Alright seeing as this is the first day of May I would like to do an evaluation of some of things that have been going on in the baseball world, especially with my home town Atlanta Braves. I want to lead off talking about some of the offseason moves that we made and how they compare to guys we tried to get now that we are a month into the season. So without further ado, my inner stat geek will be revealed...
Derek Lowe(4yrs 60mil)(Atl)- 2-1 3.10 ERA, 5 starts-29 innings pitched(would be more if not for a rain delay in one of his starts) 25K's and 12 BB.
I have no complaints here, he has been as advertised, chews up innings and will keep you in the ballgame. Everything that I have read about him has been positive, his work ethic is tremendous and he looks to be in mid-season form already. I am really encouraged by what I have seen.
A.J. Burnett(5yrs-80mil)(NYY)- 2-0 5.40 ERA, 5 starts- 31.2 innings pitched, 25K's and 13 BB.
Well deserved reputation as a big strikeout guy, he has the same as Lowe as we speak. He tends to warm up as the season does so we will see if those numbers pick up at all. He is not in a contract year so will his motivation be there to pitch well. Big difference in ERA for these two, I think there is more of a boom or bust factor with Burnett, you don't know whether he will no hit you or give up 5 in 5innings. I think the Yanks are looking for a little more out of this guy. So at the end of one month its Lowe 1 Burnett 0. Stay tuned for further developments.
Garrett Anderson (1 yr-2.5mil)(Atl)- .200 BA, 0 HR 0 RBI .551 OPS 25 AB's in 10 games played
This guy looks like a big waste of money, even at 2.5 million. He has constantly been hurt and he looks to be done. Nothing that he has done has been positive. I'll admit I expected better things from him, but I did not realize how much of a fragile player he was. A calf injury, come on its a calf, are you serious Garrett. He uses that bat of his as more of a walking cane than to hit the ball. He is stealing money right now. We should've just given Brandon Jones the chance to platoon with Diaz, instead we are stuck with this guy for the year. Who knows maybe he will get hot and become a factor, but more likely he will continue to be a non-factor this year and may not even be with this club at the end of the season.
Ken Griffey Jr. (1 yr-2mil)(Sea)- .200 BA, 2 HR 5 RBI .676 OPS 60 AB's in 17 games played
Numbers are not really that much better. Griffey has just been healthier this year, that seems like the only difference. Which is odd if you looked at the last 10 years of these two players, who would have thought Anderson would have a harder time staying on the field. The fact is that both players should be DH's and that's even stretching it a little bit. They have seemingly lost most of the skills they were blessed with over the years. At least Griffey has tried to play this year, Anderson can't get out of his own way. At the end of a month Griffey -5, Anderson -50.
Those are the two main guys I wanted to compare because Burnett and Griffey were the two players closest to becoming Braves this year.
I will now go into some of my good and bad points for the Braves this year. Start off with the good, the Starting Pitching has been really solid so far this year and that is a good change from the last couple of seasons. They currently sit 3rd in the National League in ERA with a 3.62. I'll take that all year long. Lowe-Jurjens-Vazquez have been the stalwarts so far this year. They have also been chewing up innings which will help the bullpen as the season winds on down the year. Also after a slow start to the season the bullpen has started to perform well of late, they currently have the second most strike outs of any bullpen so far this season. So I am encouraged by their improvement as a whole but they still worry me on a night-to-night basis. On the offensive side of the ball, Chipper is being Chipper which is good and bad. Hitting .322 with a solid .929 OPS, while playing his usual solid defense at 3B. He also has missed 5 games with some injuries, which is a constant concern for the team as they seem to not be able to win when he is not in the lineup. I like what Jordan Schafer has done out in CF in all facets of the game so far. He has little pressure on him by hitting 7 or 8 in the lineup and his defense has been solid as he has covered a lot of ground out in the field, while possessing an excellent arm. He is currently hitting .273 with a .854 OPS. I will take that all year long from him. He leads the team with 16 BB but also leads the team with 23 K's, but that's what you get with a rookie. He may be moved to the top of the lineup soon because of the speed threat that he has. Kotchman has been good at 1B, he has come up with a lot of clutch plays this year, while throwing up some solid leather over there at 1B. The bench has been excellent as expected, Prado, Infante, and Ross have been good when put into the lineup and being called upon to pinch-hit so far this season. Ross has been the most valuable offseason (including Lowe and Vazquez) move made by the club, because of the eye issues with McCann, he has been forced to play a little more than expected but has stepped up in a big way so far this year.
Some of the bad, starts with the offense's overall lack of consistency and the ability to do just about anything right swinging the bats. They are 12th in runs scored, 12th in home runs, and 9th in BA in the National League. That won't cut it. You lose a lot of 4-3 games that way and it gives your pitching little room for air that way. You are putting a lot of pressure on your pitchers every time out there, which is not good because then they pitch tighter and make more mistakes. Most of the problems lie with the ineffectiveness of Kelly Johnson in the leadoff role. He is hitting .203 this year with a .295 OBP. A leadoff man cannot be getting on base less than 30 percent of the time. They need to be at 35 percent and above. Kelly just is not finding any holes this year and that hurts because of the threat he poses on the base paths. Another problem lies with Brian McCann, the expected cleanup hitter this year, who has struggled with eye problems and blurry vision. Not being able to see is pretty tough for the average human being, but not being able to see and trying to hit a 90 MPH fastball or even catch one behind the plate is a troublesome issue. He has hit .195 this year, very un-McCann like. If this team is to score more runs, he needs to be a big factor in that. Hopefully that stuff gets corrected and he can return to a .300 BA and 20 HR type production. They surely do need his bat. Middle relief is still a little bit of a concern for me. Who comes in to stop the bleeding the 5th and 6th inning? Not sure at the moment and that could be a detriment to this seasons overall success.
So some things to look for in the next month. Will Tommy Hanson be in the starting 5 by the end of the month? He has been solid in AAA and the Braves only have 1 off day this month, so the time may be near, especially if the back end of the rotation can't find its solutions. Will Jo-Jo Reyes be able to solidify the back end of the rotation for the Bravos? He has the potential to be excellent as a #4 starter, hopefully the Braves can score some runs for him. Which leads me to my next point. Who will provide the offense for this club? Chipper can get on base but he needs people to hit him in. Chipper also needs people to drive in for himself, so we need guys who can get on base in front of him. McCann needs to come back in a big way and provide that protect for Chip. Will Kelly Johnson be forced into some type of a platoon if he continues to struggle at the plate? Omar Infante and Martin Prado have proven to be more than capable in a short time span, may be they deserve a chance. Can Jeff Francouer keep up his solid start to the season? I think he will. He looks fit and his defense and approach at the plate have shown impressive strides since last season. That is my recap of all the Braves happenings so far this year. Thanks for reading.
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