Joe Mather, a right-handed 28-year-old corner outfielder and infielder, has been claimed by the Braves. Mather has shown decent on base skills in the minors and could be a useful player. MinorLeagueSplits.com is currently down, so researching his numbers against left-handed pitching is near impossible until the site is up.
Regardless, Mather has played a good amount in right field, a bit of center, and also some in the corner infield spots. He could be a right-handed version of what Eric Hinske provided this season, which is something this team needs with left field and first base currently being occupied by left-handed hitters. He played more right field than anything else the past few seasons, but I am sure the Braves would look for him to be more flexible if they want him on the Major League team.
Mather posted a .348 on base percentage in triple-A last season, spanning 376 plate appearances. This could end up as a minor league depth move, or Mather could be a right-handed bench player in the case that Matt Diaz is not tendered a contract.
As Derrick Gold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch states, the Braves tried to trade for him in the past. It was probably Blaine Boyer being discussed, but he also mentions that it could have been Rafael Soriano. Anyways, it is better to have gotten him for free, and let's hope he can produce for the Braves in some way in the future.
0 recs | 90 comments
we should trade him to the Cardinals with a crappy reliever and Infante for Rasmus….
there i already did it and now no one else can say it…
Swo12bv - November 3, 2010
HPF myspace'd me about it already
so you aren’t the first.
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010 via mobile
LOL, MySpace!
You are adorable.
king of games - November 3, 2010
Matty D it's been fun
But so long to you Sir
-Primetime21- - November 3, 2010
Could this be the BIG BAT we’ve been looking for?
TradeAndruw - November 3, 2010
Nope.
king of games - November 3, 2010
your sarcasm detector is broken
lingsched - November 3, 2010
Championship
Taylor Masters - November 3, 2010
i like the move.
1. He’s cheaper than Diaz
2. He’s younger than Diaz and technically entering his prime.
3. He’s more versatile defensively than Diaz or Hinske. Basically another Infante except he can’t play SS.
As much as it may suck to some ppl looks like Diaz is gone and maybe even Hinske as this guy could even back up Freeman at 1B
Good move Wren.
drumzalicious - November 3, 2010 via mobile
Yep
And unlike Diaz he can actually play CF which is a huge plus for Mather.
Jay212033 - November 3, 2010
Do we not have enough mediocre CFs around these parts?
MichaelProcton - November 12, 2010
Love it
Although he’s injury prone Mather has loads of potential.
kauf67 - November 3, 2010
This.
Useful off the bench or for depth too.
SnipeShot - November 3, 2010
i like the move.
1. He’s cheaper than Diaz
2. He’s younger than Diaz and technically entering his prime.
3. He’s more versatile defensively than Diaz or Hinske. Basically another Infante except he can’t play SS.
As much as it may suck to some ppl looks like Diaz is gone and maybe even Hinske as this guy could even back up Freeman at 1B
Good move Wren.
drumzalicious - November 3, 2010 via mobile
bears repeating
carpengui - November 3, 2010
I appreciate your humor.
ATL_BUC - November 3, 2010
mwahahaha
I lol’ed
ROBravo - November 3, 2010
I wonder if he’s gonna keep that #22…
heap16 - November 3, 2010
lol
kauf67 - November 3, 2010
Well he might if Nate does what he should and give Heyward 24.
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
Why’d Nate switch from 13 anyways? For Wagner? I can’t really see Heyward switching numbers at this point.
kauf67 - November 3, 2010
Well he wanted 24, but my Heyward jersey is 22 so I guess he should stay.
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
Does he have an injury issue?
In ‘07, he had 31 HRs between AA/AAA @ 24, and then went over 1.000 OPS the next season in AAA and spent some time in the bigs with moderate success for a rookie. He was seemingly a building block for STL… But since then, he’s fallen off the map. A sub-.600 OPS across 3 levels in ‘09 (in only 60 games) and this year his sub-.800 OPS in AAA signals to me that he’s struggling with something. Anyone have any info?
theatlfan - November 3, 2010
Lingering wrist injury
From what I heard
-Primetime21- - November 3, 2010
Jordan Schafer much?
kauf67 - November 3, 2010
reply faillllll
kauf67 - November 3, 2010
Yeah, that’s the first name that came to mind when I read about the wrist…..apparently it’s completely healed now
-Primetime21- - November 3, 2010
My take: it's a fine move
really no downside at all. if he doesn’t perform and he’s a jackass in the minor league clubhouse, we just release him.
