Beginning Thursday, it’s a new season for the Braves, albeit one in which they begin six games out of a playoff spot. The Phillies and Giants have been hot lately, pulling away from the field in the NL East and NL Wild Card races, while the Braves have barely treaded water. This week they went […]
Category: Braves
Francoeur traded for living, breathing professional baseball player
I need to forget the Chart of the Day more often. I was expecting the inevitable Braves release of Jeff Francoeur to be an addition-by-subtraction kind of event where the team just let him go over the offseason and expected to get better, if only because there was nowhere to go but up. Seriously, Jeff […]
Braves Chart of the Day: July 9, 2009
We’re digging into the farm system for today’s chart. A 16th-round pick out of Nova Southeastern University (Division II), Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg is the Appalachian league’s leading hitter and the Danville Braves’ first baseman. He’s hitting .459/.500/.721 in 70 PAs, which is basically what I do in my video games. Below is a chart of his […]
Braves Chart of the Day: July 8, 2009
Objectively speaking, Brian McCann has been the Braves’ best hitter this year. He has an .883 OPS, the best among Braves who have been regulars all year. But is McCann anti-clutch? He has been this year. His WPA is barely in the black at +0.03 despite All-Star-level numbers in most categories. The “clutch” component of his […]
Braves Chart of the Day: July 7, 2009
We’re back! I’d love to say I had some trouble with the switch to digital or something, but that wouldn’t make any sense. Today’s chart shows Chipper Jones’ season gradually getting worse and worse. He’s been stuck around .300 for most of the year with a very slight decline in power and walks since the […]
Braves Check: July 6, 2009
Last week was up-and-down, in that order. “Up” was a three-game sweep of the division-leading Phillies and a five-game win streak, while “Down” was losing the last two to the Nationals, with an increasingly rare bullpen meltdown to blame for the end of the winning streak. The 4-2 week left the Braves four games back […]
Braves Check: June 30, 2009
The daily charts are probably going to be slow, if I get to them at all, until next week. I’ve just been too busy to commit the time to the blog, with family in town last weekend and more coming this weekend. You’ll also have to pardon my tardiness this week, but at least I’m […]
Can the Braves trade for another bat? Corey Hart Edition
This may or may not be a recurring series, depending on how long the Braves remain in contention without trading for offensive help. The Nate McLouth trade was nice, but the Braves still need offensive help if they plan to reach the postseason this year. The trade rumors have been somewhat quiet on that front, […]
Braves Chart of the Day: June 24, 2009
Today we’re going to talk about one of Joe Morgan’s favorite topics: consistency. The opposite of “consistent” would be “streaky,” and one Brave in particular has been noted over his career for his streakiness. That’s Kelly Johnson, and he’s the inspiration for today’s chart. The Braves never seem to know what they’re going to get […]
Braves Chart of the Day: June 23, 2009
To say that the Braves didn’t have much team speed before trading for Nate McLouth would be an understatement. The various broadcast teams covering the Braves have made a big deal about his speed since then, focusing especially on his stolen base success. I have to commend them for this, particularly the FOX team of […]