Krotchman should in no way be compared to Failcouer. The only thing I didn’t like about Krotchman was his power numbers (esp for 1B). With Frenchy, I didn’t like his swing, his low OBP, all the hype about how good he was going to be (I never saw it), his K/BB ratio, his average, his power, his Andruw-Jones-style whiff on the low and outside pitch, his BA with RISP, his RBI totals…you get the idea.

Frenchy’s going to end the year with a higher avg. than Chipper, kind of irritates me. last I looked it was .278 or as a Met it’s .308, but that OBP never gets much higher than .030 over his avg. Kind of pisses me off he couldn’t hit .300 here, Hell, he hit a homerun tonight and the Braves lost again to the Nats! (friday night) I’m grading the Braves a B- this year only because of the pitching, the offense has been “don’t know what your gonna get” and defence has been below avg as well. I also am not happy that Bobby’s coming back next year. I never thought he was that great,he just had great players. He has cost this team several games this year and it’s going to be another year of leaving pitchers in too long, playing failing players when someone else would be better, and wearing out the same guys in the bullpen etc. Sorry that’s how I feel after watching the Braves lose 4 in a row.

Bullpen was solid but I’m not sold on Moylan as closer. Not that he couldn’t handle it, I just think he has more value as a ground ball / double play type pitcher.

I used to be a die-hard pirates fan, still live in Pittsburgh today and just laugh every time i hear the pirates mentioned. I honestly think you stole Nate, i know that he has under performed this year but that is sort of expected coming off an all-star year that he had. I don’t think the prospects that the braves traded were terrible but i have serious doubts that any of them will make an impact at the major league level. Not doubts about their abilities but doubts that the pirates organization will be able to make a product of these kids. If you look at the top prospects that have been in the pirates organization you will be amazed at how many of these guys were just straight duds, John W Van Benschoten, Bryan P Bullington, Neil M Walker, Daniel R Moskos, Sean Burnett, Yoslan Herrera, Steven Pearce, all of these guys were at one point in the past eight years in the top five prospect list for the pirates. Honestly i don’t like charlie morton, i saw him pitch once unfortunately and wanted to leave the game in the third inning. He is 5-9 this year with a 4.55 era and there is talk that next year he won’t have a spot in the dismal pirates rotation. Jeff Locke hasn’t even been productive at high A, going 4-4 with an ERA of 4.08, which at first that isn’t terrible but he will be 22 next month and he won’t be promoted this winter to AA. Gorky Hernandez did look like a great prospect but has done absolutely nothing since he got to their AA team. He only has 3 homers in 86 games while batting at a .261 average and next season will start at AA altoona. I have really watched the braves since the middle of july and i love this team, i know they fumbled in late september with marlins but it is just good to watch a team that has playoff hopes and just doesn’t trade all of their good players away in july. If you think being a braves fan is tough and not making the playoffs is a season failure, have a baseball team that the past 17 seasons have been loosing seasons. But back on Nate, i would love to watch a braves team that the outfield would be McLouth, Schafer, and Heyward. And that team would be a winning baseball team

If we had A+ starting pitching and an overall grade of a B for the offense then we would have been in a better position then we ended the year.

The reality is that if you are going to grade the team you have to grade the team relative to other teams and their success at the position. Obviously the teams don’t play in a vacuum but in comparison to each other.

That being said..yes the starting pitching was great. The bullpen was at least OK, if not very good, all things considered.

However, I think that the best case scenario for the Braves Offense would be a C in any of the three positions. GA’s defense was horrendous and while he put up almost decent numbers at the end of the season…they are not very good numbers compared to other league LFers. I would say he is a C..at best.

CF wasn’t much better in actual production. I think McClouth is ok in CF and if healthy and there all year I think he would be a solid B/B+. However, he wasn’t here all year…and when he was here he spent a good chunk of time on the DL and wasn’t the same when he got back. So while a healthy Nate may score ok….his production…combined with the other guys in CF was no better then a C/C+.

Yes Matt Diaz has a great year. His lines look great. However, to say that his numbers were enough to rate RF as a B might be a little much. He only had something like 320 ABs for the year and probably only 200-250 in RF. The other 250-300 ABs for the Braves RF were awful. So maybe a C+/B-…but would probably be more like a C.

Chipper probably produced more like a C this year. Largely due to injuries and his late season slide.

Escobar…Ok…I could argue an A….maybe B…but ok.

Prado at a B+? Did he have a good year? Yes. Did he have a year that would put him in the top 15% of MLB 2B? Better then Utley? Better then Cano? Better then Pedroia? Better then Uggla? Better then Hill? Better then Ellis? What about Sanchez? Or a healthy Weeks? Or what about Caberra of Cleveland? I haven’t run the numbers so I am just running off good 2B off the top of my head to make the point. that Prado is probably not a B+ player. Probably more like a solid B.

1B: It was great the last couple months of the season and a disaster the first 5 months. I think it would be hard to call it a B+…again compared to the rest of the league’s production. We probably ended at a C+ after spending the first part of the year at a D or D+.

Much of these numbers could get better but for 2009 they were not good…hence the reason our season is now over.

I think you can make an argument for signing him..and you can make an arguement against signing him. I personally don’t think there are any real other options out there. If he were to sign quickly for a reasonable 2 year deal….done. If he wants 3-4 years and plays the weak market I think you have to let him go to the higher bidder and try to trade for someone or use a less attractive internal option while signing offense for one of the OF corner. Lets be honest about the Braves. They only have 2 positions that need to be addressed right now (assuming Diaz/Church is accetable for a whole year) LF and 1B. If you sign LaRoche you can go for more of a band aid for LF (ie Nady or Byrd or Crisp). If you don’t sign LaRoche you need a legit bat in LF or RF.