Braves Starting Pitching In Disarray
by NIteowl049 on Dec 24, 2008 7:43 AM EST
31 comments
The Braves depth chart at mlb.com lists the starters as of today for next season:
Javier Vazquez
Jair Jurjjens
Jorge Campillo
Jo-Jo Reyes
Charlie Morton
John Smoltz and Tom Glavine may or may not be ready to pitch and in the case of Smoltz may not even be back with the Braves in 2009. Tim Hudson is planning his return to the Braves by the middle of August. These are three very good pitchers in a state of limbo because of health issues and free agent issue for Smoltz.
If the Braves start the season with Tommy Hanson in the majors he should be a huge upgrade to the starting rotation. Last season he was 11-5 between stops at Myrtle Beach in A ball and Mississippi in AA ball. Hanson allowed ten homers in 60 innings at Myrtle Beach in 2007 but came back in 2008 and allowed no homers in 40 innings.
At Myrtle Beach last season he compiled a 3-1 record at Myrtle Beach with a 0.90 ERA and allowed only 15 hits in 40 innings while striking out 49. Hanson was 8-4 with Mississippi and had an ERA of 3.03. He also struck out 114 batters in 98 innings.
He went on to have an excellent Arizona Fall League season posting a 5-0 record and a 0.63 ERA. He struck out 49 batters in 28 innings while giving up only 10 hits. He held batters to a .105 batting average.
The Braves may elect to let him start the season in Triple AAA ball since he has not pitched above Double AA.
With Javier Vazquez and Jair Jurjjens at the top of the starting rotation the Braves will have to make some moves. Jorge Campillo started the first two months of the season with an 0.71 ERA in April and a 1.14 mark in May. However, in August and September he posted ERA's of 6.15 and 5.63. It may be that he tired late in the season since he had never pitched more than 13 innings in a season while with the Mariners and had started this season in the bullpen for the Braves.
Jo-Jo Reyes will surprise me if he is in the starting rotation after his 3-11 season with a 5.81 ERA last season and allowed opposing batters to hit .301. Charlie Morton was not effective either with a 4-8 record and an ERA of 6.15.
The records of Reyes and Morton are the reason the Braves tried so hard to acquire Jake Peavy and A.J. Burnett. Vazquez had problems last season winning big games and his manager Ozzie Guillen mentioned that fact at least once. Still he deserves a chance for a new start with the Braves and is one of the top strikeout pitchers in baseball. He is 9th among active pitchers in strikeouts with 2015 and has a realistic chance of posting 3000 strikeouts since he is only 32.
Frank Wren will now have to find some starting pitching even though Peavy seems to be out of the picture. The only major move made by the Braves this offseason was the acquisition of Vazquez. There are more questions than answers about the availability of Smoltz and Glavine and if they will even be healthy enough to pitch at the start of the 2009 season. If Reyes and Morton are in the starting rotation on opening day the Braves may be in for a long season.
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It may be that he tired late in the season since he had never pitched more than 13 innings in a season while with the Mariners and had started this season in the bullpen for the Braves.
Good lord…please use this website in the future.
I guess I should be one to talk.
There's nights that I can't even walk.
There's days I couldn't give a fuck.
And in between is where I'm stuck.
link fail
I guess I should be one to talk.
There's nights that I can't even walk.
There's days I couldn't give a fuck.
And in between is where I'm stuck.
by Smoltz's Beard on Dec 24, 2008 9:58 AM EST up reply actions
fanpost after fanpost
with the same old shit. come up with something new or don’t bother.
by son.of.sourman on Dec 24, 2008 11:34 AM EST reply actions
hey
Hanson is ready to move to the MLB,they shouldnt hold him back any longer.Better hitters,pitchers,bigger atmosphere,better coaching.We have to see if he is real.Smoltz could help him with on the job training,consider they throw the similar style..Fastball,Hard Sliders,and the occasional Change-up.Heyward needs to move on to the BIG TIME to,along with Shaffer.They need a wave of youth like they had with McCann and Frenchy.
Yeah, and look how that “wave of youth” turned out for us. As of right now, Francoeur is trash. Period. He’s got all the talent in the world, but he has not put it together. McCann is the only star that came out of that bunch. I’m not 100% opposed to letting Hanson have a spot in the rotation on Opening Day, but it may do him some good to face the more veteran batters in AAA and control his innings a bit before he makes his debut. Bring Heyward up to the bigs? What the hell are you smoking? He only got limited at-bats in A+ ball this year, he hasn’t even played at AA yet so everyone needs to cool on him for another year or so. Schafer can compete with Anderson for the CF job in ST, and if he doesn’t win it then he gets some ABs at AAA.
The talent is on its way, everyone just needs to chill the hell out.
O we are fucked this year but keep your shirt on 2010 we will be fine
by ATLsportsfrk on Dec 24, 2008 1:05 PM EST up reply actions
Let's See...
Lowe and Sheets (plus Smoltz, if he’s actually healthy) are still frontline starters that are available. As for the backend (to push Campillo, Morton and/or Reyes back to the minors or the bullpen) there’s still Garland, Byrd, Looper and Perez. The reclamation project bin is practically overflowing with the likes of Randy Johnson, Glavine, Garcia, Pedro, Penny and Prior. Heck, I’m sure I’m missing plenty of viable options for all of these categories. The point is: the offseason isn’t over, not by a long shot, and this whole woe-is-us nonsense is tiresome.
