We Could've Finished Last Without You: Your 2009 Atlanta Braves

kickin it off with a klaw Q&A on the Braves system:

http://www.talkingchop.com/2009/2/16/760477/keith-law-braves-prospect

choice excerpt:

Q: What is the biggest strength of the Braves minor league system? The biggest weakness?

A: Biggest strength is the pitching depth - Hanson, Locke, Teheran, Rohrbough, Delgado (well, both Delgados), DeVall, Stovall, Kimbrell, Spruill ... they're well-positioned to stock the big-league club with arms for the next five to seven years, and given what's in the draft pool this year, the odds are that they'll add another top-flight arm to the mix in June.

The obvious weakness is the lack of infield prospects, but I think there's a bigger organizational weakness: their excessive loyalty to certain players. Jeff Francoeur should have been non-tendered, and instead they're taking him to arbitration, even though he's about the worst "everyday" player in the game and seems to blame everyone but himself for his horrendous play. Tom Glavine is a damn charity case. He'd be their eighth- or ninth-best starting option if they sign him, assuming he can pick up a ball without hurting something. If I was Frank and he rejected my $1 million offer, my answer to their counteroffer with would end with "... and the horse you rode in on." Yet Atlanta is the team that can't say no to players with some sort of tie to the organization. They stood firm with San Diego in the Jake Peavy discussions; I wish they'd do the same with their own mediocre players and avoid a situation where Tommy Hanson is ready to come up in June but can't because it might hurt Lil' Tommy Glavine's feelings.

Meowy KLawness

Uh, wow:

Q: Some people don't view Jeff Locke as a high ceiling guy, but they view Julio Teheran and Cole Rohrbough as high ceiling guys. Despite their battles with injuries in 2008, shouldn't prospect lists reflect ultimate potential, and if so, shouldn't Teheran and Rohrbough be higher on the list than Locke?

A: Are you asking me or telling me? When I first got to Harvard, there was this variety show that some upperclassmen put on during freshman week, and one guy had a funny routine about "flexers" - students who would ask bogus questions that were really designed to state opinions or try to show off knowledge. They would invariably start with "Isn't it true that..." - which is kind of like your questions starting with "shouldn't..."

Obviously, the answer is "no," since I ranked Locke over Teheran and Rohrbough this year. (snip)

"please be seated"

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Gunpuddy (Nashville): Do you think Smoltz is right that Braves management is too cheap? It seems to me that they've mostly made good decisions on sending folks like Lopez, Drew and Sheffield on their way. (Maybe not signing Glavine was a mistake, but not a stupid one.)

Joe Sheehan:
It's hard to think of an organization that had done less to add to a championship-caliber core over a period of years than the Braves did. They did more than usual this winter, out of necessity, but I can see where Smoltz has a point. They're not run like baseball team any longer, but like a division of a company that has to post profits each quarter. You simply can't run a baseball team that way.

"It's hard to think of an organization that had done less to add to a championship-caliber core over a period of years than the Braves did."

Uh except that ignores the Braves still astounding drafting/scouting organization. So yeah maybe they added less through FA, but they've still managed to put a pretty good team out there year in and year out internally. I mean unless there is another part to this story, I don't see how what the Braves are doing philosophically (in the details I can see the difference) from Oakland or the Rays or any other non-Yankees team.

Glad to see that Keith Law agrees with me about Francouer hah.

the lack of playoffs for the braves coincides w/ Turner no longer having direct control/ownership of the team, right?

yeah, sorta. you mean when he stepped down from time warner or when the braves were sold to liberty media? LM's seen as a bit stingier but otherwise the team was run exactly the same in the wake of those events, plus ted had really been pretty hands off for years by that point

I thought Turner stopped having direct control of the team in the mid-90s?

yeah p much... really his heyday was the miserable 70s and 80s, when he would attend games shirtless and stage shit like ostrich races on the field

lol

*sniff* I miss those days.

