….give him one more season. McCann had a tremendous first full season, but then slumped badly in his second. Now he’s arguably the best catcher in the majors. KJ also had a very good first full season, and is slumping badly.

BTW, did you know Joey Devine is 3-0 with a 0.85 ERA? 35 Ks in 31 innings.

I’m not totally for trading Kelly Johnson, but we have what I think is two suitable replacements in Prado and Infante. Next year’s bench will probably be really crowded, so it might be to our benefit to trade Kelly now, as his value isn’t low. It’s starting to dip, but I think teams can still see he’s still producing with reasonable expectations to return to last year’s form, with a possibility of getting better.

if they trade kelly, it’ll be the same situation as last year with renteria & escobar. prado’s sample size is WAY small, but its strikingly similar to escobar’s last year. i’m really not sure why kelly is struggling so much this year. his numbers are back down to where they were pre-TJ, so was last year the abomination? his defense is roughly the same as it was last year, which is just about league average (below average FP, above average RF). prado’s sample sizes are way too small to make much of a conclusion about that. if they think prado is the answer for next season…fine. but lets just hope he keeps his numbers at the level they are this season, as opposed to his 2 previous seasons.

…as long as gotay isn’t starting. anything but that

I wouldnt mind the braves trading kelly for some prospects… martin prado and omar can step in and feel that hole for next year r for the rest of this year! kelly just doesnt do it for me.. but thats my thought! he sucks defensively and has struggled this year hitting so get what u can for him and move one! Plus he doenst steal enough bases for someone with well above average speed!

Not that BP is the end-all, be-all of baseball analysis, but they were really high on Kelly coming into this year (they were high on Francoeur too, but whatever). Simply put, losing both power and patience tends to derail your season (again, see Francoeur, but whatever).

The McCann reference is apt; many observers believed his third year would fall somewhere in between his first two. Luckily for us, he turned out much closer to year 1 than year 3. I believe Kelly, likewise, will do the same. That would put him at about .270/.360/.440, which would be terrific for a first year arbitration player. So unless you’re getting a Jurrjens-type return on KJ AND you’re hoping that Infante and/or Prado have another career empty .300 BA type year, I’m not sure why you’d consider trading Johnson at his low point.

A much better option is to trade Yunel Escobar, who’s not at a sell-high point, but is definitely at a better regarded position than Kelly is right now. For as much “excitement” as Yunel brings to the plate, he simply doesn’t have the eye or power than KJ has. Yunel has improved his plate discipline this year and does strike out a lot less, but he just doesn’t look like he has the power to slug above .400. So unless he becomes an OBP machine, he’s not going to be a valuable asset as he enters his later arbitration years. Meanwhile, there’s a perfectly suitable replacement for either position in Brent Lillbridge (who admittedly has had a disappointing year as well).

I guess my final position is that unless you can get a suitable return for one (again, a Jurrjens-caliber player), then stick with your current, dirt-cheap, role player middle infielders. It’s not like they grow on trees. I could obviously be wrong about Escobar and Johnson (if I was right about everything, I would’ve traded Marcus Giles rather than wait for his MVP season). But if you’re a betting man, I’m not sure why you would pick Escobar OVER Johnson.

Pitches per PA down to 3.8 from 4.1 in 2007 and 2005. His LD% is way up from 18.8% to 23.4% predicting a .354 BABIP, yet his BABIP is only .314. Less fly balls going over for home runs too.

Kelly’s decrease and walks and increase is strikeouts is probably due to his change in approach. Means he’s swinging at pitches he can’t handle or out of the strike zone that he didn’t before. Pendleton likes to tell people to hack away right?

So partially out of bad luck and partially due to change in approach. Plus Cox hates the guy or something.

I don’t mind trading Kelly if we get a fair return. Lillibridge or Infante can play second. Prado can be the super sub that he is.

So who do you guys think are possible trade targets for Kelly? Cardinals? Their infield is pretty soft hitting. Not really sure who else could use a 2B.