Where are our infielders?
by mcdalton on Dec 14, 2009 7:33 PM EST
42 comments
Looking through our farm system there is one thing that seems to be missing, infielders of any sort. I know we have Freeman and Escobar, who hopefully will be stables at first and short respectively, but we don't even have a remotely distinguished 3rd or 2nd baseman. Chipper's getting to his last leg and I don't see Prado as a long term answer at second, who are we trying to develop to fill their shoes?
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Im sure the Braves would love to have infield depth
but its just something we don’t have right now.
In Frank Wren I trust.
They drafted a ton of JuCo SS's last year
Mycal Jones at the head of the class.
There’s also Brandon Hicks, who I still believe is Chipper’s replacement for some damn reason.
http://www.capitolavenueclub.com/
by PWHjort on Dec 14, 2009 9:08 PM EST via mobile reply actions
They’ve got some intriguing guys at second base imo, no real top prospect guys but guys to keep an eye and as pwh said if hicks can actually show us something this year then our future infield is in good shape. Besides with our pitching depth we’d always be able to swing a deal in the future
by McCann's the Man on Dec 14, 2009 9:09 PM EST reply actions
Again… how nice would it be to have Elvis working on his swing right now in AAA and have him come up when Chip calls in a career and slide him in(same great D and speed, better bat) and slide Yunesco to 3rd. Lillibridge was traded too, however that trade payed off.
Anyway.. what we do have is Mycal Jones potentially fitting in, but still no time soon. Brandon Hicks is there but he is already 25, you think he may have hit his ceiling. Same goes for Travis Jones and JC Holt.
Anyway.. what we do have is Mycal Jones potentially fitting in, but still no time soon. Brandon Hicks is there but he is already 25, you think he may have hit his ceiling. Same goes for Travis Jones and JC Holt.Brooks and Diory are there but i can’t see them as anything more than bench players.
Anyway.. what we do have is Mycal Jones potentially fitting in, but still no time soon. Brandon Hicks is there but he is already 25, you think he may have hit his ceiling. Same goes for Travis Jones and JC Holt.Brooks and Diory are there but i can’t see them as anything more than bench players.So it would seem that we have a huge hole when Chipper retires as there isn’t much going on at 3rd either. Yeah we could always trade for some, which i think we can start now by dealing Lowe for some middle infield help. LJ Hoes from Baltimore is a nice prospect, if their still interested.
Anyway.. what we do have is Mycal Jones potentially fitting in, but still no time soon. Brandon Hicks is there but he is already 25, you think he may have hit his ceiling. Same goes for Travis Jones and JC Holt.Brooks and Diory are there but i can’t see them as anything more than bench players.So it would seem that we have a huge hole when Chipper retires as there isn’t much going on at 3rd either. Yeah we could always trade for some, which i think we can start now by dealing Lowe for some middle infield help. LJ Hoes from Baltimore is a nice prospect, if their still interested.What do you think about a Freeman, Prado, Infante, Escobar infield? Or is looking elsewhere for the pieces the answer?
IDK what happened there... (Fixed)
Again… how nice would it be to have Elvis working on his swing right now in AAA and have him come up when Chip calls in a career and slide him in(same great D and speed, better bat) and slide Yunesco to 3rd. Lillibridge was traded too, however that trade payed off.
Anyway.. what we do have is Mycal Jones potentially fitting in, but still no time soon. Brandon Hicks is there but he is already 25, you think he may have hit his ceiling. Same goes for Travis Jones and JC Holt.Brooks and Diory are there but i can’t see them as anything more than bench players.So it would seem that we have a huge hole when Chipper retires as there isn’t much going on at 3rd either. Yeah we could always trade for some, which i think we can start now by dealing Lowe for some middle infield help. LJ Hoes from Baltimore is a nice prospect, if their still interested.
Anyway.. what we do have is Mycal Jones potentially fitting in, but still no time soon. Brandon Hicks is there but he is already 25, you think he may have hit his ceiling. Same goes for Travis Jones and JC Holt.Brooks and Diory are there but i can’t see them as anything more than bench players.So it would seem that we have a huge hole when Chipper retires as there isn’t much going on at 3rd either. Yeah we could always trade for some, which i think we can start now by dealing Lowe for some middle infield help. LJ Hoes from Baltimore is a nice prospect, if their still interested.What do you think about a Freeman, Prado, Infante, Escobar infield? Or is looking elsewhere for the pieces the answer?
wow
i really don’t wanna read both of those
by BravesRaleigh on Dec 14, 2009 9:23 PM EST up reply actions
If only Wren could see the future we would win the WS every year! Is that too much to ask?
