ADVERTISEMENT

Cobb County Braves

Another thought: Fredi is the only manager on the planet who would bat Todd Cunningham fifth in the order. I'll never understand him. I don't think he understands himself.
 
Alright, I'm officially worried about Teheran. No, the dude is not an ace and never will be, but he's not supposed to be THIS bad.

Also, we got Juan Uribe and some other dude for Alberto Callaspo and three more garbage players. I didn't even know Uribe was still playing.
 
Alright, I'm officially worried about Teheran. No, the dude is not an ace and never will be, but he's not supposed to be THIS bad.
Teheran won't be in a Braves uniform by the start of 2017. He's going the way of Odallis Perez and Jair Jurjens. During that 6-run inning, he probably threw 8-9 pitches that all ended up smack dab over the heart of the plate. His command is gone.

Also, we got Juan Uribe and some other dude for Alberto Callaspo and three more garbage players. I didn't even know Uribe was still playing.

As for getting Uribe...meh. The only reason we did it is because we know we can't get rid of Chris Johnson because of that dumbass extension we gave him a couple years back. Yeah we have to pay Uribe a bit more than Callaspo, but it allowed us to dump Stults (can Cahill pleaaase be next?) and Ian Thomas.
 
I'm happy for Cameron Maybin. He's having an outstanding month of May....hitting over .300

Nice to see a couple native North Carolinians do work for the Braves (Maybin and Wood)
 
Simmons is starting to turn into the hitter he's supposed to be, and it's awesome to see. Peterson looks like a stud, so he may actually be our long term second baseman. It will be interesting to see what they end up doing with Peraza. He's playing CF in the minors right now, but if he ends up there, what happens to Mallex Smith, who looks to be a better leadoff option than Peraza anyway. Does he play CF and Peraza LF? Maybin is playing well, and he's signed through 2016 with an option for 2017. Trade bait? Does he play center in 2016 with Peraza in LF and does Smith come in and take Maybin's place in 2017? These things usually find a way of working themselves out, but it's an interesting situation, to say the least.
 
^ Don't know what will happen with M. Smith down the road, but I think in the short-term they'll do the following:

- Kelly Johnson gets healthy, EYJ gets shown the door, be it DFA or release or whatever
- Peraza gets called up (replaces Cunningham I'm thinking)
- Peraza plays center and Maybin plays left, Kelly/Gomes caan platoon in left or Peraza and Uribe can platoon at third, if we can get rid of Chris Johnson before the deadline (not happening lol).
 
If we had a bullpen, we'd be a legit playoff contender.
Seriously. How the heck are we .500 with this godawful pen (save for Grilli)?? Our offense and defense are both lights out, our starting pitcher is B+ overall, we just have no bullpen. Miller has an atrociously bad outing and still managed to limit the damage to 4 runs, the offense got us back in it and up by 2, and the pen blows it again.

I know we don't want to get rid of any young pieces because we have to remember that this is a rebuilding year...but dang I wish we could get 2 reliable bullpen arms. That would pick us up 8-10 additional wins the remainder of the season, easily
 
Rebuilding year or not, at some point you owe it to the players to get new bullpen arms in here. The other ~17 players are busting their ass and then the bullpen blows it consistently
 
I agree wholeheartedly. I feel bad for the starters and the position players. Worst bullpen in MLB history. Gotta do something, no doubt about it.
 
I agree wholeheartedly. I feel bad for the starters and the position players. Worst bullpen in MLB history. Gotta do something, no doubt about it.
I mean, like I said a couple posts up, everyone is doing their job except the bullpen. Folty is what he is, a green starter who is learning on the job. Him giving up 5 (pitching with the lead mind you) in that ballpark is just one of those things that happens. When you score 6 and 7 in back-to-back games in THIS era of baseball, you should not lose, period. Exclamation point. Jim Johnson literally cost us the game with that error in the 8th (well he did in the 7th too, but you get my drift). He needs to be done, today.

Also.....REALLY wish Fredi had pinch-hit for Bethancourt in the 7th with 2 out and runners on the corners. I said it as it was happening, and I stand by it after Bethancourt (predictably) struck out. It was apparent how the game was going that 7 wasn't enough to win the game. Throw Pierzynski in there and try to get something in that inning to widen the margin.

But overall, I'm fine with Fredi. He has both arms tied behind his back with this bullpen situation. It forces him to let his starters go long even when they should come out early. He's going to have to start letting Grilli pitch in non-9th inning appearances if we can't get new bullpen arms. Bring in Carpenter, and Moylan is on the way back.
 
I don't know where Williams Perez came from, but he's growing on me. At first, I just thought he was the second coming of Jorge Sosa and just lucky, but I think he's legit. All of his pitches have so much movement. I think he'll end up having a long career being one of those journeyman #5 starters who finds ways to fit in and help all sorts of pitching rotations.

Cameron Maybin should be an all star. He's our best player at the moment. A part of me thinks we should hold on to him for the next couple of years, but another part of me says we should trade him while his value is this high. He's never played this well before and maybe we should take advantage of it while we can.
 
^ Perez is our third best starter at worst. Dude is impressive so far.

I say hold on to Maybin. He's been doing it long enough now that it doesn't seem like a fluke (yes, I know he could be another Chris Johnson). But he fits everything the "Braves way" is about: good defense, quick, hits for average, doesn't strike out much, relatively young. I say we try to deal Terdo or Cunningham for a bullpen arm or package with Chris Johnson to see if some team will take him
 
Bethancourt to AAA. We really need to find a long-term solution at catcher because it clearly isn't him, which has been noted several times in this thread to begin with. I'm concerned even for this year since we can't keep running a 38-year-old behind the plate night in and night out.
 
We need to get bullpen arms and a serviceable starter to replace Foltynewicz. I could do better than this bullpen right now, and I've never pitched a day in my life. Totally unacceptable bullpen performances. We've given away so many games that we've had the lead in going into the 7th inning.

Put a mediocre bullpen on this team and we'd be in first in the East by 7-8 games.
 
I'd actually keep Folty in there. His last few starts have been nothing short of awful, but I'd keep him in the rotation for the remainder of the year. It's easy to forget this was supposed to be a rebuilding year and a time to get young guys some big league experience to build off of. Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz all had high ERA's in their first couple of big league seasons. His situation is different than Bethancourt, who just does stupid things a big leaguer shouldn't do no matter how many years of experience you have. This year will pay dividends for Folty. If his ERA is still in the 4's and 5's in 2017 and around the end of 2016, then we have some concerns, but for now, just give them the experience he needs.
 
Oh and blow up the bullpen. Don't care for anyone in there. The sooner, the better.
Cunniff, Masset, Jim Johnson....all suck. Dreadful. Avilan is deteriorating too. Avilan is the most frustrating because he doesn't focus. You can bring him in with two on and he'll get you a groundball and get out of it. But if you bring him in to start the inning, he's going to let the leadoff guy get on and then give up at least one run. Happens every time.
 
Yeah, the only guy in there who's done at least respectable at his job is Grilli, and in any other bullpen, he doesn't even sniff the closer role. The entire 'pen needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. There isn't anyone in there I wouldn't mind saying goodbye to.
 
^ I feel so much calmer with him on the mound than anyone not named Alex Wood and Shelby Miller. Plus he's real young (24) so I see no reason he can't cement himself in this rotation.
 
^ like I said, cool, Teheran won't be on the roster when the new stadium opens.

If I'm John Hart right now, I'm seriously considering trying to deal Teheran while his stock is still somewhat high. If he keeps sucking like this, there will be no takers. Perhaps try to package him and Gomes to get a quality bullpen arm and a young, power-hitting outfielder? Or maybe even shop Peraza. Lots of moves can be made.
 
ADVERTISEMENT