Talking Chop

I think a few of those runs at Third

Could be credited to Brooks Conrad as well. In limited action he has had some stellar plays at the hot corner. I think Chipper has been better than last season, but not as good as he was in ’08.

This is true. Conrad has been nothing short of magnificent. He has 4 Runs Saved, which is 10th in all of baseball. Chipper has 4 as well, but in many more inings

eaheckman10 - July 7, 2010 reply

Also,

UZR has Conrad at +0.8 in limited time at 3B, but Chipper at -2.2. Which seems to fit the evidence of my eyes a bit better.

Jacob Peterson - July 7, 2010 reply

Can anyone subtract 40 from our run differential and see what our Pythag record would look like?

doing it now

It's 49-35...

same as actual record, I think.

sddbaker - July 7, 2010 reply

At least thats what MLB shows

as XWL; isn’t that the same thing?

sddbaker - July 7, 2010 reply

I didn't go there

But if you follow the math here, you end up with my results, unless I made a mistake.

44-40

If we add 40 runs on our total runs allowed. We would be on pace for 86-76. Currently, at 49-35 we are on pace for 95-67.

awesome

thanks

that picture:

I’m 95% sure Chipper injured in that play

Kobe:The Legend - July 7, 2010 reply

to be fair we are near the bottom in UZR and although it is a archaic and slightly useless metric we have some of the most errors

Yunel's defense, alone, is reason not to trade him.

Any offense that he provides is a bonus. Usually, a nice, little bonus.

He had a couple of hits last nite..

It would be a massively huge mistake for the Braves to trade away Yunel.

fandave - July 7, 2010 reply

These have been my sentiments to date

The problem is that we know he can be so much better offensively, but given what we get from catcher and 2B, our performance at CF and SS can suffer if they provide good defense. The poor defense in center to date does not surprise me. Neither Cabrera nor McLouth have much range, McLouth obviously being the better.

Cabrera takes good routes, plays balls well off the wall, has an excellent throwing arm, is smart with how he plays defense… if only he had the range he would be a fantastic defender in CF but as it is now he is just a really good corner outfielder who doesn’t hit like one.

From what I’ve seen of him in center, what has gotten to me is that he does not take control of the outfield or infield well. When balls are between him and second base, he seems content with letting an infielder come out rather than him come in, which I absolutely hate and has cost us runs.

That was his M.O. before coming here. Not enough defense to play center and not enough offense to play the corners.

Is it me, or if Melky lost 10-15 lbs, he would probably have an extra turn of speed.

The scary thing is, it’s better than I expected, right now. but that potential is kind of nuts…

I would like to see him lose some weight, too.

Maybe a full off-season with the team will convince him to get in a bit better shape.

Jacob Peterson - July 7, 2010 reply

Agreed. Maybe he does some of the little things well, I don’t know, but that can’t make up for all the times he hasn’t gotten to balls because he’s fat and slow. Nor has it helped him when he’s been gunned down or held at third because he’s fat and slow.

ajones2522 - July 7, 2010 reply

which makes him a pretty decent option for a fourth OF which is what he was supposed to be

This.

I’d rather trade some pitching depth to plug the offensive and defensive hole in center (or at least have Schafer for D).

Darin H - July 7, 2010 via mobile reply

wow, our centerfielders suck

New one at the deadline Franky? Pretty pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaase?

Brave Neander - July 7, 2010 via mobile reply

Another reason

to hope that Schafer can turn things around in AAA. He is really having a tough go of it right now but if he can get his bat even replacement level his defense would be a huge upgrade out there in center. With the rate he is striking out lately I’m getting really close to completely resigning myself to accepting that he will need a full year to get things right in the minors.

Instead of replacing Hinske/Diaz in left or Heyward in right with a right handed power hitter maybe we can add a great defensive centerfielder whose walk rates are in line with how this team operates, like say Covelli “Coco” Crisp.

Pitching, defense and not making outs… successful themes of the Braves this year that we can build on.

This is a good idea, I like it to be honest. One person who would be interesting is B.J. Upton, as his defense in center (when he tries) is always good. This year his UZR/150 is poor, but the stat is best used when grouping three years together rather than half of one year. He is right-handed, has a lot of potential, and is a great centerfielder.

