Postseason Roster Construction
by Bronn on Sep 1, 2010 10:07 PM EDT
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PrintIt's September, and BP has the Braves' playoff odds at over 96%. I don't think I'm tempting the baseball gods too much if I go ahead and make this now. So, let's speculate on who will be on the Braves' postseason roster. First, a few suppositions:
1) In the first round, we will only use three starting pitchers. This means the pitching staff probably drops a couple of spots, from 12 to about 10. We won't carry a mop-up guy, that role would likely to fall to a starting pitcher who is forced into the bullpen.
2) Bobby Cox really likes to carry a third catcher, but that doesn't seem to apply this year since we didn't have a third catcher on the roster prior to September 1. Even though that's not a huge obstacle, it's still likely that having someone who can serve as the emergency catcher will suffice.
3) The "be on the active roster prior to September 1" rule is big enough to drive a truck through. Just put whoever you don't want on the disabled list. It shouldn't be considered a huge impediment.
That much said, here's how I see it shaking out.
SP1) Tim Hudson
SP2) Jair Jurrjens
SP3) Tommy Hanson
Bullpen:
Billy Wagner
Takashi Saito
Jonny Venters
Peter Moylan
Eric O'Flaherty
Derek Lowe
Kyle Farnsworth
Mike Minor
C: Brian McCann
1B: Derrek Lee
2B: Omar Infante
SS: Alex Gonzalez
3B: Martin Prado
LF: Melky Cabrera
CF: Rick Ankiel
RF: Jason Heyward
Bench:
Brooks Conrad
Eric Hinske
Troy Glaus
David Ross
Matt Diaz
Diory Hernandez
In this scenario, Lowe would actually get some usage out of the bullpen-he's basically the second righty. I could understand taking Cristhian Martinez instead of Farnsworth, but I'm expecting Bobby to go with a guy who has postseason experience there.
I dropped one pitcher basically to make extra room for Troy Glaus. He might even get a chance to start, but I don't see the Braves leaving his bat off of the roster. He's a better hitter than we saw in the weeks just before his injury, and having a big right hander available to pinch hit in the late innings is valuable. Diory Hernandez ends up being the last man on the bench, just in case of a situation in which neither Infante nor Gonzalez can play shortstop.
Put all your roster speculation here!
This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Talking Chop.
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In my head, I was considering dropping Minor
to free up two extra spots for position players, but I guess I couldn’t justify it before I published. I don’t think I’d take McLouth or another utility guy like Joe Thurston over having Minor on the roster.
The only problem with that is the roster gymnastics that were done to get McOut back up before the deadline and the media reports saying Bobby, at the very least, wants his speed and “defense” off the bench during the playoffs. I disagree with wasting a roster spot on him and heartily stand by you, but apparently the brass does not.
then who would be the odd man out?
Diory?
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by VivaLosBravos on Sep 1, 2010 10:37 PM EDT up reply actions
I doubt we’d need 8 relievers, especially with two of them being starters to begin with. Those two provide serious insurance against any faltering by the starting trio, so there’s absolutely no reason you’d need more than 5 standard relievers for the postseason, especially with the ri-f*cking-diculous number of off days they build in to postseason series these days. A guy like Farnsworth, who has both been terrible since coming over this year as well as has a pretty bleak postseason record with us to begin with, should be expendable. As good as our bullpen is, Bobby could easily make the argument that the seven bench guys are more valuable due to the options they give him than one extra one-inning reliever would be. The only hitch there is that Farny has the dreaded “veteran” tag, so it might be difficult to convince Bobby he’s the guy to cut.
Your roster.
I approve of it.
Also, the fewer times I hear the word “McLouth” in October, the happier I’ll be.
"Jason Heyward was a Greek philosopher reincarnated as a baseball player." - Don Sutton
I guess
That’s possible, but when it comes to it, having a 6th outfielder just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
In the first round though...
having him as a pinch runner makes as much sense as two former starters.
My thoughts would be McLouth has a chance to play his way on, but he certainly doesn’t look like he’s going to do that.
And for the pitchers, I’d see Dunn over Minor in the bullpen, since he has experience as a reliever while Minor doesn’t. And Lowe has to be healthy, so if he’s not that leaves Kawakami, Kimbrel, perhaps Proctor or Minor.
I like it, i guess the 2 question marks for me are lowe and diory. with lowe, if he is not hurt i dont see bobby leaving him out of the rotation, he has too much big game experience. maybe a 4 man rotation unless we’re down 1-2 and he really wants to give the ball to huddy. with diory…well i’m just not ready to give him that last spot yet. still a lot of games to play, and a glaring need could pop up.
Freddie won’t make the postseason roster, will he?
By the way, what are Lowe’s stats in the postseason (W-L, ERA)
"Tony Gwynn made sacrifices. Cal Ripken made sacrifices. I'm not sure Derek Jeter made sacrifices given the ungodly deep pockets the Yankees have." - Chipper Jones
by MBL1 on Sep 1, 2010 10:54 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
pretty good
I know he’s not exactly the same guy, but I bet thats better than people thought. thats like 5.2 2 runs or 8 innings 3 runs (probably a stretch but he’s had a few of these in his braves career)
Freddie could make it
But only if he absolutely rakes during the next month.
Minor is more of a "strikeout pitcher"...
than Dunn or Kimbrel (among others)? I don’t think so, and couldn’t you have put all your random thoughts into a single post?
I eat corn flakes for dinner
Don't kiss an ass if it's in the process of shitting on you.
"…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
What Bobby said after the game about his plans for Freeman
"Play once in a while and pick up Derrek when he needs a day and pinch hit, drive in the winning run once in a while." lol. Bobby already plans for Freddie to driving in winning runs as a pinch hitter. Gotta love the confidence.
blanco
does anyone else wish we still had gregor blanco? speaking of speed and defense…
I will pay good money...
…to buy Farnsworth a ticket to Bermuda for the month of October.
I’m crappin you negative.
Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot pie!!
I still don't like having this thread when we are only 4.5 games up in the playoffs(including WC)
Jason Heyward...great guy
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