Making the Team Meter: The Hitters Report to Camp

by gondeee on Feb 17, 2009 9:02 AM EST Comment 21 comments

Today is the first day for hitters to report to spring training for the Atlanta Braves, with the first full-squad workouts being held tomorrow (the mandatory reporting date is the 22nd, but the way). With the hitters reporting we jump right into their half of the Making the Team Meter.

Much like the "Meter" for the pitchers, we're going to assume that a select group of hitters has already made the team, a pretty safe bet: Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Casey Kotchman, Kelly Johnson, Yunel Escobar, Jeff Francoeur, Greg Norton, David Ross, Matt Diaz, and Omar Infante are all assumed to have made the 25-man roster and will open up the season with the club. I'm also not going to list any of the five extra catchers in camp. No matter how many times we say it, J.C. Boscan is not making the team, neither are Phillip Britton, Alvin Colina, Matt Kennelly (though I'd like to see him in a game or two, and with McCann at the WBC we might get to), and Clint Sammons (who is on the 40-man, but barring an injury to McCann or Ross will not be making the trip north to Atlanta).

Here are the hitters. Enjoy.

Player, Position	Chance	Notes
Josh Anderson, OF		I call him the favorite to win the center field job. He has speed and Bobby hit him lead-off 23 of his 40 starts last year. I say he's hungry to win the job.
Gregor Blanco, OF		Greg White doesn't do anything particularly well, but he's not a total waste either. A lot depends on whether or not Griffey signs, but Blanco will likely be relegated to backup outfielder status at best.
Brooks Conrad, INF		It will be interesting to see what kind of chances this "Dan Uggla-lite" player has this spring.
Freddie Freeman, 1B		Casey Kotchman, meet your replacement in a few years, Freddie.
Diory Hernandez, INF		An injury to Infante or Prado could raise his stock considerably. He can help himself by showing his versatility in the field.
Jason Heyward, OF		Have you seen the steal we got with the 14th pick in the 2007 draft? Well, now you get a chance to.
Brandon Hicks, SS		This will be a nice audition for Hicks. We'll also get to see if the team works him out at third in addition to short.
Brandon Jones, LF		Poor Brandon is a self-admitted slow-starter. Last year he never really got it going all season. Can he make the Braves forget that they need a left-fielder? Meh.
Martin Prado, INF		He should be in the mix behind Infante for the second backup infielder spot.
Jordan Schafer, OF		We talked about him possibly making the team last year, but then Kotsay came over. With a really hot spring he could force his way onto the opening day roster... but I'd call it a longshot. A year of triple-A would really help his development.

Arrow Key:
= Chance of making the team is even.
= Chance of making the team is going down.
= Chance of making the team is going up.

The next MTM will be next week after spring games begin.

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So how many?

How many position guys and how many pitchers? I’m guessing 13 position and 12 pitchers. Six infielders, two catchers, five outfielders. If we sign Griffey, that means Griffey, Diaz, Frenchy, Norton, and one of either Blanco or Anderson. Blanco still has options, right? If so then I guess, if he has a good spring, we go with Anderson in CF with no backup? None of the other 4 has a chance in hell to play a decent CF. Oh well, what do you guys (and gals) think?

by KC Ryan on Feb 17, 2009 9:52 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

i disagree on one....

i think schafer has a better chance to take the starting centerfield than anderson. he has upside and power that the braves really need in this powerless lineup. i would figure anderson to be the 4th outiflelder/pinch runner with diaz platooning with either griffey or b. jones. with the platoon, there is no way around carrying 5 outfielders and that is not including greg norton as one of them.

my stab at the 25 man:

infield

b-mac
ross
kotchman
norton
kj
escobar
infante
prado
chipper

outfield

diaz
griffey jr/b. jones
schafer
anderson
francoeur

rotation

lowe
jurrjens
vazquez
kawakami
glavine

’pen

gonzalez
soriano
moylan
jo-jo
boyer
acosta

this leaves out: blanco, carlyle, bennett, campillo,morton, o’flaherty, logan, and stockman (whom i wish could trump boyer or acosta for a roster spot).

4 of these guys are proven major leaguers and should be dealt for some added minor league depth. the rest can stick around at AAA, except stockman, who is out of options. man, what a nice problem to have.

by ryan c on Feb 17, 2009 10:14 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I really don’t think we will keep 14 position players. That is almost unheard of…..especially to start a season. The starters probably won’t go more than 6 innings the first few weeks of the season and 6 guys in the bullpen won’t be enough in my opinion.

by KC Ryan on Feb 17, 2009 10:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hmm ...

Anderson is out of options. Meaning you’d have to waive him. Why not let him crack the opening day roster/allow Schafer to get some time in AAA?

"He's getting better, but he's not there yet ..."
- Bobby Cox (talking about Boyer)

by FrankyWren on Feb 17, 2009 10:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

5 Outfielders and Carlyle.

I don’t think Schaefer makes the MLB club out of spring training. He could be up by end of May if he gets hot, but I think he will get some AAA abs. Assuming he starts in AAA I could see the Braves starting the season with only 4 OFers (Griffey-Diaz-Anderson-Franceour). Because Infante can play all three OF spots and Norton can play LF and RF they have bench depth that would enable them to carry an extra pitcher. I would also not be surprised to see Glavine start out on the DL to give him more time to get healthy with the Braves not likely needing a 5th starter for a couple weeks into the season.