And this doesn’t mean Matt Diaz is gone. Just FYI…
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
Yeah, I don’t understand why people are instantly thinking Diaz is done because of this. Mather can play like a utilty player and possiblty start in center if he wrist is healthy (he has the tools to) or if he is still hurting he’ll be AAA filler. Diaz still fills the right handed pinch hitter/spot starter that he is still very good at.
Lets say we still bring in a LF or CF to start and play McLouth in the other spot our bench would be:
Infante – RH – 2B/SS/3B/OF
Ross – RH – C
Conrad – LH/RH – PH/ “2B/3B”
Diaz – RH – PH/LF/RF
Mather – RH – 1B/2B/3B/OF
So we have a super utilty player, backup catcher, lefty and righty pinch hitters and another super utilty player who can back up our left handed rookie at 1B if needed. To me that looks like a very, very good bench that accents our lefty heavy lineup, is flexible, and can hit.
And please stop with the “non-tender Diaz so we can go after a big bat for the outfield” Who here honestly thinks shaving ~2-3M really increases our chances of landing Werth or Crawford on a long term mega deal they are going to get? We won with depth and home grown players last year and its what we are very likely going to do in 2011.
bbxxj - November 3, 2010
This.
and as you said, Diaz won’t affect anything at all. And how could you not want a guy on your team who publicly said he’d take much less money to stay in your organization. Guys like Matty Diaz are the reason baseball is so great.
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
I give my "this" to your "this"
There’s no reason to give Diaz the boot. I may be a grown man, but I’ll probably cry if we lose Matty. He’s not a superstar, but godDAM it’s fun to watch him play.
J-Freak - November 3, 2010
He’s also one of the better hitters in all of baseball against left-handed pitchers and he’s a tremendous asset off the bench. And unless we do bring in Werth or Crawford (which ain’t happening), he’ll be with us in 2011.
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
I think Wren is going to make serious and creative efforts to bring in a big RH bat, but is not going to create weaknesses to do so. Hard to say if he can make a deal that doesn’t bust the budget and doesn’t weaken the ML team. Probaly less than a 50% shot.
fandave - November 3, 2010
I don't know how good I'd feel about Mather as our only 1B backup option.
We can hope and assume Freddie will be fine, but what if he’s not?
MichaelProcton - November 12, 2010
hey LaRussa
If you like him then you shoulda put a ring on it
bravesguy311 - November 3, 2010
CURSE YOU
now that’s stuck in my head.
Wha-oh-oh, wha oh oh oh oh oh wha oh oh (repeat 53 times)
MBL1 - November 3, 2010 via mobile
I know, I hate that song. No idea why everyone thought it was the greatest song of all time.
king of games - November 3, 2010
I just need somebody to LOOOOOVVVVVEEEE!
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
Not again
-Primetime21- - November 3, 2010
You know you have Bieber Fever.
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
what dude like Bieber?
plus, he
stolecopied my hair style.southman - November 4, 2010
That hair is awful, you should have given it to him willingly.
king of games - November 4, 2010
I hope this was sarcasm
How can you make fun of liking him and then say you have his hair style?
Doghnut - November 4, 2010
Wait a minute…
Bieber’s a guy?
TonyAlmeyda - November 4, 2010
my hair is black
and is combed down, I bet he uses gel while mine is naturally that way. Unlike him however I get good cuts
southman - November 4, 2010
not to mention he's talentless
southman - November 4, 2010
Nope, doesn’t need to be mentioned. Just put some sappy pop lyrics over a 50’s tune, add in some bad hair and some young girls who have horrible taste in boys and you get the Biebs.
king of games - November 4, 2010
exactly
couldn’t have said it better
southman - November 4, 2010
Awww damnit mvhs
That was out of my head until I read this…FML!!!
DolphinNation - November 3, 2010
That’s impossible. The greatest song of all time is Psychostick’s “This Is Not a Song, It’s a Sandwich”
J-Freak - November 3, 2010
Jagermeister Love Song is great as well.
heap16 - November 3, 2010
its awful, been in my head since lunch
bravesguy311 - November 3, 2010
Could be worse
Good pickup Wren hopefully no more Diaz in ATL.
Holty_Panthers_Fan - November 3, 2010
Quote off the STL board
Obviously, “bombs” or “Mr. Bombs” was the nickname they used for Mathers…
theatlfan - November 3, 2010
He’s had some gaudy sluggin numbers in limited AAA duty in a couple different seasons, but he hasn’t translated that to success with the Cards yet. It might be a tongue-in-cheek reference.