Sorry man but I love the desire of the front office to win and sooooo many people keep going back to the Tex trade. He did great, we faded at the end but it added excitement and that same desire to win and cease the opportunity has us back excited for next season with what should be a great team.
If nothing else this came out of it and that makes me smile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDHjGrbXiD4&feature=related
my mistake Wren did not make that trade...
but either way it was a good one imo
Well, before yesterday, we had another good infielder….
"My team of nine guys who hit like Albert Pujols and never ever bunt just beat your team with one Shane Victorino 472 to 3."
by justincredubil02 on Dec 14, 2009 9:54 PM EST reply actions
Part of the reason I wish they had kept KJ
and let him play several positions in Spring Training…give the team some depth.
As of right now the braves have NO depth…except catcher. They don’t have a 4th outfielder….(Heck they don’t have a 3rd OFer yet). You can’t count on Infante to be your only back up CF…AND your only back up SS. Diory isn’t the ansewer…nor is Brooks Conrad. They need a legit 4th OF and another IFer to fill out the roster. I know people talk about Brandon Jones as a 4th OFer….but I would prefer to have a capable CF as the 4th.
This.
"My team of nine guys who hit like Albert Pujols and never ever bunt just beat your team with one Shane Victorino 472 to 3."
by justincredubil02 on Dec 14, 2009 11:19 PM EST up reply actions
I think the problem with KJ is that if we had gone through arbitration with him then (I haven’t looked up the numbers) we would be paying him too much to have him hanging around as infield depth. However, we have seen in Norton (his first year, not last year), Infante and Ross, that FW is perfectly capable of finding good backup players on the cheap, and anyway, our depth chart should not be the concern at the moment, we having more pressing needs in our lineup, and the kinds of players that are being talked about here are those that are not worth concerning ourselves over right now.
by FromTheBellyOfWickman on Dec 15, 2009 6:07 PM EST up reply actions
KJ
has no real arm to speak of (never did and after TJ it’s only worse) and you want him to play where, now?
by apoxonbothyourhouses on Dec 15, 2009 1:33 AM EST reply actions
KJ
Now his arm after TJ may not have been able to handle 3B…..so I admin that upfront. However, I saw him play SS in AA and his arm was fine. I know they had him play 1/2 a season or so at AAA at 3B. Originally the scouting report was that he was not good enough to play SS and they would move him to 3B. So if his arm won’t hold up now…fine…but typically the elbow gets STRONGER after TJ..not weaker. So my question was….can he play 3B if not on a backup basis? Surely his arm isn’t any worse then Prado’s.
As for OF….he played in the minors in CF and that 1/2 a season in ATL in LF and played very well. I have no doubt the he could be a passable LF if he was asked to spend time in the OF.
That's why....
we non-tendered our best 2B.
Wait, that doesn’t make sense.
Oh, never mind. We’ve already discussed this.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
KJ
KJ is a mediocre second baseman, and not an outfielder. Just because he was thrown out there because we didn’t have one at the time, doesn’t mean he should be out there. I would think that barring a trade, they will give Schafer a chance to be that 4th outfield spot. They need to know if he can be a major league hitter. Infield worries me a little, but getting a first baseman will happen. Just hope Chipper can play 140-150 games.
Prospects aren't used in 4th OF roles.
Prospects like Schafer (and Heyward) should get fulltime AB’s somewhere—-either in the majors or in AAA. We’ll find the back-ups we need closer to spring training. Fourth and fifth OF types and not great hitting utility infielders are cheap and relatively plentiful.
Please see post above....
KJ has played…and could play OF.
I repeat…that if Schafer breaks spring training with Atlanta in a 4th OF role then the front office no longer views him as a viable starter and have crossed him off their list.
Schafer
I completely agree that you can have prospects backing up in the major leagues, but at some point you have to find out if they can play. He was thrown into the starting role last year and struggled, his injury may have had something to do with it, who knows. I would think at worst he could platoon some with Diaz, and give the other outfielders a day off here there. He should be able to play 2 or 3 games a week. McLouth in center and Heyward will be in right very soon, there is only one spot open for him right now. Do you give him left field this year or next, like we did center last year and hope he can play it of do we bring him up, let him play a few games a week, and find out if he is MLB material.
his injury may have had something to do with it, who knows.
I gurantee you that a broken wrist had at least a little to do with the fact that he couldn’t catch up to a fastball.
