Catcher’s Blog

MLBTR has posted their 2009 Offseason Outlook on the Braves. While it’s not too in depth, it does cover the basics and the needs we will be looking to fill this off season. It’s kind of like stepping into Frank Wren’s shoes for a moment and looking toward next season’s possibilities.

I agree with most of his assumptions and outlooks. One thing I do not agree on is trading KJ. Why would they trade him after two seasons? He’s picked up the last part of this season and his defense has improved a lot. KJ would be the better than Infante and Prado at 2B, plus they need utility roles on the bench. If one of those two are playing 2B everyday, they can’t play elsewhere, which, in my opinion, is where they excel. Infante has cooled off from playing everyday at different positions and Prado has cooled off slightly. Infante has a career SLG% of .391 after seven seasons and Prado has a .434 SLG% in three seasons. Still KJ comes out on top with a .440 SLG% and I think he could do even more than that; his power numbers have been down slightly this year. Still, I don’t see them getting rid of KJ yet. He’s still only 26, 27 next year, and he looks to have a lot of upside and potential to offer still. I would at least give him another year to see what he has to bring to the table. I know that I have a biased opinion on KJ, but I’m trying to be unbiased on this assumption. And as DOB has stated, there are too many other holes to fill on this team, why would we make another one that would need filling?

Also, I don’t think we should trade Frenchy after one bad season. The past two seasons he’s done rather well, so hopefully he’s learned not to bulk up like he did for this season. I think he knows now that that was a bad idea and that next year needs to be 100% better. He still has knack for swinging at bad balls, but he has cut down on that at least some by attempting to be more patient at the plate.

We really don’t know what Frank Wren is going to do in what looks to be an active off season. Let’s hope he does his job well and fills the holes that are in need of plugging for next season.

This is my review post on the Braves vs. Marlins game from August 28, 2008. The link to all the pictures will be below the review since there are 85 pictures; it would take too long to include all of them in the post. Some are linked in the post, though. Please continue reading if you wish.

Read the rest of this entry »

What else could possibly happen this season? I really don’t think we want to find out, but I’m sure we still will within the last month and half left of the season. Glavine has now gone back to the DL for the third time and is possibly done while possibly needing surgery on his elbow. Matt DeSalvo has been brought up from Richmond to join the already tattered bullpen to take Glavine’s spot on the roster. What did we do the baseball gods because they really do not like us this season, at all. This a good interpretation of the season so far:

Now maybe that the dreaded Cubs are out of town and off to Florida, maybe we can acutally do well against the Giants. But I’m not holding my breath. Beware people, you never know what might go down in this soap opera of a season.

There are few things I thought that were worth mentioning, so see below for different articles, pictures, etc.

• As most of you have heard, Corky was desginated for assignment with the promotion of Chuck James last night. Corky was hitting .093 for the season, and with Mac being cleared last night to catch in an emergency and pinch hit, clearly Clint Sammons was here to stay. I think the Braves only kept Corky around until they knew Clint was ready or they found another option. He’s not expected to get claimed by anyone off waivers because of his batting average, and thus will go to the minor leagues. Clint will continue to catch for the remainder of this weekend against the Milwaukee Brewers and Mac should return on Monday to his starting duties.
• The Braves and their wives, in their Christmas in July promotion, went to visit and deliver toys to patients in three children’s hospitals. Visiting patients is a really great thing that they do every year and it’s apparent that the kids at the hospitals really enjoy it. I think the players enjoy it just as much as the kids do. There are three different galleries of pictures: one, two, and three.

  I’m not sure of everyone that went, but the pictures include players, wives, and broadcasters such as Mac, Frenchy and wife, Catie, KJ and wife, Lauren, Boyer and wife, Ginsey, Gonzo, Blanco, Ring and wife, Tricia, Brian Snitker, Chip Carey, Joe Simpson, and Fernando Palacios, who is one of the Spanish broadcasters.  And a quote from tough-guy closer, Gonzo, about his experience:

  “This was an unbelievable experience, man,” Gonzalez said after the two-hour visit. “It’s pretty much why we do this, why we’re proud to be big leaguers and see the smile on these kids’ faces.”