one of their promotions in 76, when the olympics were taking place in montreal, was to stage a baseball olympics between the braves and phillies before a game, shit like hula hooping and throwing a baseball from home into a barrel on second base - most of the players participated except when it came to the 'baseball nose push,' which ended up being a contest between turner himself and fucken tug mcgraw, the only phillie to agree to it. the idea was to have them set up on their knees at first and third, and the first to push a baseball all the way to home using only his nose won - tug nudged his ball along real apprehensively, but turner just fuckin attacked his with his goddamn face and ended up with a bloody nose & forehead. he kept the winning ball on his desk for years after that.

man the '70s

every team had some incredible promotion

http://creativejock.net/junkbox/TC_1000words.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Cent_Beer_Night

Never forget disco demolition night 1979

those white sox unis during the recap of game one

:-0

<a href="http://deadspin.com/5169553/james-parrs-not-buying-into-all-this-obama-hype";>James "Morbius" Paar</a>.

OTOH, Rajon Rondo's favorite chick flick is Legally Blonde

McCann looks like he's shed a lot of weight!

Lil' Tommy Glavine is looking good thus far.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH EAT SHIT YOU MINISCULE LIL PHILLY SHITHEADS GOD IS URINATING ON YOU

Sheehan's got Braves winning 91, a game behind Mets.

that strikes me as over optimistic (probably based too heavily on some unreasonably high pecota projections) (javy vasquez, kelly johnson) (tho i like them both quite a bit, dont get me wrong), but i definitely see a strong second place finish as a good possibility

Schafer looks pretty damn good so far, at least at the plate.

Escobar will likely miss at least three or four days with a strained abdominal muscle, manager Bobby Cox told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Escobar hurt the muscle jumping up and down in the on-deck circle.

kenshin kawakami is just the sickest dang dude

what a pimp nip

Glavine said to likely be finished

thank g*d

JAIR I LOVE YOU

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nation_dumbfounded_as_to_why

McCann (eye) will no longer use contact lenses and will instead try to play while wearing glasses, the Associated Press reports.

Well, there's precedent (Darrell Porter), but I dunno...I still think he'll wind up getting Lasik Pt. 2 before the season's over.

"If on-base percentage is so important, then why don't they put it up on the scoreboard?" Francoeur says.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=4136793

"If on-base percentage is so important, then why don't they put it up on the scoreboard?" Francoeur says.

u mad doggie

James (LA): you are always down to take a shot at the horrible right fielder in Atlanta. When are they going to get rid of him?!?!?!

Keith Law: They tried to get him to leave, but they told him to "take a walk," and he was just hopelessly confused.

.275 OBP

The whole outfield is horrible, and apparently there's nobody at AA or AAA who's good enough to come up and help. I mean, Garrett Anderson.

Glavine released to save $3.5M.

great nate in the atl

so what's the consensus on this one?
i think Nate is a bit over hyped - but this looks like an alright move. i don't know too much about the talent they gave up tho.

Gorkys is a good defensive outfielder with a .361 obp in AA at age 21. He's probably a fourth outfielder.

Morton was an expendable 4th/5th starter type, with some upside.

Jeff Locke was a second round pick in 2006 is still in High A.

Now if they could just get all the other Braves outfielders to go join a cult or run off with the circus or something.

Keith Law: (1:02 PM ET ) Everyone in favor of taking a collection to buy Steve Carlton a plane ticket to see Tom Glavine and urge him to just hang 'em up, raise your hand. Good - that should more than cover it.

Somebody must have woke Wren up from a monthslong nap -- now he's after Brad Penny?

fuck these guys btw

He's out, Church PH for him.

oh word (only have half an eye on the game)

I doubt there will ever be a Braves CG again until Cox retires.

which can't happen soon enough imo

112 pitches out of a 22-year-old is more than most (general) managers would allow these days

Yeah now I remember them saying he was at 42 pitches in the 2nd. He must have really gone nuts in the middle innings.