The last thing we need is Upton half-assing it around the club. the old, “I only play as well as I want to play” type shit.

might as well trade for milton bradley.

He had an incident

but Bobby usually gets good play out of the people most believe don’t try all the time. J.D. Drew and Gary Sheffield are prime examples.

Bobby 'supposedly' won't be around next year (as manager)

All Freddi needs is a Hanley Diva 2.0

This

agreed

I don’t want a player like Upton on our team. I doubt Bobby would appreciate his lack of hustle anyway. I’m all about a defensive-minded, patient-at-the-plate speedy center fielder. As for schafer, I don’t think the braves have him in their future plans any longer. I look for him to be a C+ level throw in for a trade package. Maybe even by the deadline this year.

Brave Neander - July 7, 2010 via mobile reply

I’m not sure I wan’t to overpay for Upton’s ‘potential’. All I really want (for the cost) is an excellent defender in center who can get on base – any power as a bonus.

If Blanco would lay off the breaking stuff, that could be him.

lol, same for Melky.

TP must be busy doing……whetever the hell else he does….

From my limited scouting/data isn’t Blanco just an average CFer with a good arm? Correct me if I’m wrong but he doesn’t profile as that difference making elite defensive centerfielder.

Many people underrate Prado’s defense as well, calling him “average.”

If both of these guys are “average,” I’ll take it, sans any drama. Above average CFers usually always have drama.

Blanco, despite how well he’s played for us so far (especially compared to his past major league resume) is not a starting-caliber center fielder on a championship ball club.

Brave Neander - July 7, 2010 via mobile reply

Making great hitters out of...

Ross, Diaz, Hinske, Infante, et al?

By the way, Jason Heyward is God.

and even God took a day off.

Thank you Captain Obvious! :)

MBL1 - July 7, 2010 via mobile reply

I disagree

Heyward is a great baseball player. If he were indeed “God” if would not be injured.

*he

BLASPHEMY!

buzzdeadwax - July 7, 2010 reply

BANN

MBL1 - July 7, 2010 via mobile reply

In the tomb for 3 days = on the DL for 15 days?

AllSaintsDay - July 7, 2010 reply

The eye test told me his defense was terrific because of what seemed to be his incredible range. It’s good to see one of the metrics validate that.

get swoll yunel - July 7, 2010 reply

Winning 3/4 before the AS break would be gravy.

I’m ready to knock around the Mets. They’ve been treading water long enough.

To be fair,

there is huge disagreement between DRS and UZR on how good the Braves are defensively. DRS has us at +43, 3rd best in MLB. UZR has us at -9.7, 20th in MLB. Realistically, we are probably about an average defensive team, though it is nice that our best defensive player is at shortstop, the most important defensive position.

As far as CF is concerned, Melky and Blanco have been OK there—right about average. (Melky weirdly rates worse in LF than in CF.) All of the negative CF numbers we are getting are coming from McLouth, who rates terribly in both DRS and UZR. He is pretty clearly overrated in CF.

Jacob Peterson - July 7, 2010 reply

He's acknowledged the numbers in the past

Saying that he starts off in a different position than most, plays shallower so he gets to different balls that some don’t get to and doesn’t get to some that others do get to. I figure that would show up in the stats though, just mentioning how he feels about it. On the eye test, he seems to make some pretty good plays in center, but at best I feel he is average in CF and is best suited for a corner.

and is best suited for a corner...

of the bench.

lol'd

makes you wonder

how mcclouth ever got a gold glove…

dru_jones - July 7, 2010 reply

He hit well that season

So the managers gave him the Gold Glove. It sounds stupid, but it happens regularly. I would bet a lot of money on the same thing happening to Prado this season. If he were to have an average hitting season, and perform the same defensively, he wouldn’t even be in the running.

also McLouth played really good defense based on the traditional nbrs…lhe only had one error and sometimes that is all you need to do to win a gold glove…not make any mistakes..who cares f you have no range and make bad reads he caught all the balls he got to.

/slight bit of sarcasm disperesed throughout

That would be worse than McLouth...

Or Wright, or Abreu. He’s a garbage fielder.

It's funny

How I agree with one metric for certain players, and another metric for other players. Both of these systems are highly thought of, but they disagree on so many points that it’s hard to really have confidence in what they’re actually measuring. I’ve always been a bit skeptical of fielding metrics and their ability to track everything appropriately. We all know that not all groundballs are created equally. They do a good job in the big picture, but there’s so much variance that they’re always full of noise.

For example, I think UZR is more accurate when talking about Prado, Chipper, McLouth and possibly Heyward, while I think that for Melky, Yunel, Infante, and Hinske are more accurately captured by DRS. Then there’s players about which they’re mostly in agreement, like Conrad and Glaus.

Bronn - July 7, 2010 reply

You have to be skeptic of fielding metrics

None of them are perfect, and far from it. It’s unfortunate, but it is a very difficult thing to measure. Using a bunch of stats together is probably the best way to judge, and even then it only truthfully points out who is great and who is awful.

Id agree anyone who trusts UZR and dismisses DSR or vice versa is gonna make some mistkaes…its much better to use both along with scouting and your eyes.

Mclouth isn’t overrated in center because he’s just not rated highly in center. When he came to the team, there was an understanding that he was average in center, but his bat played better there than at a corner.

telemakhos - July 7, 2010 reply

I don’t care about Yunel’s D. I don’t like his facial expressions and demand that he should be traded because of this.

justincredubil02 - July 7, 2010 reply

You forgot his hair.

Bronn - July 7, 2010 reply

And the time he bickered with a scorer instead of, you know, playing baseball?

Staring at a guy

Isn’t really “bickering”

Sam Jethroe - July 8, 2010 reply

Cursing him from 100 yards away is.

Cause he stood around that one time

…an’…stuff…

Sam Jethroe - July 7, 2010 reply

And then he just casually jogged after that ball that he booted

No wait, that’s someone else.

Bronn - July 7, 2010 reply

Bobby had to take On-drew off of the field once.

Gary Thorne repeated that story daily for a decade.

Sam Jethroe - July 7, 2010 reply

Go Braves and............GO HEAT!!!!

Jay212033 - July 7, 2010 reply

Hillshire Farms……oh wait. You said HEAT. My bad.

UMDBHIK - July 7, 2010 reply

nice

mmmmmm meat

MBL1 - July 7, 2010 reply

Not surprised Yunel accounts for most of the runs saved. I’m a little surprised to find the Braves among the league leaders, however.

UMDBHIK - July 7, 2010 reply

Andruw Jones

He is making the league minimum he would be a cheap option and would not cost us much to get him from the White Sox. He still is striking out alot but speed power and a guy familiar with what we do in Braves Country. Plus he is essentially a backup and would probably relish playing in Atlanta as a starter.

RazorbackBrave80 - July 7, 2010 reply

Rosterbation

Thataway -—————>

UMDBHIK - July 7, 2010 reply

rosterbation

maybe thataway but for defensive specs andruw would be a good upgrade in center for us regardless. He hits homers plays defense at a gold glove level.

RazorbackBrave80 - July 7, 2010 reply

WHAT?

He’s way negative in UZR at every OF spot. That ship has sailed.

DSR has him postitive this year

Swo12bv - July 8, 2010 reply

Miss the Panthers blog much?

His batting avg is much better than Nate’s hell my grandma could probably swing it better than Nate right now. Range is still just as good if not better than Nate and he is still a better option than MilkDud in center. Ship may have sailed but Bobby can probably get some wind in the sails of Andruw for a few months. Stick him behind Mac or in front of Troy and even if he bats in the mid to low 200’s for avg and manages to muscle 10-15 between now in the end of the season it more than we ave been getting from center this year.

RazorbackBrave80 - July 8, 2010 reply

I'll bet my life Jones doesn't have 15 home runs in him.

andruw hasn’t had speed for quite a few years. Defensively speaking, he does have range, but that is not due to speed.

telemakhos - July 7, 2010 reply

interesting UZR and DSR are on opposite ends of the spectrum when evalutating Andruw as well.

defense wins games..

I was really surprised to see yunel among the best..but hey, never said his defense was bad, just the bat..but hopefully thats turning a corner, we REALLY need it to.

SidGlaus - July 7, 2010 reply

Hey!

Why is there not an OT for the G-Braves game?! It’s on MLB Network!

BravesRaleigh - July 7, 2010 reply

I've asked the same ?

When they have been on CSS the nights the A- Braves are not playing?

Thanks for the heads up

I am now watching.