• Huddy might have to have Tommy John surgery. His MRI results showed that he had a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament. Both Dr. James Andrews and a Braves physician recommended that he have the surgery done. Huddy would like to avoid having the surgery at all and is going to try to “tough it out”, as stated in a text message. He’s going to try to take the Peter Moylan route to try to avoid the surgery, but no one is sure that it will work. We’ll have to hope it does, but it might just be better for him to go ahead and have the surgery since it might become worse down the line if he pitches with it.
• The Braves may choose the option of trading some players still in the month of August to get other players that can be used in the future and will be younger. Kotsay may be on a different team by the time September rolls around, and even some of the other regulars we see on the field everyday. Terrence Moore says fans should not to be surprised to see the Braves put some of their players on waivers to see what kind of return they can get for them. Putting someone on waivers isn’t risky in that that team can pull him off if they decide not to trade that player after all. Apparently, some still think Frenchy won’t be a Brave by the time the season concludes, but we’ll have to see how things go.

As it has been announced, Chipper will indeed be the starting third baseman in this year’s All-Star game, and deservedly so. Mac will be one of the backups to Geovanny Soto, along with Russell Martin. Here’s one of the stories from SI.com on the whole NL catcher’s deal:

And how do the National League players snub Atlanta catcher Brian McCann, instead putting L.A’s Russell Martin in as rookie Geovany Soto’s backup? I love Martin and his game, and I’ll admit that this is a tough call. But you have to take McCann’s power over a few more walks, don’t you? Merit-wise, I mean?

Now they’re saying Mac got snubbed as a backup? Geez. He should be starting, end of story. At least he’s going period, I guess, but this makes three straight All-Star games for Mac in a row and it’s just his third full year in the majors. How awesome is that? I won’t get to watch either way because I’ll be camping at Hunting Island, SC all next week and won’t have access to a TV more than likely. Hopefully someone, somewhere will get some footage of Mac playing, if he even plays at all. Congrats Chipper and Mac, though, on receiving this chance to be in the Mid-Summer Classic at Yankee Stadium; it is very well deserved.

In other news, Frenchy has been recalled after spending three days in AA ball, after being sent down Friday to work on his swing. In this promotion of Frenchy, though, we’ve had to put more players on the DL. Bennett, Acosta, and Infante will be replaced on the roster by Frenchy, Vladimir Nunez, and Brent Lillibridge. The Braves will only play with eleven pitchers, but opted to promote another infielder because the All-Star break is only a week away. I’m sure they promoted Lillibridge because of Escobar’s recent injuries as well and uncertainty that he’ll play tonight, or in the event that he’s out a few more games than expected. Why is that when we finally get some players healthy and off the DL, we have a few more that have to be put on there from more injuries? It’s just unreal.

Trade rumors are starting to fly around about the Braves trading Teixshy. Here’s a take on this situation from John Donovan of SI.com:

With C.C. Sabathia now off the trade table after his weekend shipping to Milwaukee, we should probably turn our attention to the big slugger on the block, Mark Teixeira. Will someone be able to pry the switch-hitting first baseman away from the Braves for a pennant run? My guess: No. The Braves face the Dodgers and Padres before the All-Star Game, which means they’ll probably hit the break closer to the NL East lead than they are now (six games at the start of the week). With Teixeira, they have a chance at stealing the lackluster East. Without him, they have none.

My take is that we won’t trade him while only being six games back the week before the All-Star break. My hope is that we play well against these two West Coast teams and dwindle our way back toward the top of standings. But realistically, if we can take both series (4 of 6), that would be great. Hopefully we can feed off last night’s huge win and play some good baseball.