Braves Announce Opening Day Roster

too bad we never won one with kool keith in the fold.

I don’t have a problem with adding the power bat over another speed and glove guy, but to try to sell the decision as it’s because the guy is “clutch” or a “proven pinch hitter” is just not correct at all, and is easily disproven statistically.

agree, but there is more value to this point than ‘borderline trolling’: fredi and frank get to see these guys in the clubhouse, in the weight room, in BP, drills, practice, stretching, warm-up, dugout, bus rides, film room, etc.

so, while we can analyze the game results, that’s just a piece of the equation— an important piece— but not the whole picture. we’re making judgment calls on who should play based on what’s happening on the field only—> this is equivalent to filling out your March Madness bracket based on records and court statistics… valid but sure doesn’t put VCU or Butler in the final four.

in all fairness though…the appeal to authority “argument” is more of a perspective reminder for us fans than a legitimate zing post as fandave went for here…

love you, justin

With Hinske’s 11 dingerz last year and higher slugging percentage than Brian McCann, I think the bench already has one decent power hitter from the left. With Ross having a higher slugging percentage than McCann and punching from the right side I would not call our bench slap happy in the absence of Conrad.

While Conrad is a useful power switch hitter and a decent runner, I would have opted for Lucas because of his versatility. We already have a slugging lefty who can play 1B and LF and a slugging righty who plays C. Thus I would perceive our need to be a defensive 2B/SS with speed or high OBP and a defensive OF with speed or high OBP. Thus I think we would have done better with Lucas than with Conrad. However, Conrad did provide some great pop against MLB pitching last year. The problem is his defense just blows too much…I mean 5 errors in ST alone and 3 in one game in the playoffs. Thats just too much for me, but as stated above I do not see him everyday off of the field and I am not on the Braves payroll…

I wish I could make $187,500 for sucking at my job for a month.

Conrad’s 2010 is SSS, but Spring Training was a valuable piece of data that you can use to support your point of view??

FYI, there’s a major flaw in your thinking.

-C

wOBA
April – .281
May – .439
June – .384
July – .220
August – .414
September – .300

Alberto Gonzalez???

You really need to re-read your information on Conrad:

Season: .250/.324/.487, 8 HR, 9% walk rate, 25.4% K rate
as LHB: .242/.311/.500, 7 HR, 8%, 25%
as RHB: .278/.366/.444, 1 HR, 12%, 27%
as starter: .270/.350/.494, 4 HR, 9.8%, 23.5%
as sub: .224/.288/.478, 4 HR, 8%, 28%
as PH: .224/.262/.448, 3 HR, 4.8%, 31.7%

He did not hit anywhere near .300 as a pinch hitter. He did not hit 8 HR off the bench. He is a hacker when he pinch hits, walking at a rate that’d make Francoeur look patient and striking out at a rate that’d make Mark Reynolds embarassed. He hits for power, and he did have success last season in “late and close” situations, but his peripherals in those situations still indicate a hacker: 7.2% BB rate, 23.6% K rate, which is in line with all his other numbers and indicates he had a hot streak, not that his approach was any different in those situations to allow for any predictability in those situations in 2011.

This is how teams end up starting Jose Guillen or Carlos Silva after handing them giant contracts. “Give him a chance to earn it.”

Also, this is why certain teams never seem to be able to move beyond a prospect that hasn’t developed, which our own brain trust was guilty on to a slighter degree with Mr. Francoeur. Give him another chance…2005 brought us all such happiness!

Heck, we put up with it with front office guys for way too long, even. Schuerholz was good as Bobby’s puppet, but when he went out on his own toward the end of his time as GM, he made some terrible signings and deals, and fans seemed to continue to give him the second chance up to (and for some even still!) the point that we traded away contending for the entirety of the 201x decade in order to try to add one more year onto The Streak with Tex.

Knowing when to say past performance is an indicator of future expectations is the most important ability to have in business, sports, relationships, and even life. I’m not saying I’m perfect, but instead of going nuts over the pretty girl who can sure do certain naughty things amazingly but has no long-lasting qualities, let’s cut bait and hope to find someone that more fits what we’re looking for.

That’s a great decision if we were trying to have a team full of players who like the management. However, we are trying to win a championship. There is business and there is personal. This decision should be a business one, not personal.

I like Brooks. He seems like a fantastic guy. Unfortunately, he just isn’t really an MLB-type guy.

Right!

Hopefully nobody put out the flames coming from his ST bat.

I was very surprised he wasn’t released.

Not exactly.

I can see the argument for “power bat”, but not purely for bat. The man strikes out like Ryan Howard or Adam Dunn, but he walks at about the same rate as Juan Pierre. When he does actually make contact, he tends to hit the ball well, but he’s a .230ish career hitter, and that’s perfectly in line with what you’d expect from a guy with 2000 ABs at AAA hitting .260ish. His OBP delta is never going to be more than 75 points, meaning it’s going to be a rare day to see his OBP over .300. So 7 out of the 10 times you send him up to the plate, he will make an out. That’s where I can see an argument for more of the “slap hitting” ways of Ed Lucas (nevermind the defensive flexibility without hurting the squad) and his higher walk and lower K rates off of the bench. Lenny Harris made a career out of pinch hitting with a lot of the same offensive skills that Lucas has and nowhere near the defensive ability.

Are you sure that Conrad hit better than Lucas? Going into last week, Conrad had worse numbers than Mather…

In all fairness, those two guys helped us a lot in the playoffs.

I might feel the same way about Hicks. Look at his batting line last year in AAA. Whew, it’s ugly.

We need to pray Alex Gonzalez doesn’t get hurt.

Per MLBTR, they’re trying to work out a deal with us to keep him. Guess we’ll know within three days how that does or doesn’t shake out.

You mean Why Not? I mean, we had 10 million extra dollars to burn so we couldve kept Lee…

is the bottom line

then I am not comforted at all by your idea of an afterlife.

and then opening day came around, and Heyward was one of her favorites, too… and then Prado… and then McCann… and then Omar… and then Ross… and then Conrad…

I think pretty much the entire bench is “her favorite” now, with the exception of Lucas and Hicks, who she hasn’t really seen much of ;)

My wife’s favorite player is Chipper Jones as well, because he is “serious”. Though recently she started to like Heyward as well as soon as she saw the piece on why he wears 22.