"My team of nine guys who hit like Albert Pujols and never ever bunt just beat your team with one Shane Victorino 472 to 3."
by justincredubil02 on Dec 16, 2009 1:14 PM EST up reply actions
Im sure it did, how much I don’t know. But I think sticking him in the minors for much longer is a problem as well. How much more time does he need to develop? I know he had his inujury and suspension, but he will be 24 at the end of next season. Let him get a good bit of playing time this year in the majors, platooning, being the 4th outfielder, stuff like that so the braves will know what they can expect of him in coming years. McLouth, Heyward, Schafer would be a nice trio, although all lefties.
This line of thinking is silly. So what if he spends all of this season at AAA? Then he’d be 24 next year as basically a rookie. Not exactly a geezer. 23 or 24 is a pretty normal age for a guy to break into the bigs. He needs to get regular at bats, playing part time in the majors isn’t going to be helpful for him.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
Were his wrist broken, he'd never have been playing.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 11:06 AM EST up reply actions
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/teams/Atl/injuries
"My team of nine guys who hit like Albert Pujols and never ever bunt just beat your team with one Shane Victorino 472 to 3."
by justincredubil02 on Dec 17, 2009 12:22 PM EST up reply actions
What about wrist surgery implies that he was playing through a broken wrist?
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 2:49 PM EST up reply actions
Well, they certainly didn’t perform surgery because his wrist was in excellent shape.
"My team of nine guys who hit like Albert Pujols and never ever bunt just beat your team with one Shane Victorino 472 to 3."
by justincredubil02 on Dec 17, 2009 5:14 PM EST up reply actions
http://www.fantasybaseballgeeks.com/?tag=jordan-schafer
There. It says he had a broken wrist.
"My team of nine guys who hit like Albert Pujols and never ever bunt just beat your team with one Shane Victorino 472 to 3."
by justincredubil02 on Dec 17, 2009 5:15 PM EST up reply actions
Call me crazy...
But the only broken wrist I see mentioned in any of those articles belonged to Ryan Doumit.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 18, 2009 10:27 AM EST up reply actions
I can’t verify that…I googled “Jordan Schafer broken wrist” and could only see the google page results, as the actual website is blocked here at work.
"My team of nine guys who hit like Albert Pujols and never ever bunt just beat your team with one Shane Victorino 472 to 3."
by justincredubil02 on Dec 18, 2009 12:13 PM EST up reply actions
OK, got it.
Yes, you might have found that phrase, but it was talking about Doumit.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090831&content_id=6718392&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl&partnerId=rss_atl explains that his surgery was on a bone spur in the wrist. To help correct his bone bruise (not fracture), they linked two bones on the wrist to help stabilize them.
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 18, 2009 4:27 PM EST up reply actions
Not since TJ...
Overheard in press box, from local reporter: 'If this Moore kid was any good, they'd be up 31-0 right now.'
--Darin Gantt, on CAR@NE
by MichaelProcton on Dec 17, 2009 11:05 AM EST up reply actions
You can’t always have prospects stacked in every position, it has always been the Braves way to stockpile good pitching prospects. Admittedly it would be nice to have some greater depth, but we have traded away quite a few players who would be our minor league infield depth in the last couple of years and so we our left with a somewhat pitcher-heavy top prospect list. However, no team can expect to fill every need they have with young players coming through, and so the depth that we have in pitching will mean that as and when Chipper needs to retire, or we Prado turns out to be a good fill-in but not a superhuman hitter, we should have decent trade pieces to put together a package to get Major League ready infielders to replace them.
by FromTheBellyOfWickman on Dec 15, 2009 5:44 PM EST reply actions
+1
Solid name and avatar.
"SIGN PUJOLS OR FIRE WREN" ~ Swo12bv
by Smoltz's Beard on Dec 16, 2009 2:50 PM EST up reply actions
You cant possibly expect to fill every position with prospects. Its impossible. You eventually will have to ante up significant dividends to anyone that remotely helped the team. And when were talking, playoffs, division crowns, and pennants, the amount can get far too rich for the Braves to stomach.
If were talking the next three to four years, the Braves can realistically have Schafer, Heyward, Freeman, Escobar, Jurrens, Hanson all seeing significant time unprotected. Add in the possibilities of Krimbel and Medlen, youre really pushing it. Add in an impending departure or extension for McClouth and youre really pushing it.
What im saying is, if youre looking at top flight prospects for the near future, the braves have 2 in the OF, 2 in the INF, 1 behind the plate, 2 in the rotation, 2 in the bullpen. Insurance is great and im sure we will reup on a couple of those players, but we just may have a nucleus already. Planting any old average everyday player/veteran/prospect, like a Diaz, is more than enough considering our payroll. The thought that we could field a team of prospects, and fill eventual voids is starting to get out of hand and really isnt built to be competitive yearly. Or else youre just the Pirates.
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