2012 Lineup, The Future looks great!

by bACEballstud on May 25, 2009 3:50 PM EDT Comment 43 comments

Here is my take on our 2012 Opening day lineup. This List is based solely on our minor league Farm System not including trades. Therefore anyone of these players could be traded for perhaps a RH bat because we are so Left heavy.

Lineup

1. Schafer, Jordan (L) CF

2. Escobar, Yunel (R) SS

3. Chipper, Jones (S) 3B

4. Johnson, Cody (L) LF

5. McCann, Brian (L) C

6. Heyward, Jason (L) RF

7. Freeman, Freddie (L) 1B

8. Johnson, Kelly (L) 2B

Bench

Sammons, Clint

Prado, Martin

Hernandez, Diory

Hicks, Brandon

Hernandez, Gorkys

Jones, Brandon

Rotation

1. Hanson, Tommy (RH)

2. Jurrjens, Jair (RH)

3. Rohrbough, Cole (LH)

4. Lowe, Derek (RH)

5. Medlen, Kris (RH)

Closer: Kimbrel, Craig

With these guys ready to step in at any moment or trade bait, because obviously we can't have a 11 Man Rotation. This is also with the undetermined future of Tim Hudson, beyond his option year since they pretty much said the Braves will pick that up.

Morton, Charlie

Locke, Jeff

Redmond, Todd

Reyes, JoJo

Delgado, Randall

Parr, James

The bullpen is always up in the air but look for some of these guys to be transferred to the pen.

What do you guys think? Different rotation? Different batting order? Who will be in the bullpen? What about our powerless bench? And Yes I know I listed 6 on the bench when the Braves usually carry 5.

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Comments

RE

It is way way way to early to count on Rorhrbough (he is constantly hurt) and Cody Johnson has one of the highest strike out rates in the minors..

I agree, this might be best case scenario but things never turn out like this when talking about prospects.

by jsmall404 on May 25, 2009 4:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cody Johnson has one of the highest strike out rates in the minors

Cody Johnson has ~~one of~~ the highest strike out rates in the minors
Fixed. Sure Johnson has great power, but if he Ks that much he will never be a 4 hitter in the majors.

by yondaime4 on May 25, 2009 9:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

ummmmm...

this season has been GIGANTIC for Johnson. while he may strike out 1/3 of the time, he will hit a HR 1/3 of the time. Isn’t that what you want from your 4 hitter?

I highly doubt Chipper is around in 3 years, and if he is, he wont be a Brave.

by apoxonbothyourhouses on May 26, 2009 12:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Didn’t Chipper just sign a 4 year extension? Why would he go anywhere?

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on May 26, 2009 12:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

apox

dude if he is strikin out like he is now in High A how many times you think he will strike out in the majors? He has a long way to go before we say he is our number 4 hitter in our lineup.

braves#1

by rockybull on May 26, 2009 12:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

but he doesn’t hit a homer 1/3 of the time. If anyone hit homers 1/3 of the time they would have around 200 homers on the season.

by yondaime4 on May 26, 2009 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

no

you dont want someone who will strikeout 1/3 of the time and homer 1/3 because no one homers 1/3 rd of the time, and Johnson does have great on base skills like an Adam Dunn

by jsmall404 on May 26, 2009 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

True there are always the unknown variables, but I was basing this off our prospects and where they are slated to fit in the lineup with my own insight on where I think they will bat and what now. There will always be injuries and players that don’t pan out, but I’d say we have one hell of a farm system. It will be interesting though to see what we do about getting some right handed power in our lineup.

by bACEballstud on May 25, 2009 4:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I love watching people rosterbate...

No homo

SubParr

by nick9314 on May 25, 2009 5:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not bad, but i see Gorkys MUCH MUCH MUCH more likely to be our LF than Cody Johnson. And if Gorkys isn’t in LF for us then he is starting in the OF for another team. Cody i see as trade bait plain and simple. You know i actually think Travis Jones has a chance to be in the future at second base perhaps, i just like the guy for some reason. Alot can change by then, trades, injuries, not playin up to potential etc…

braves#1

by rockybull on May 25, 2009 5:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I definitely agree that if Gorkys not in our starting lineup he will be in someone else starting 9. However, I only see one of Schafer and Gorkys in our lineup. I really like Codys power and in fact his average is petty damn good this year as well, but he is only in High A. I believe he is hitting .283 on the year. But then there are his tons of strikeouts to go along with that.

by bACEballstud on May 25, 2009 6:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jones

I’m not sure why either, exactly, but I’m high on Travis Jones as well. He is putting together a nice season in AA. He’s shown good power for a MI and now he’s getting has AVG and OBP up.

by sunking1056 on May 25, 2009 11:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Travis Jones is from SC therefore you are correct in being high on him.

by yondaime4 on May 26, 2009 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

right on!

"When life gives you lemons, just say 'F*ck the lemons,' and bail."

by Bravely going forward on May 26, 2009 12:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What about defense?

Has anyone seen him play, or know about his ability? If he’s above average defensively, those offensive numbers look very good.

"…aren’t worthy enough to hold his (Pujols) ass cheeks apart while Playboy models wipe him with thousand dollar bills after he craps out the cure to whatever previously-incurable disease." by royhobbs 1/7/09

by buzzdeadwax on May 26, 2009 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He’s not above average, but he’s very solid. He’s not fast, but he’s quick and he makes all the right plays. He’s not perfect, but he’s learning like everyone else. If he can throw up some of the power numbers and do some hitting, he’d be a very fine ML second baseman. We’ll see.