8 out of 11~~~

I was just adding up, 66 runs in the last 10 games. They could con a casual observer into thinking they're good.

i feel like siphoning ABs away from francoeur and kelly johnson has to be a big equalizer for the offense - it might be overperforming a lil but at least they wont have those fuckin anchors dragging them down anymore

holy cats could they use an adam dunn though

I have a completely irrational feeling that the Braves may be the biggest threat to the Rox' wild card hopes.

Just wait 'til Infante returns.

luv glasses-era mccan

ya me 2 :D he is so lovable imo

yeah he's kind of the human embodiment of smiling_seal.jpg isn't he?

lmbo im lichen the new username my mans

Bravos not taking full advantage of gift calls tonight.

great, make Francoeur look good so Minaya signs him for five.

haha if that's the net result of this shellacking then i don't mind losing a series or two

Tommy Hanson deserves better than this loitering gang of dickholes.

You guys.........

yeah this'd be cool if it happened i guess

only if they catch the Phils

Oh Dr. Morbius, how I've missed your September predictive accuracy.

so the Braves are YOUR team, huh? I'll remember that next Sunday.

Colorado finishes the season with 3 games in LA.

ATL is hosting the Nats for 4 games.

If you can't understand the significance of that, I don't know what to tell you dawggg.

s-p-o-i-l-e-r, "dawg"

considering even the most faithful wrote them off weeks ago, whatever happens this week is good. obviously playoffs are better than no playoffs, but I won't be too upset if they fall short.

A full season with Hudson and without Frenchy next year bodes well, and am I out of line to think this rotation is stronger than anything they had in the 90s? Seems like there were always a few question marks once you got past the Big 3 back then. With the current guys, you could flip coins to determine who's your #1-5.

They should do a promotion with 5 Guys Burgers next year. "Five Guys — NO TACOS"

'98 was their best rotation, with Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Denny Neagle, and Millwood's first full year.

yes, you are out of line.

No surprises there then.

Anyway, they just won again, COL day off, down to 2 GB.

and 4 behind the Phils, it looks like.

and 19.5 ahead of the Mets, apparently...

Dude, that was just chasing Morbius down to show him your diaper rash. WTF

Here's your WTF explained:

Making up 4 games in the last week of the season would only be possible if the Mets were leading... otherwise pipedreams.

Like I posted earlier... the Rockies close the season in Chavez Ravine while the Braves host the Nats for a 4-spot. If the Dodgers decide to actually field a decent team before the end of the season, it could be really interesting.

considering even the most faithful wrote them off weeks ago

Not everyone wrote them off, including a good proportion of nervous Rockies fans, such as myself. These next few games are terrifying me.

It's been suggested that, since the Rox have been the Dodgers bitch this season, it might be in LA's favour to go easy on Colorado so that they get to face an easy team rather than the rampant Braves postseason...

I guess Shasta was assuming the Bravos would blow right by the Marlins (given that the Fish just got shut out by Pat freakin' Misch, perhaps understandable).

yeah we'll have to see how the Braves fare against the Nats, who will be fresh off a sweep of the Mets... which begs the question, who *is* the worst team in baseball anyway?

don't beg, it's demeaning.

lol, Braves' finish. Shasta, you can put your foam tomahawk away.

uh did they just try to steal home w/ 2 out in the 9th or..?

passed ball, Diaz went about halfway and decided the ball hadn't gotten far enough away, picked off trying to get back to 3rd.

Fair enough Morbs, but your team just got swept by the Nationals...?

WmC where did you grow up?

Orange County CA and northeast MS. Strange question...why do you ask?

SS, who gives a damn? Would you if the Mets had swept them?

WmC: I laugh everytime you say that because I'm almost the same exact but in reverse and about 60-90 miles away in both instances.

Morbs: At least the Mets didn't choke this year, I guess that's something to celebrate.

Mississippi (as well as most of the Deep South that is not terribly close to Houston/St. Louis/Florida) is Braves country. We get all the games on TV when I'm home.

I hope this game goes 25 innings.

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