All due respect, Coppy and John Hart know a lot more about making these moves than you or I do. And to dismiss those moves like you just did is silly and a bit pretentious.
No, I don't think they do. Had him, and appreciated what he did, but not in posiiton to spent $20-plus million annually for it. I understand the obsession that fans of teams have with their former players, but honestly, teams don't view it like fans do. And players who get traded away a year before they become free agents rarely return to their former teams as free agents the following year. Money talks.
If Braves fall out of wild-card contention, any of the veterans could be traded -- Johnson, Grilli, A.J., Gomes, etc. But if they're in contention, they're not going to do it with pieces that are helping them stay in contention.
No idea. Teams call other teams every day of the week about players. Some of those talks leak, but just because they're reported doesn't mean they were any more serious than 1,000 similar calls made that weren't leaked. But no, I don't know how serious any of the supposed discussions were.
Yeah, my original thought is this is a weak question that anyone angry that they were wrong about this team would have. And by the way, I've got nothing, zero, to gain by supporting the front office. My check is paid by the AJC, and I could be covering city government or the school board tomorrow if my bosses decided they wanted me to. Braves were flat-out wrong to keep Stults over Wandy, I thought it then and I know it now. Or to not pursue Harang any harder than they did. And the trade for Cahill made no sense to me then, and even less now. How's that? Or does that ruin your theory or anger you even more than the fact that the Braves don't stink like you hoped they would so you could rave "Fire Fredi!" all year and actually sound a bit more rational when you do so?
Don't think that move makes sense right now, when Maybin's been so productive in the 2-hole and Simmons is one of the few guys who genuinely doesn't mind hitting lower in the order.
I thought Fredi should've gotten out there sooner. Fredi said he didn't realize they were having a heated discussion, didn't know it had escalated. But when you watch the replay, it shows Wood gesturing with his fingers to show where he thought a couple of pitches were, and he and the ump exchanging words for a good 5-10 seconds as Wood walked toward the dugout. Would've been good to get out there and get between them if at all possible, unless Fredi just didn't see that happening until it was too late. But at same time, Wood also can't make that gesture and keep talking to ump. Once is enough, anymore and the ump, especially today's umps, is likely to run him and say the player was showing him up and that he had to do it and blah blah blah.
Sorry, but I gave up trying to predict baseball drafts a long time ago. It's folly, especially after the team's first pick. I'll say this: Expect more pitching, and expect almost all picks to be high school guys, not college. That's the strategy now for Braves. They cite players ranging from Chipper, Glavine and Freeman to Mike Trout, all came directly from high school, not college.
Last night was his first one, at Gwinnett. Went 0-for-3 with a K, played left field.
No idea. And I asked several Dodgers media the same thing. Made no sense. The one reasonable answer: They had a logjam at 3B and wanted to clear a spot, and what I thought all along was they didn't want to get rid of the popular Uribe in order to do it, so they made a trade.
Don't know. And if team knows, they aren't saying, publicly or privately. That's why Peraza is playing some OF now, because Peterson is the 2B for forseeable future. And the Braves have been waiting to see if Maybin could keep it up long-term before making any knee-jerk decisions about him for future, whether he fits. He's now shown it long enough to convince some that he fits in CF at least for next season. Peraza could move to LF, possibly, since Braves don't have a LF under contract for next year. Maybin could, too, but he's been solid in CF, so that doesn't make much sense.
I didn't have as much a problem with pulling him last night as I did a few starts back when Fredi pinch-hit with Ciriaco. If you had a terrific pinch-hitter, that's one thing. But Shelby is your best pitcher, period. Bullpen or starter. And with the bullpen faltering, I think you've got to look at keeping him in if it's a one-run game either way or score's tied, unless it's an obvious, must-pinch-hit situation with a runner in scoring position representing the tying or go-ahead run, that kind of thing. Otherwise, Shelby's got to go 110-115 pitches if he feels up to it.
Players do figure it out sometimes, you know? How to stay healthy, how to repeat what's working. He's clicked with Seitzer. If you're watching Maybin play every night and not just using advanced stats to predict he'll return to what's been his regular form, please tell me what you see in his performance to suggest that it's not real, that it's smoke and mirrors, that his numbers this season are inflated? Just watching him on a nightly basis, I see a guy who's shortened his swing, a tall guy who's figured out how to use his long arms instead of them hindering him at the plate, a guy who's using the whole field, spraying balls up the middle and the other way, keeping the ball on the ground or on a line, utilizing his speed. What do you see that suggests his numbers aren't legit?
Don't have an answer for you there. They do pitchers' fielding practice as much as any team in spring. Not many, if any, teams work on PFP in-season on a regular basis, but Braves might want to have a session or two to bone up on those skills, because you're right, there have been several. Usually, though, it's been from errant pickoff throws, at least the ones I remember recently. That's something that can be worked on in-season. That, or you just reduce the attempts drastically if you're not confident you can do it consistently without a bad throw.
How so? He was on the DL when last season began, and he hit .267/.310/.404 w/ 1 HR, 6 RBI and 2 stolen bases in 146 at-bats over his first 50 games. This season, he's hitting .299/.371/.477 w/ 5 HR, 27 RBI, 10 stolen bases in 157 at-bats over his first 48 games. So, when did you see him do the same thing last year?
They're not trading young starters and starting-pitcher prospects. They could trade Grilli, Johnson, those kind of pitchers. But not young starters. Would fly in the face of everything they've stated to be the plan. And besides, unlike a lot of fans of Wisler and Banuelos, the Braves aren't in a hurry to get them to bigs this season. Wisler is really young, Banuelos pitched very little last season. Both figure in long-term plans. Both could be up at some point this season, if needed.
I wouldn't bet on either of those options. Braves will continue to try to trade CJ, who has 2 more years on his contract after this one. They love Uribe, but he'll look for best deal as a free agent, I'm sure.
Good chance, and it could be soon.
Those promotions usually happen with Braves in second half of season. Good chance it will happen with him. But on the other hand, you have to remember that Triple-A is not a required stop on the ladder to big leagues. Braves have promoted plenty of guys from Double-A to majors. I think he'll spend some time in Gwinnett, but it's not a requirement if the big-league club had a need all of a sudden for his skill set.
Welcome to the Braves mailbag. Here we go.
There were some concerns within the organization about Bethancourt's focus and sense of entitlement. I don't think it's necessarily he's a "bad seed" or lazy though. He's just a young player who got a lot of hype as a prospect and is finding out it's not easy.
A bit surprised but I'm not privy to the reports from Gwinnett on those guys.