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on May 26, 2009 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

six lefties in the batting order?

by KC Ryan on May 25, 2009 7:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yea that worries me to.

Prob would be more like

Schafer
Freeman
Chipper
Heyward
McCann
Escobar
Johnson
Whoever our Right Fielder is

I love KJ but I wouldnt be to hurt if they traded him and slotted someone in his place at 2B that was RH. maybe Diory Hernandez or or someone

by drumzalicious on May 25, 2009 8:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

heyward would be the RF

by yondaime4 on May 25, 2009 9:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well i left that open in case FYF goes on some tear and becomes some dominant beast.

by drumzalicious on May 26, 2009 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Where's Francoeur?

He’s obviously our right-handed power bat of the future!

by MattDiazFanClub on May 25, 2009 10:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You hear that?

It sounds like faint chanting … MVP … MVP … MVP

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on May 25, 2009 11:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Being real honest if FYF could just give us a .800 OPS with a 280 Average i would be satisfied

by drumzalicious on May 26, 2009 12:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I should hope so

an .800 OPS is pretty darn good

by Lennox on May 26, 2009 1:08 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I can’t really envision any situation where Cody Johnson would actually hit ahead of Jay Hey.

Tommy Hanson 4 ROY

by timmy3 on May 25, 2009 11:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

+1 for correct assumption
-10 for use of a nickname involving the first letter of a players first name and an indiscriminate amount of letters from his last.

by yondaime4 on May 26, 2009 12:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I just wish Cody Johnson was Right Handed. . . .

by drumzalicious on May 26, 2009 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

ditto.

but there’s always a possibility that Grant Green falls to us…

by apoxonbothyourhouses on May 26, 2009 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Its going to blow some minds and may make some people upset but i wouldnt mind Trading Schafer and a smaller piece like Diory Hernandez/Brandon Hicks for Ryan Ludwick.

The reason i say that is cause we have Gorkys ready and willing to step in and be our CF in the years to come. it was already said before during this offseason that Gorkys was a better defender, and had more speed than Schafer the only difference was that Schafer was a little more polished and would give you a few more HR’s.

Personally if Schafer continues this trend i wouldnt mind having Gorkys as our CF. In fact i would put Blanco in AA and Gorkys in AAA now.

From there we get Ludwick till 2011 and we would hopefully be smart enough to re-sign him after that. therefore giving us a RH power bat to go in LF. If FYF keeps stinking it up by the time Heyward is ready then replace FYF with Heyward

by drumzalicious on May 26, 2009 12:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’ve heard a ton of people call Heyward that. I prefer “Oden” as a nickname for him, in reference to the fact that he looks like he’s 40, but that’s me.

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on May 26, 2009 12:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Isn't Oden also a Norse God?

20 seconds later I find that it’s “Odin”. Still a good nickname (even better?), since some refer to Hanson as Jesus. Freeman can be Hephaestus, because while he may be a future savior, he has one ugly mug.

by buzzdeadwax on May 26, 2009 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hephaestus...

might be Lowe, given the deal with his ex-wife…

"When life gives you lemons, just say 'F*ck the lemons,' and bail."

by Bravely going forward on May 26, 2009 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jamie Kotsay = Aphrodite?

"If on-base percentage is so important, then why don't they put it up on the scoreboard?"
President, CEO, and chairman of the Brandon Jones fan club. PLEASE COME BACK! PLEASE COME BACK! PLEASE COME BACK!

by bigjoe on May 26, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

obviously

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 May 27, 2009 9:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Schafer can’t even handle a decent MLB fastball at this point …

Who’s to say he’s even on a big league roster in 3 years?

by Lennox on May 26, 2009 1:12 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What kinda sucks about it is the Braves can’t afford to wait around. we already are waiting on everyone else in the OF. Its like our IF is a whole different team

by drumzalicious on May 26, 2009 1:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Schafer as the opening day starter was a reach by the organization. I hate to see a young guy get dominated this way and I don’t believe striking out every 3rd trip to the plate is good for development. If Blanco were playing well right now, it would be much simpler. Someone like Ryan Spilborghs would make sense as filler but honestly we really need two impact bats in the outfield and we flat don’t have the dollars on the payroll to fit that big bat or two in.

"for my little nephew: in my second drawer where i keep my weed, under the handgun is a stack of pornos that will put callouses on your hands"

"Fundamentals are a crutch for the talentless"

"You wanna know about relationships, I know all there is to know – just ask my second wife Tina – yea she was a stripper and if Montel Williams wants to talk some shit some more then he can go f**k himself cause those charges were dropped."

-Kenny Powers

by jeg on May 26, 2009 3:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

we honestly could just benefit from one.

With the way Kotchman is crushing the #2 hole we just need someone to go between Mac and Chipper. someone to expand our line up and add depth.

If we got someone like Ludwick it would greatly expand our Lineup for the next few years. Then from there if Gorkys makes it up we expand it even more by having a more solid Lead Off Canidate i would love a lineup of

Gorkys
Kotchman
Chipper
Ludwick
McCann
Kelly
Escobar
FYF

Only reason why i say Kelly before Escobar is because Escobar likes to GIDP

by drumzalicious on May 26, 2009 10:30 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs