Talking Chop

I like milestones.  In the grand perspective of what the game of baseball is, individual achievements are secondary to the greater pursuit of victory, but for the players and fans themselves, we all like to witness some milestones from time to time.  For the players, they can be used as leverage for future monetary negotiations, and/or a reminder of what they accomplished in a career that eats so many and spits them out so very unceremoniously.  For the fans, it's just a nice feeling to know that they were there when something happened.

For me, in recent years, I can say that I was in the stands when John Smoltz won his 200th game and threw his 3,000th strikeout.  I can say that I was at the park the night that Chipper Jones hit his 400th home run.  Sure those were some pretty grandiose milestones, and I wish the Braves could say that they have several players striving for some lofty milestones, but believe you me, the media may not make a deal about it, and it might not appear on the screen when they occur, but to the players, who have tendencies to save every small milestones in their career, it does matter.  In a game where numbers matter, everything is counted, and executing the little things is what equates to success, these numbers will be important to those striving for them.

Anything that appears italicized indicates the requirement for a career-high, thus making it likely not to happen.

Brian McCann, starting catcher

• Needs 9 HR to reach 100 career HR
• Needs a career-high 111 RBI to reach 500 career RBI

Yunel Escobar, starting shortstop

• 90 more hits will give him a career total of 500 hits

Nate McLouth, starting centerfielder

• A career-high 29 homers for 100 career homers
• A career-high 24 steals for 100 career SBs

Martin Prado, starting second baseman

• 40 doubles will give him a career total of 100 doubles

Troy Glaus, starting first baseman

• 25 doubles away from 300 career doubles
• Since he'll likely be batting cleanup, a monstrous, Comeback Player of the Year-worthy 121 RBI season will garner him his 1,000th career RBI

Eric Hinske, utility

• A double away from 200 career doubles

Melky Cabrera, outfielder

• 10 doubles away from 100 career doubles
• 29 walks away from 200 career BBs
• A career-high 14 homers will get him to 50 career HRs
  

David Ross, backup catcher

• 15 hits away from 300 total hits
• 26 RBI away from 200 career RBI

And last for the hitters, but most certainly not least, starting third baseman, Chipper Jones:

• 94 base hits will put Chipper Jones at 2,500 career hits (#2 Braves all-time, still 1,100 behind Hank Aaron)
• 55 RBI will put Chipper Jones at 1,500 career RBI (#2 Braves all-time, still 702 behind Hank Aaron)
• 42 times around the diamond puts Chipper Jones at 1,500 career runs (#2 Braves all-time, still 607 behind you guessed it, Frank Stallone Hank Aaron)

Jesse Chavez, relief

• 47 strikeouts will garner him his 100th career K

Eric O'Flaherty, LOOGY

• 15 punchouts will put O'Flaherty also at 100 career Ks

Peter Moylan, relief horse

• 13 more holds puts Moylan at 50 career holds
• 57 strikeouts gives him 200 Ks for his career

Takashi Saito, set-up, backup closer

• 19 saves, combined with his NPB career, will give Saito 150 career saves

Jair Jurrjens, starting pitcher

• A career-high 20 wins will give Jair 50 career victories
• A career-high 196 punchouts will put Jair at 500 strikeouts
• In 66.0 IP, Jair Jurrjens will have pitched in 500 career innings

Kenshin Kawakami, starting pitcher

• Including his NPB stats, Kawakami is 67 Ks away from 1,500 career strikeouts
• If he can play out of his head, and throw 211.1 IP, he will have a career total of 2,000 innings pitched in his career

Derek Lowe, starting pitcher

• 9 more wins will give Lowe a career total of 150 wins
• 114 strikeouts puts Lowe at a career total of 1,500 Ks
• Not a good one, but if he allows 90 more ERs, he has surrendered a career total of 1,000 ERs

Tim Hudson, starting pitcher

• 2 wins away from a career total of 150 wins as well
  
• 98 strikeouts away from 1,500 career punchouts
• If he can regain some dominance, then 3 more complete games will put Tim Hudson at a nice round 25 complete games pitched.

And the man who inspired me to write this, closer Billy Wagner:

• Wags currently sits at 385 career saves.  So 15 saves puts him at a nice milestone 400, but he needs approximately 40 saves to pass the mark set by John Franco, as the most career saves pitched by a lefty.

"I have to have a special year to top Franco," he said. "I’m going out with the mindset of accomplishing that. If I get 40 saves, there is a great chance the Braves are going to the playoffs."

Gotta love Wags' fire.  Also quoted was the realization that him turning down the Red Sox's $8M option, was because he didn't want to be Jonathan Papelbon's bridge, and to chase this statistical achievement.  It's going to be a tough one, since no Braves reliever since John Smoltz has tossed over 40 saves.  But we're all going to be rooting for him.

So yeah, the Braves milestones this year aren't exactly sexy or glamorous, especially on the hitters' side, but they're worth mentioning.  The trifecta of pitchers hoping to get their 1,500th career strikeout will be fun one to watch, and none of Chipper Jones' milestones seems unreasonable by any stretch of the imagination, and serve nothing but further cement that he's still one of the greatest players to ever play the game.  And it would be quite appropriate for Bobby Cox to witness all these milestones in his final year, to boot.

And in conclusion, one small question - would you think Bobby Cox getting ejected in his final game would be appropriate, or dreadful?