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Could J.J. Putz be an option for the Braves?
by gondeee on Nov 6, 2009 12:27 PM EST
in Free Agents
48 comments
There's no official rumor on this, I just wanted to throw it out there and let it marinate, and I've seen it brought up here and there in some comments. J.J. Putz could be a good fit at closer for the Atlanta Braves, as he and the Mets are likely to part ways, but are we ready to take a chance on another injury-plagued reliever?
He had surgery to remove bone spurs on his throwing elbow last year, but then during his rehab he re-injured that same area that was described as "fraying and a slightly torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow." He is supposed to be fully recovered from that by the time spring training rolls around, and when healthy he can be a shutdown closer.
The positive spin here is that because he is coming off of an injury he could likely be signed to an affordable one-year contract, and perhaps even an incentive-laden contract that would protect Atlanta against him re-injuring the elbow. The obvious downside here is that we really shouldn't be counting on a guy coming back from injury to be our closer. We might make the same mistake with the bullpen that we made with the starting rotation two years ago -- relying on injury-prone pitchers.
Ideally we'd want to bring in someone else who could potentially close as insurance against Putz breaking down. Perhaps re-signing Mike Gonzalez could be that insurance.
Again, I'm looking for low-cost players with potentially high upside, and Putz falls into that category. That, and we're Irish twins.
48 comments | 0 recs |
Braves 2009 Season in Review: Tommy Hanson
by cbwilk on Nov 6, 2009 9:15 AM EST
27 comments
After dominating the Arizona Fall League in 2008, becoming the first pitcher in the league's history to win the MVP award, Thomas J. Hanson continued to excel in the Atlanta Braves' 2009 Spring Training, with a win and no losses in 5 games (3 starts), while striking out 18 in 17.2 innings. The Braves felt he needed more seasoning though, and optioned him to AAA Gwinnett, where he was dominant, as well with 3 wins and 3 losses in 11 starts, compiling a 1.49 ERA, 1.046 WHIP and 90 strikeouts in 66.1 innings, good for 12.2 per 9 innings.
Tom Glavine was supposed to be the Braves' fifth starter in 2009, but nagging injuries prevented him from ever pitching for Atlanta this season, and the Braves legend and future Hall of Famer was released June 3rd, just as he was, according to him, ready to assume his role in the Braves rotation. This highly unpopular move coincided with Hanson's additon to the roster, just two days later, and it turned out to be one of Frank Wren's most savvy decisions of the season.
27 comments | 0 recs |
Four Atlanta Braves file for Free Agency
by gondeee on Nov 6, 2009 8:35 AM EST
in Free Agents
29 comments
The Atlanta Braves had four of five eligible players file for free agency yesterday. First baseman Adam LaRoche, outfielder Garret Anderson, pinch hitter Greg Norton, and reliever Mike Gonzalez all filed for free agency, leaving only reliever Rafael Soriano yet to file.
The two relievers, Gonzalez and Soriano, are both type-A free agents, meaning the Braves would receive two first round draft picks (1 and 1S) is they offered either arbitration and they signed elsewhere. Because they are expected to draw interest from several teams, the Braves will likely offer arbitration to both players, though they may only seek to actually try and re-sign Gonzalez, seeing him as the less costly of the two.
LaRoche and Anderson are both type-B free agents, and Atlanta would receive only one first round (supplemental) draft pick as compensation were they to be offered arbitration and sign elsewhere. It depends on how the Braves plan to approach this off-season and the stated goal of adding right-handed power bat as to whether they will offer LaRoche arbitration.
For the record, I'd like to see the Braves offer Gonzo, Soriano, and LaRoche all arbitration. If they did sign elsewhere with teams that had one of the 15-best records in baseball last year then the Braves could find themselves with 3 first round draft picks and 3 supplemental first round picks -- possibly 6 of the first 50 selections in the draft. By having extra picks, the Braves may also be less fearful about going after other type-A free agents and losing their own first round pick.
29 comments | 0 recs |
Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg named Topps Appy League Player of the Year
Our South African slugger receives an honor for the good year he had at Danville.
1 day ago
gondeee
13 comments
0 recs
Braves 2009 Season in Review: Jair Jurrjens
by gondeee on Nov 5, 2009 1:38 PM EST
66 comments
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens was good in 2009, but was he really a whole run better -- as he ERA from last year (3.68) to this year (2.60) showed? There are many Braves fans who are ready to anoint Jurrjens as the next in the great line of Braves starters, but to borrow a phrase from Lee Corso, "not so fast my friend."
Jurrjens certainly was a joy to watch in 2009, but aside from a tad bit more maturity and a little bit more durability, he was the same pitcher that toed the mound in 2008. While his ERA was over a run better than the previous year (as mentioned above), his FIP in 2009 (3.68) was worse than it was in 2008 (3.59). By those standards, Jurrjens was just a lot luckier this year. His strikeout and walk rates were virtually unchanged, his double play rate was the same, just about all of his rate stats were unchanged except his ratio of ground balls to fly balls allowed.
