides of the debate over him need to recognize him for what he likely is. He could grow into a very valuable piece on a team where he gets about 250 ABs per year playing some 2B, some 3B and pinch-hitting. I think he might become one of the better pinch-hitters in all of baseball. That said, he's probably not a big-league starter given his defensive issues (at any position).
Former Twins' manager Tom Kelly was a noted crank on his weekly radio call-in show and one year reserve IF Denny Hocking was really killing the ball. Hocking logged over 400 PAs for Kelly two years in a row with decent output, but he never was a full-time starter at one position. So Hocking is on a tear and the caller asks (and I paraphrase), "Hocking is hitting so well, why isn't he in there every day?" Kelly in his characteristically sarcastic fashion shot back "Did it dawn on you that he's probably hitting so well because he doesn't play every day?" The gist of Kelly's comments were that some guys wear down and rather than play "hot hand" with them until they grind down to nothing for the last couple months of the season, find spots where they work for the team (and themselves) and employ them in those situations.
La Stella is in the perfect spot for himself. Maddon always seems to get the most out of guys like La Stella by putting them in spots where they can succeed without expecting too much of them. Bobby was pretty good at that as well. Fredi, not so much. And in fairness to Fredi not many managers are good at this, but I see more trying to employ more flexible use of players. As an example, Chip Hale is moving Drury all over the place in Arizona.
As for Markakis, I still think the animus towards him is more about who he replaced than who he is. I didn't like the length of Markakis' contract, but he's still a decent baseball player. His fielding has really fallen off, but he is one of the few guys on the 2016 Braves who knows what he is doing with a bat in his hands.
To the major point of the thread (sorry for hijacking a bit), I actually thought the chances of them being worse this year was pretty high and the signings of guys like Norris only reinforced my views. I think the bullpen will shake out alright, although the lack of attention to signing a decent LHP option was short-sighted. Offensively, we are a mess and the injury to Inciarte hasn't helped (except that it has given us a longer look at Mallex Smith, who appears to be ready for at least a bench role in the big leagues). The Olivera experiment looks to be a disaster. I can't figure out why Jace Peterson isn't playing 2B every day. There had to be someone out there better than both Francoeur and Stubbs to be the RHH contributor in the OF. Garcia is having his problems at 3B, so he really has to hit to be a net-plus. Aybar has been horrid. Freeman started slow (but appears to be coming around). But it is a terrible starting line-up and there are no ready replacements in the high minors. In short, get used to this.
On top of the futility, the front office appears to be in disarray. The disconcerting thing about that is that Wren--of whom I wasn't particularly a fan--was let go because the top guys wanted more stability, cooperation, and stronger messaging. We have none of that right now. One of the ironies here is that it was my impression that when Wren was let go, there was a pretty strong pro-Coppolella lobby on the board because he was going to lead us to the promised land of analytics. Now it seems a lot of those folks have turned on him, mostly over the Olivera deal, but with other reservations as well. I'm wiling to wait and see if the guy can grow into the position. If not, there might be a similar move to bring in someone to put the finishing touches on the product the same way Schuerholz was brought in after Cox and Snyder had re-built the minor league system.
I still think a re-build had to take place and if Wren wanted to do it sooner, I apologize for all the criticism I have leveled against him (well, not all). We were stuck with a fringe playoff team with a bunch of very bad contracts and impending free agency for a couple of guys who were poised for huge (I mean YUGE) paydays. We are suffering now, but hopefully a lot of the guys we acquired over the past couple of off-seasons will grow into major league contributors. I lived through the late-1980s horri-Braves, so I'm patient (and I hope polite as well). As long as we win at least 41 games and see some development, I'm good.