Here we go again: http://thefulldeck.blogspot.com/
Totally agree
And why we don’t offer Sheets a 2 year deal is beyond me. Damn Mike Hampton.
From everything I’ve gathered, Smoltz is ready and wanting to start. Though I’d love a Sheets to headline the staff, I’m not that bummed about a staff that includes Smoltz, Vasquez, Jurrjens, Campillo and Morton/Reyes/Hanson. And Hudson coming back in August and possibly a Sheets or lower tier and it’s a decent staff. Sign a power left fielder and hope Franky gets his head out of his ass and there’s a chance to compete.
everytime i see Braden Looper’s name i thnk of the scene in Caddyshack where Bill Murray is talking about caddying for the Dhali Lama..
“So i was over there on this course in tibet… workign as a a looper, a jock.. u know a caddy”
"We win today, that's two in a row... if we win tomorrow, that's called a winning streak. It has happened before..."
Re Starting Pitching
There have been rumors that, once the Giants finalized a deal with Randy Johnson, that they’d listen to offers on Jonathan Sanchez. Now that they’ve announced that deal, I hope Wren will get in on some of that action.
I’d absolutely send a couple of top position prospects (maybe one Top 10 and one Top 20) to the Giants for Sanchez. He’s young, throws hard, is LH, and is turning a corner big time.
Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball
Not a bad idea
but not at that price. I like Sanchez but he barely has 250 IP’s in the majors and his walk rate is still very high. If I were going to pay that much I would want to see more improvement in this area.
Sometimes it’s trendlines rather than career averages that matter. His BB/9 the last 3 seasons:
2006: 5.18
2007: 4.85
2008: 4.27
This is a kid with electric stuff, who’s starting to learn where the ball is going. And did I mention he’s an LHP?
There’s risk, but also tons of upside. And he’s under club control into the second Obama administration.
Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball
Not disagreeing at all my man, but my issue is 2006 was only 40 IP’s, 2007 was only 52 IP’s and 2008 was 158 IP’s. All i’m saying is I want more history to pay that much. Not knocking Sanchez at all.
Fair enough
But do you really think something like Medlen/Campbell would be too much?
Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball
Oh, and
I know I said two position players, since that fits SF’s need, but ATL is pretty thin in touchable position prospects these days, now that Flowers is gone. I don’t think something like Prado/Campbell gets it done, but maybe I’m wrong.
Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball
That makes more sense
When you said top 10 and top 25 referring to position prospects I immediately thought of Schafer/Gorkys and Johnson/KK types. That’s too much for me but to your point a Locke/Medlen and Prado/Campbell type deal would be OK by me. Not sure if that’s enough though but I agree with your point.
This is pure speculation but looking at SF more closely I think the Pitcher piece fits but I’m not sure they would be interested in Campbell or Prado. This is just me but I like Sandoval over Campbell and I like Frandsen over Prado. We would probably have to part with Johnson or KK instead. Now that I think about it I would probably do that: Locke/Medlen and Johnson/KK. What do you think, too much?
I might get ripped apart for suggesting this, but I might go higher than that if we could pry away Sanchez AND Frandsen. I’m a big fan of the latter, kid’s got amazing bat speed. Long term I could see him providing similar offense to Yunel Escobar but his defense is probably just league average, maybe less. At the very least he would allow us to move KJ without losing too much offensively.
Frandsen
Appears to be a black sheep over there right now. I don’t love him, but he could probably hold down 2B if he’s fully healed. I don’t think he will develop enough pop, though I could be wrong.
I LOVE Tubby Sandoval’s bat, but I’m just not convinced he can play 3B well enough to stick. He’s been decent there so far, but the kid is really big and, while he moves well, he’s going to get larger and slower. I think ultimately he’s either going to be an offensive-minded C or he’ll slide over to 1B.
Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball
Priceless
Lmao. I can hear the announcer now … Pablooo Tubbyyy Sannndovallll
Here are his particulars:
245 lbs (very conservative estimate)
5 feet 11 inches tall (if that)
5 feet 12 inches wide!
Trades
I think Johnson/KK probably isn’t enough for Sanchez/Frandsen, if that’s your thought. Maybe if ATL added a nice live arm like DeVall, but that might be too rich for my blood.
I think Johnson/Freeman would certainly get it done, but that’s way too much IMO.
Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball
My bad
I got off on a tangent there. I was thinking one of Locke or Medlen and one of Johnson or KK for Sanchez alone. Some may think that’s too steep but i’m willing to part with them due to the depth at their positions.
My wishing for Frandsen as well was really just a pipe dream. I agree with you about the lack of pop but I don’t think 30/35 doubles and 10/12 hr’s are out of the question for his 2009 line. Granted, as you mentioned, IF he’s fully healed.
Frandsen
Not sure where Frandsen currently fits in SF’s future. With the Renteria signing, I believe the conventional wisdom has him battling Burriss and/or Velez for playing time at 2B. And of course Tubby (lovin’ it) is going to get the first crack at 3B. I bet Frandsen could be had cheap.
I don’t think Medlen/KK for Sanchez is too much, since I agree with you on depth. Not sure who would cover 2B if it was Medlen/Johnson (please don’t say Prado).
Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball
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