BRAVES NEWS
Teheran has yet another bad outing at SunTrust Park
Going into his start on Sunday against the Brewers, Julio Teheran had a sky-high ERA of 6.65 and a FIP of 6.55 when it came to his starts at SunTrust Park. Those numbers will continue to go up after his performance against Milwaukee, which ended with him leaving the game after giving up seven earner runs through just three completed innings. The Braves’ new ballpark may be a great place to watch a game, but I don’t think that Julio Teheran is enjoying life there at the moment.
FanGraphs: Braves may as well move Freeman to third
Freddie Freeman’s recovery from a broken wrist is going better than expected — in fact, he’s shooting for a return to the lineup by July 6th, which would be amazing. Of course, it’s looking likely that he’ll be returning as a third baseman, and while there’s a lot of concern about whether or not this will work, Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs figures that the Braves don’t have much to lose here, so they may as well go through with moving the face of the franchise across the diamond.
One thing we all need to acknowledge is there aren’t really stakes, here. Although the Braves aren’t horrible, they’re also not good. They’re nowhere close to first place in their division, and they’re even less close to occupying a wild-card spot. This year’s Braves aren’t going anywhere, so this isn’t going to make or break the season. The idea is to just be more competitive. Give the fans a little something extra. Go for 78 wins, instead of 75.
Is there an enhanced injury risk? My gut says, yeah, a little bit, just because, for Freeman, third base is less familiar. But there’s also a lesser chance of rolling an ankle on the bag, and third basemen don’t have to deal with so many baserunners. So maybe the injury risk is the same, or lower.
Braves have franchise record for June runs in sight
Despite missing Freddie Freeman, the Braves’ offense has been clicking more often than not, and it’s to the point where Michael Cunningham of the AJC noticed that they’ve got a shot at breaking a scoring record for the month of June.
The Braves have scored 128 runs over 23 games in June, tied with the Diamondbacks for fourth-most in the majors. The 1976 Braves hold the Atlanta franchise record for runs scored in June with 159 over 29 games.
The Braves rank sixth in the majors for June batting average (.262) and have the sixth-fewest strikeouts (163). They are tied for 10th with 42 doubles and tied for 11th with a .336 on-base percentage.
Joe Simpson is not a fan of the Braves’ organist
Atlanta Braves organist Matthew Kaminski is known for his witty sense of humor when it comes to picking out songs to play whenever the opposing batters are at bat. If you’ve got a decent amount of music knowledge, then it only enhances the ballpark experience. With that being said, Braves TV color commentator Joe Simpson doesn’t appear to be a huge fan and was critical of the organist during Sunday's loss. Basically, he doesn’t want to hear the music while the team is losing badly. This not only incurred the wrath of plenty of fans, but also forced the President of the Sports Organist Network and Trade Association to make a statement. Don’t come for the organist, Joe Simpson!
Statement from SONATA President @Gilimber.
— SONATA (@SportsOrganists) June 25, 2017
Thank you fans for the wonderful messages of praise & support for our talented @bravesorganist. pic.twitter.com/DXYG7afgpU
MLB NEWS
Mets are “open for business” and could be selling soon
If reports from Buster Olney are accurate, then we’re about to see the Mets go into firesale mode. According to Olney, the Mets are “open for business” when it comes to trades, which means that some of their veterans could be on the way out as a drama-filled season continues to get even more dramatic for the Mets.
The Mets have other good reasons to be sellers, too: They have a handful of veteran soon-to-be free agents just waiting to bring back prospects. Jay Bruce, Addison Reed, Lucas Duda, and Curtis Granderson all have contracts expiring at the end of the season, and could prove valuable to hopeful contenders heading down the stretch. Reed, in particular, could generate significant interest, as talented relievers are always in demand for teams looking to play into November. Other players, such as Jerry Blevins and Asdrubal Cabrera, have team options for next year, but are definitely not part of the team’s long term plans for the future.
Three A’s hit their first MLB homers in the same game
Matt Olson, Jaycob Brugman, and Franklin Barreto will all never forget what happened on June 24th, 2017. That’s because all three of them managed to hit their first career big league home runs in the same game. In fact, this was the first time that this had been done since the days when there were three major leagues running around back in the mid-1910s. Needless to say, this is an extremely rare achievement and these three rookies will go down in history for this. It’s obscure history, but history nonetheless.