J-Freak - November 3, 2010
Mr. Bombs? That’s awesome. I really hope that catches on here.
cbwilk - November 3, 2010
As a frequenter or VEB
typically Joey Bombs, Bombs, or the Bombsquad is usually substituted for Joe Mather. Hopefully you guys end up with this or something just as endearing.
sociopath - November 4, 2010
He’s not a bad AAA piece, and he’s a crowd favorite in Memphis. Don’t know if he’s ever going to be able to translate what he’s done there into MLB success though.
J-Freak - November 3, 2010
Could this be a prelude to a trade involving Prado or Infante for Rasmus?
just wondering
stuckindasticks - November 3, 2010
I don’t see why it would be. Mather doesn’t play middle IF, so if we lose one of them we’re just creating one hole while filling another, and that’s just silly. He might be just be AAA depth; if they’re looking at him as an MLB bench piece it probably means the ends of either Diaz’s or Hinske’s tenure here, and most likely it’s Diaz going out if that’s the case.
J-Freak - November 3, 2010
Agreed. Plus, I highly doubt we’d include Prado in any sort of a trade. He’s young, cheap, good, and has become a fan favorite. Also I don’t know why we’d trade Mather right back to the Cards. That’s like trading a third round draft for a guy and waiving him four weeks later. Things like that never happen.
thenightstallion - November 3, 2010 via mobile
love the reference!
dean0uga - November 3, 2010
How is picking up a 4th outfielder/utility player a precurser to a trade for Rasmus?
drumzalicious - November 3, 2010 via mobile
GTFO with your logic!
Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
Actually, it makes perfect sense. You have to take a girl out on a date before you get some. This is Wren’s first date with the Cardinals. He’s just hoping that he can get some on the second one.
/terrible analogy
frozendesert - November 3, 2010
/terrible/false analogy.Scott Coleman - November 3, 2010
You could be like the Yankees and just pay for it...
Doghnut - November 4, 2010
OH SNAP!
He DID just go there.
king of games - November 4, 2010
How is picking up a 4th outfielder/utility player a precurser to a trade for Rasmus?
my thinking was that with getting mather as a versatile bench player and potential bat off the bench, infante could be used as a trade piece to fill an obvious need for the braves like rasmus.
stuckindasticks - November 3, 2010
oh ok
Infante I can understand. Not Prado.
drumzalicious - November 3, 2010
fail
Infante did great last season, stop asking to trade him
southman - November 4, 2010
Even if we get a better player back?
Doghnut - November 4, 2010
almost every trade we have made has backfired
why take that chance
southman - November 4, 2010
Most trades fail for one of the sides, if not both, in baseball. You still have to try, you never know when you’ll strike oil. Infante is easily replaced, you can find a light hitting singles machine with no speed or pop anywhere.
king of games - November 4, 2010
there's a problem
what if Chipper goes down again, who will take his place and perform like Infante did?
southman - November 4, 2010
Bill Hall? Willie Bloomquist, Felipe Lopez? Any major leaguer worth his salt should be able to hit a single at any given time against most MLB pitching.
king of games - November 4, 2010
That statement is odd considering that even the best hitters fail to reach base 60 percent or more of the time.
cbwilk - November 4, 2010
barry bonds reached base over 60% of the time
insane
kbertling353 - November 5, 2010
Over the course of his career that’s probably about the same percentage of the time he was roided up.
cbwilk - November 5, 2010
that guy's a cheater
everyone knows that
southman - November 5, 2010
I bet if you asked Chipper Jones to try and hit only singles for an entire season he could hit get on base that frequently.
king of games - November 5, 2010
Ok, great, so a Hall Of Famer could get hits. Still don’t see how that equates to “any Major Leaguer worth his salt” being “able to hit a single at any given time”. That’s just not true, and there are over 100 years worth of mathematics to back that up.
cbwilk - November 5, 2010
Im not even sure what to say about this.
Doghnut - November 6, 2010
Prado or Conrad.
MichaelProcton - November 12, 2010
Really?
You do know Infante CAME here in a trade, right?
MichaelProcton - November 12, 2010
One season does not a career make.
MichaelProcton - November 12, 2010
Infante for Rasmus?
St. Louis couldn’t hang up the phone fast enough. I want the dude too, but they’re gonna have be blown away with a Deal They Can’t Refuse.
carpengui - November 4, 2010
Rasmus trade
Delgado, Infante and Marek/Proctor. I’d throw Cash in there, but Cash is too valuable.
DolphinNation - November 4, 2010
Proctor, really?
Why would anybody want him?
MichaelProcton - November 12, 2010
Infante for Rasmus?
nobody said infante for rasmus….. duh… a reasonable offer for rasmus would be infante , delgado, marek or infante, beachy, pastornicky for example but thanks for playing.
child please
stuckindasticks - November 4, 2010
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