The Replacements

With all of this rain making life boring, I thought I would take a more in-depth look at our roster. I am going to compare how our current players are doing vs. the people they replaced. Due to length, I am only going to look at position players in this edition. All stats are updated to 4/24/10.

First up is Kelly Johnson vs. Martin Prado.

Kelly Johnson- .322 AVG / 7 HR / 11 BB / 12 RBI

Martin Prado- .406 AVG / 1 HR / 9 BB / 4 RBI

I am honestly happy for Kelly. I wasn't his biggest fan, but I'm glad to see things are starting to click for him. Too bad he couldn't do that in a Braves uniform. If he did, though, we would have never gotten to see Prado grow into the solid everyday starter that he has become. On numbers alone, Kelly is having the better year right now, but I expect him to level off. He has been hitting mostly in the 1 or 8 hole for Arizona this year. The reason he has so many RBIs is because people are actually getting on in front of him. His power won't last. He has never hit more than 16 homers in a season, so I expect him to reach around 20-25 this year. Prado is more consistent and plays a bigger role in the offense. If you take him out of the batting order, our offense feels out of place. Kelly could miss some time and their line up would still produce about the same. I don't see Prado having a huge RBI year, but that's not due to his lack productivity. Either way, the braves made the right call on this one.

Next up is Casey Kotchman vs. Adam LaRoche vs. Troy Glaus.

Casey Kotchman- .279 AVG / 3 HR / 7 BB / 14 RBI

Adam LaRoche- .278 AVG / 1 HR / 7 BB / 7 RBI

Troy Glaus- .182 AVG / 2 HR / 6 BB / 8 RBI

So...Kotchman has just maxed out his power bar. Honestly, there isn't a huge discrepency in these numbers. Yes the averages are a bit different, but Glaus has crushed some balls that just haven't found holes. Think back to the No Hitter (capatilizing out of respect), Glaus's hit should have broken it up, but Dexter Fowler made the catch of his career. I'm confident he will come around. LaRoche is definitely the surprise to me out of this bunch. Usually his average is much lower at this point in the season, so I'm scared for the posibilities the second half of the season could hold. At least he's on my fantasy team. LaRoche does have Justin Upton hitting in front of him and Mark Reynolds behind him, not too shabby. So far, I think the Braves made the wrong decision in letting LaRoche go, but I don't think he would have produced like this in our lineup. I expect Glaus to prove me wrong. My prediction: Glaus will have a bigger second half then LaRoche.

Next up is Ryan Church vs. Jeff Francoeur vs. Jason Heyward.

Ryan Church- .308 AVG / 0 HR / 2 BB / 4 RBI

Jeff Francoeur- .286 AVG / 3 HR / 8 BB / 10 RBI

Jason Heyward- .246 AVG / 4 HR / 11 BB / 16 RBI

This doesn't even seem fair. We all know Heyward is unreplaceable, but Frenchy isn't doing too bad. Granted, this won't last longer than 3 more weeks. I still don't know how he has 8 walks, tripling his career total. There is still one glaring difference between Frenchy and Heyward- CLUTCH. Everytime Jason Heyward has come to the plate in big moments, he has delivered either with a hit or walk. Francoeur would have swung at three straight sliders in the dirt. Also, it's not even fair to put Ryan Church on this list for two reasons. 1. He can't even start for the Pirates. 2. When he does play, they usually bat him 5th... that's never a good idea. Obviously, good choice Braves. Thanks for finally cutting the chord.

Next up is Garret Anderson vs. Melky Cabrera.

Garret Anderson- .143 AVG / 1 HR / 0 BB (9 Ks) / 4 RBI

Melky Cabrera- .153 AVG / 0 HR / 8 BB / 2 RBI

This matchup is pretty even statistically, but I will ALWAYS take Melky over Anderson for two reasons. 1. Melky doesn't run like an old man. 2. He walks a much better rate. These two players serve two distinctly different roles for their teams. Melky has been leading off a fair bit and Garret doesn't play much, he usually pinch hits. That makes this even worse for me because Garret is striking out a lot in his few attempts. At least Melky is letting his teammates look at some pitches. In this battle, Melky wins and Garret strikes out. (couldn't resist)

Finally, Greg Norton vs. Eric Hinske.

Greg Norton- .145 AVG / 0 HR / 20 BB / 7 RBI (The entire 2009 season)

Eric Hinske- .368 AVG / 0 HR / 2 BB / 6 RBI

By far, the most clear cut battle of the replacement vs. the original player. Eric Hinske has been a blessing and a pleasure to watch. I feel a since of hope when he comes to the plate. I started to get that for Norton in his first AB last year, then he swung. Hinske has already almost surpassed Norton's RBIs and it won't be long before he starts knocking some out of Turner Field. Hands down, Hinske defeats Norton and makes him want to retire and become a coach.