Braves Quote For The Day
by gondeee on Jan 17, 2010 5:10 PM EST
in Braves Quote For The Day
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PrintThe Braves old first baseman comments on park effects (as he sees them):
"As a hitter, for whatever reason, when you’re in a ballpark where you know you can drive the ball out from foul pole to foul pole, it just does something to your confidence," LaRoche said. "I felt that a little bit playing in Atlanta. I enjoyed hitting there. It was very fair. But the fact is, when you go into a place like Cincinnati or Philadelphia, some of these smaller ballparks where the ball travels well, your confidence is up. That definitely weighs on your decision."
The quote if from an article by John Perrotto, and I highly recommend it. There is some good information about Adam LaRoche's decision to choose the Diamondbacks over the Giants.
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i don't blame Adam for not wanting to play in San Francisco
Its like you have to be on steroids or something to hit a HR to right field!
Remember folks, I'm almost always wrong.
"Let Jason Heyward start the season in RF, and get the hell out of his way."
Tyreke Evans for Rookie of the Year.
Peyton Manning = Best Quarterback of all time.
At Arizona, our basketball team doesn't rebuild...we re-load.
by Scott Coleman on Jan 17, 2010 5:17 PM EST via mobile reply actions
309 feet is a poke
And Adam has a few hat sizes between him and McCovey Cove stardom.
"...Braves tie! ...Braves tie! ...Braves tie!"
by The Keith Lockhart Era on Jan 18, 2010 12:06 AM EST up reply actions
For $11 million more guaranteed
I think I could live with a little less confidence. This sounds like him trying to cover up a poor decision.
As for trying to win, I’m pretty sure Arizona was far worse than the Giants last year.
i agree except I’d argue ARZ has just as much potential as SF this season. SF has added DeRosa and not much else, plus I really doubt Sandoval is as good as he was last year. Arizona on the other hand gets Webb back, LaRoche and Kelly, and Edwin Jackson over Max Scherzer which for 2010 is probably an upgrade. Are they for sure better than SF? No but if you really think ARZ is as bad as last year suggests then you’re going to be surprised
by McCann's the Man on Jan 17, 2010 5:26 PM EST up reply actions
Arizona's chances...
…are highly dependent on Webb’s health, so it is really hard to say. I don’t think Jackson is better than Scherzer this year or any other, too. But, both are young, so it is tough to know for certain. The Diamondbacks could certainly surprise, but there are still plenty of question marks there.
not questioning any of this and I really could see Scherzer as the better pitcher at this point as well but if Jackson can pitch like he did last year and factor in the AL-NL switch he’s probably a slight upgrade
by McCann's the Man on Jan 18, 2010 3:54 PM EST up reply actions
I don't expect ARZ to be as bad
But like you said, I don’t see them as for sure being better than SF. That’s where the LaRoche’s comments about “having a better chance to win” don’t really make sense to me.
by blindsided789 on Jan 18, 2010 10:52 PM EST up reply actions
if his contract offers were 150 mil vs 140 mil, i would buy this…but he took a huge drop…i dont buy he did that because of the ballpark
"If I have asthma, they won't let me scuba. And if I can’t scuba, then what’s this all been about?? What am I working toward??"
If he were at the very end of his career...
That’d be one thing. But the dude’s barely 30. He clearly decided that he’d rather try for another chance at a big deal following next year or after 0’11 than take a decent—but not great—deal this year.
Advance apologies if the contents of this sports-based post offended you. I'm just aiming to educate the masses. My law professor says they're asses.
by MichaelProcton on Jan 17, 2010 6:09 PM EST up reply actions
His big deal would be 2011...
if it’s a club option, and he plays well, they pick up that option as cheap as it is. A .280/30+ HR season from LaRoche and he’s staying in Arizona for another year. Anything less, and if his option isn’t picked up, he’s going into a market with several much more accomplished 1B available, and the same numbers that he came into this offseason with that got him nothing better than 2/17 from San Fran.
Only that....
there are premium 1B coming on the market than…If he would get his payed day it would have been this off season but he miss judge the market and over shooting it on a 3/10 which his agent is to blame….He will have to suck it up with the discounted rate this year and next with the D’backs and accept that he Fucked up!! Sorry he missed read the market and should have come in at a better FA price than he did….Other wise the braves would have already signed him at this point….
Most of those "premium" 1B seem to be older...
Konerko, Lee, Berkman (although he has a reasonable club option), Dunn, Glaus, Huff, Pena, and Pujols (reasonable club option). With that as his competition, it seems like there would be more jobs open, and considering their age and overall games, I could see a team wanting LaRoche over all of those names that aren’t likely to stay with their clubs (Pujols/Berkman). IF he has a good season, he sets himself up nicely for Washington, Tampa, Chicago, perhaps the Mets, or several other teams.
I agree.
People say the free agent crop of 1B is very good next year, but that includes guys who will probably resign before then like Pujols (Cardinals just won’t let him go) and Berkman (who may be on the severe downside of his career by then anyway, but the Astros will pay too much to resign him because their front office is not the smartest).
To me this makes him look bad. He wants to beef up his stats to earn his next big pay day. In no way does he seem to care about winning or helping his team win.
At the end of the day, it’s a business and we all know players are looking to help themselves get the big dollars. I just don’t think you say I’d rather play in a smaller park. Like I said, it just sounds petty and selfish.
Wouldn't "beefed-up" stats help his team win?
Advance apologies if the contents of this sports-based post offended you. I'm just aiming to educate the masses. My law professor says they're asses.
by MichaelProcton on Jan 19, 2010 6:19 PM EST up reply actions
I'll say it again...
why not just resign with the Braves a team he had a proven record of playing well with? Sign for a year and then go back on the market. Sign for 2 years wait out the economic mess (will it end in a year?) and he’s still young enough then to get a good 3 or 4 year contract.
uhhh
maybe because we didn’t offer him arbitration or a contract?
Remember folks, I'm almost always wrong.
"Let Jason Heyward start the season in RF, and get the hell out of his way."
Tyreke Evans for Rookie of the Year.
Peyton Manning = Best Quarterback of all time.
At Arizona, our basketball team doesn't rebuild...we re-load.
by Scott Coleman on Jan 17, 2010 6:09 PM EST up reply actions
Swish.
"...Braves tie! ...Braves tie! ...Braves tie!"
by The Keith Lockhart Era on Jan 18, 2010 12:07 AM EST up reply actions
By the time...
…his price came down to what we would pay, we had already signed Glaus. On the positive side, if Glaus gets hurt and the D-Backs aren’t in contention, we can always grab him for his good second half again. ;)
i’d be down for that.
Remember folks, I'm almost always wrong.
"Let Jason Heyward start the season in RF, and get the hell out of his way."
Tyreke Evans for Rookie of the Year.
Peyton Manning = Best Quarterback of all time.
At Arizona, our basketball team doesn't rebuild...we re-load.
by Scott Coleman on Jan 17, 2010 7:17 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
That's part of the reason I don't like getting backup options now.
There will be guys available midseaseon for middling prospects because they are rentals on teams who aren’t competing and we can know what we need more then.
Laroche....
Fucked this up…..sense he wanted more money and years on contract he missed ready the market with his agent…….His fault and will pay the discounted price that he will play at the D’back and next year with all the 1B high caliber guys coming out he has little to no hope to get that 3/30 chance to get that ever again….sorry he fucked up
I agree that it was a drastic miscalculation on the part of LaRoche and his agent,
But either way I still hope it all pans out for him. I hope he gets what he’s seeking money wise next season and I hope he earns it playing in Arizona. It’s not his fault we didn’t offer him a decent deal. I’ll always look fondly on his time(s) as a Brave.
"...Braves tie! ...Braves tie! ...Braves tie!"
by The Keith Lockhart Era on Jan 18, 2010 12:08 AM EST up reply actions
Which high-caliber guys are those?
Advance apologies if the contents of this sports-based post offended you. I'm just aiming to educate the masses. My law professor says they're asses.
by MichaelProcton on Jan 19, 2010 6:20 PM EST up reply actions
It's still in Millions!
I don’t feel sorry for the guy! Not the smartest move to turn down a 17MM offer but if he plays well in Arizona and likes the park- he is still getting paid in millions- dumb move but not a loss by any means, his price will go up again next yr if he performs…
kinda feel the same way "onlybraves"
yeah, he left money on the table turning down San Fran but he is still pulling down an income that many of us can only dream of. Take the 1-year contract, play in the hitter friendly park, improve your 1st half season stats & try to erase the perception that you’re only a 2nd half season hitter, increase your FA value and play the market next year. Is it a gamble? Sure it is. But if it falls through, unless he’s an economic doofus, the guy is still set for life. Making millions playing a kid’s game. (Poster chews Braves cap due to insane jealousy.)
by adc62 on Jan 18, 2010 1:55 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
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