If there was an improvement in Jurrjens game in his second full year in the majors, it was that he seemed to learn to pitch to contact better and turn more of his batted balls into outs. He went from having a .307 BAbip in 2008 to a .274 BAbip last year. We could chalk this up to luck, but we could also say that Jurrjens was simply better at getting batters to hit the ball where he wanted them to, and part of that could have been pitching to more fly balls than ground balls.
So Jurrjens wasn't as good as his numbers say he was. He was a lot luckier than the year before, or in 2008 perhaps he just had a whole lot of bad luck. If we take that approach then the real Jair Jurrjens is probably somewhere between his 2008 and 2009 numbers. Keep in mind that he pitched in 3 more games, had 8 more quality starts, and pitched almost 27 more innings between last year and this year. Regardless of the glaring increase in his FIP, perhaps his increasing ability to pitch to contact successfully will continue in the coming years, but the odds are that we shouldn't be surprised if we see Jurrjens put up numbers that are closer to his 2008 numbers next season.
I'm all for riding the Jurrjens' Surgeons band wagon, and I'll enjoy the ride while it lasts, but keep in mind that he may be pulling something similar, though not as extreme, as what Jorge Houdini did in 2005. To continue his success, Jurrjens must continue to be a guy who pitches to contact effectively, and that can be a tough path to follow (unless your name is Greg Maddux).
66 comments | 0 recs |
Braves 2009 Season in Review: Javier Vázquez
by royhobbs on Nov 4, 2009 12:30 PM EST
59 comments
Quick, name the only starting pitcher in the NL East who never once pitched under five innings per start, over 30+ starts and 200+ innings, in 2009?
Overall, Javier Vazquez is one of five total pitchers in all of Major League Baseball (Grienke, Haren, Shields, Wainwright) to achieve this feat. Regardless of the wins and losses, there's something to be said about a pitcher who comes out consistently, does his job, and does it well. Really well.
I'm going to go out on a short limb here, and declare Javier Vazquez the Ace of the already outstanding Braves pitching staff. Now the definition of what an ace is, is often under debate, but in general, most people can agree on the following criteria:
- Starts a lot of games
- Wins a lot of games
- Eats a lot of innings
- Good ERA
- Stops the bleeding
- Doesn't walk a lot of guys
- Strikeouts preferable
All this considered, Javier Vazquez accomplished the following:
59 comments | 0 recs |
Tim Hudson contract extension with the Braves essentially a done deal
by gondeee on Nov 4, 2009 12:02 PM EST
in Free Agents
26 comments
From MLB.com's Mark Bowman, here is the latest on the Atlanta Braves efforts to re-sign Tim Hudson:
Tim Hudson has passed his physical and essentially made his three-year contract extension a done deal. But the Braves may wait until the conclusion of the World Series to formally make this announcement.
Hudson and the Braves agreed to the terms of the three-year extension last week and then had to wait to find a doctor that the insurance company would approve.
David O'Brien reported a similar note this morning
The delay on Hudson extension resulted from the team having to find a doctor the insurance company approved of to do the physical. But they got the doc and Huddy passed the physical, from what I’m told. If so, it shouldn’t be much longer before they sign this deal and it gets announced.
Good. Signing Hudson is the right move. Now we get to endure a swirl of rumors about who the Braves will trade from the rest of the starting pitchers.
26 comments | 0 recs |
Atlanta Braves sign reliever Scott Proctor
by gondeee on Nov 4, 2009 11:43 AM EST
in Free Agents
24 comments
Here is the scoop from TCPalm's (regional Florida newspaper) website:
Pitcher Scott Proctor will return to the mound in 2010.
Proctor, the Martin County native, has reached an agreement with the Atlanta Braves on a one-year contract for the 2010 season, according to Proctor's Palm City-based agent Mark Rodgers.
Proctor was released by the Florida Marlins in October after missing the entire 2009 season because of Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.
"The Braves were very aggressive in their pursuit of Scott," Rodgers said Wednesday "They made it clear from the day the Marlins' released Scott that they had a strong interest in signing him to help improve their bullpen. It was obvious to me that the Braves appreciate Scott's track record with the Yankees and Dodgers. I am confident that Atlanta's needs in the bullpen best matched up with Scott's abilities."
The Braves had pursued Proctor way back in 2006 and 2007, so he is a guy they have long coveted. He'll be coming back from Tommy John Surgery, but if can do that successfully, then we have just added a strong and experienced bullpen arm for under a million dollars who doesn't yet have to occupy a space on the 40-man roster. It's a very worthwhile gamble to take on a reliever who could have a huge impact at some point next season.
Good first move of the off-season, Frank Wren. Now we're just waiting on the official word about Tim Hudson.
[UPDATE 1:30pm:]
Per MLBTR, here is an interesting tidbit:
Jeff Euston of Cot's Baseball Contracts informed me that Proctor would "have to spend all but about 21 days on the 25-man to qualify as a free agent after 2010." He'll probably need all of April in the minors, meaning the Braves could retain Proctor for 2011 as an arbitration-eligible player if he has a successful '10 campaign.
Some confusing verbiage there, but essentially we could keep him in the minors and off the 25-man roster until mid-May and thus retain him for the 2011 season. So we just picked up a year and a half of an experienced work-horse reliever. This deal is looking even better, with potentially more upside, and no need to really rush Proctor back next spring.
24 comments | 0 recs |
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