On a different note-why is Carlyle not getting any love? He had a 1.24 WHIP, a 3.50 ERA, and averaged almost a K per inning last year. In addition Carlyle can also start, pitch long, set up etc. Also don’t think you will see Campillo go to the minors unless he totally bombs in spring training.

Also…do we really think that both Moylan and Soriano are going to start the season ready to go? I would figure that at least one of the two will start out on the DL.

by calbers on Feb 17, 2009 12:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry...

I think the 4 Outfielders could be Griffey-Diaz-Anderson OR Blanco-Franceour. Don’t want to neglect Blanco’s right to the CF job.

by calbers on Feb 17, 2009 12:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Blanco

They are reporting on MLBTR that it is suspected that Anthony Lerew and Gregor Blanco would be dropped from the 40 man roster to make room for Griffey and Glavine. Am I the only person that doesn’t get the infatuation with Josh Anderson. I know he looks great in snapshots but I really don’t think he is a better option then Blanco. Yes he runs ..and runs well. However, he won’t get on base enough to be effective. Ok-he can be Willy Tavares and steal 50 bases a year…but we don’t want Willy Tavares as Willy only gets on base at a .300 clip. My fear with Anderson is that his decent OBP is largely predicated on his high batting averge. I don’t think you can assume Anderson is going to hit .300 or higher with extended time in the majors. Therefore if he hit .260 or .270 his likely OBP would be .290-.310. Not what you want for your leadoff hitter. While Blanco doesn’t steal as many bases his OBP is consitently about 100 points higher then his BA. So last year he hit only .251 but his OBP was .366. From the leadoff spot that looks much more attractive to me especially when you can hope that his BA will go up. If he increases his BA to .270-.280 his OBP would be .370-.380. The reality is that neither Blanco nor Anderson is the long term solution for the Braves in CF. So in that case-which one offers you the best chances of winning….this year?

by calbers on Feb 17, 2009 11:52 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

i think it is unreasonable to think Blanco can hti 270-280 in the majors.. esp if your think that Anderson will hit 260-270… Anderson is the better contact hitter and its not really close… although blanco still gets on base at a much higher clip… you are too optimistic on Blanco, given ur low ball on Anderson, i think

Heyward,Hanson,and Shaffer r ready now!! Why do you think they havent signed the "right handed bat"?

by fatazfoot on Jan 7, 2009 8:59 PM EST

by Swo12bv on Feb 17, 2009 2:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think the biggest area of improvement for Blanco at the plate will be recognizing that lefties get screwed by umps with calls off the plate. I didn’t keep tabs but I saw him get rung up plenty of times from a ball of the plate (that he probably could of fouled off he knew umps call that BS).

I think Anderson might be better defensively than Blanco, but Blanco is by far the more proven bat. Willy Tavares sounds about right for Josh Anderson offensively, but maybe the defense can make up for it.

"OBP is not a production number, and should not be used as something he achieved."

by VictorW on Feb 17, 2009 2:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I had no idea Javier Guzman was back with the team and at big league camp. Gondeee, where did you find this?

www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on Feb 17, 2009 12:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Well…. that would be the part of the copy and paste from last year’s MTM that didn’t get pruned — oops. I’ve corrected, he’s outta here.

by gondeee on Feb 17, 2009 2:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ok. That makes sense. Didn’t mean to call you out, I was just wondering.

www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on Feb 17, 2009 2:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No please, I need all the people looking over my shoulder that I can get. You the reader are my only editors.

by gondeee on Feb 17, 2009 3:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i hate to say it but if we are the editors we are all fucked

Heyward,Hanson,and Shaffer r ready now!! Why do you think they havent signed the "right handed bat"?

by fatazfoot on Jan 7, 2009 8:59 PM EST

by Swo12bv on Feb 17, 2009 10:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Greg White doesn’t do anything particularly well

Um, he has a tremendous eye? EPIC FAIL

SWAGGA LIKE BJONES, SWAGGA LIKE BJONES

JOE-BO FOR THE BENCH IN 09

by bigjoe on Feb 17, 2009 2:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

sick burn

by Smoltz's Beard on Feb 17, 2009 4:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ROASTED

I'll handle u in spring training - phil413

by mattdiaz4life on Feb 17, 2009 4:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Seriously, to say the guy who lead the outfield in OBP doesn’t do anything particularly well is just crazy talk.

SWAGGA LIKE BJONES, SWAGGA LIKE BJONES

JOE-BO FOR THE BENCH IN 09

by bigjoe on Feb 17, 2009 9:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Diory Hernandez...

…is a sleeper I think. For the most of last season he tore the cover off the ball in two levels. Can play 2nd and SS – and he might have (and I maybe wrong) played some 3B.

Rain Delay - Two Teams, Two Coasts - One Obsession

You can also check out my stuff at Baseball Daily Digest

by RainDelay on Feb 18, 2009 12:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs