Hi. Welcome to the TRobb Braves blog for the 2009 season. Glad you’re here. Looking forward to the season. I’ll be with you on braveshomeplate.com keeping you current on happenings, rumors, contracts, trades and news from the Braves.

I’m shooting for an informed fan’s perspective. I think DOB does a great job with ajc.com and Bowman’s pretty good with mlb.com, but there’s certainly room for an informed discussion among fans – and that’s what I’m going to engage and encourage.

If there are “statheads” and “scoutheads”, I’m a ‘tweener – I value some stats (OBP, OPS, RF) but have no desire to live in Statland; but if you value your eyes to the exclusion of the underlying numbers, you can fall in love with a player and miss the fact that he sucks (see Kyle Farnsworth). So let’s plunge ahead, shall we?

Braves Myths

Reading through the tripe written by national media members and misinformed posters and bloggers, I think it’s important that we address some popular Braves myths that have no grounding in reality.

1. 1. Kelly Johnson is lousy defensively. Actually, he’s not. If you try and get to the essence of defensive second base play, you’re looking for a guy with sure hands, who is accurate, who has range and who turns the pivot.Looking at range factor (2^nd in NL in 2008), fielding percentage (8^th) and double plays/9 (2^nd), it’s clear that Kelly has very good range, middle-of-the-pack hands and turns a nice pivot.

   I think this myth is borne of his very visible dropped pop-up that cost the Phillies game last July. That didn’t mean he sucked; it meant he dropped a pop-up.

   One thing he doesn’t do well is range to his right to make the backhand play. Hopefully, he’s been smoothing that rough edge with tutor Glenn Hubbard in the offseason. Remember, last year was KJ’s second year at 2B.

   Remember, too, that Bill James says in order to optimize your offense, you want to play guys at the toughest defensive position they can handle. KJ’s bat at 2B is far more valuable than KJ in LF. So let’s have a little faith and see if he doesn’t develop a bit more this year.
   
   

2. 2. Chipper can’t run. Chipper is fast. Chipper makes me hold my breath as he goes from first to third on a hit to right field, waiting for him to pop a hamstring or tear a quad or roll an ankle, but Chipper moves very well for a 6’4” guy.
   
   
3. 3. This rotation is nothing special. The last five Braves games (last September) were started by Jair Jurrjens, James Parr, Jose Campillo, JoJo Reyes and Charlie Morton (OK, I might have missed a tomato can in there). All but Jurrjens should have been in Richmond (yes, Campillo had a nice four months).This season, in our first five we’ll start Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, Jurrjens, Kenshin Kawakami, and (probably) Tom Glavine. That’s a huge upgrade. In fact, it’s the main reason why you should just throw 2008 out when evaluating the 2009 Braves. Three of them will pitch 200 innings; all could surpass 180.

   We go from a team that doesn’t know what it’s going to get from its starters four out of five days to a team that has a chance to win every day. Not only does that benefit the ballclub from a pitching standpoint, now the hitters aren’t pressing and the atmosphere isn’t depressing. This team can compete – especially if it gets some help in LF.
   
   

4. 4. Chipper can’t play defense. The guy is money. Good reflexes still, accurate arm, makes the barehand play on a bunt or dribbler as well as anyone. Ever, maybe. He’s not going to first anytime soon because he’s a plus defensive player. Well, that and the fact that the Braves have no decent third basemen on the farm.
   
   
5. 5. The bullpen is a mess. Huh? Mike Gonzalez (“The Cobra”) was lights out, even a few klicks short on the radar gun (14/16 saves, 44 Ks in 33 IP). Soriano’s nerve transposition surgery seems to have taken care of his elbow. Blaine Boyer was great ‘til he ran out of gas (3.78 ERA as late as July 23^rd). Buddy Carlyle was as underrated and unappreciated as any reliever in the league last year (62 IP, 1.24 WHIP, 3.59 ERA and 59 Ks in ’08).And they’ve got about nine guys (Bennett, Campillo, Ridgway, O’Flaherty, Acosta, Marek, Logan, Moylan, Stockman) who could win those last three spots on the staff. Gwinnett could go 100-40 with the pitching they’re going to have this year.
   
   
6. 6. The Braves farm is depleted (In the wake of the five prospects going to Texas in the Teixeira deal). In fact, the farm is robust with a number of nice-looking prospects – Tommy Hanson, Gorkys Hernandez, Jordan Schafer, Cole Rohrbaugh, Kris Medlen, Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman. In fact Baseball America has us rated fourth in MLB. Of course, Texas is first, but still…

Those are the myths that bug me the most. How about you?

]]> http://www.braveshomeplate.com/welcome-and-braves-myths/feed/ 1 http://www.braveshomeplate.com/braves-invite-non-roster-players-to-spring-training/ http://www.braveshomeplate.com/braves-invite-non-roster-players-to-spring-training/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:33:57 +0000 Chipper http://www.braveshomeplate.com/?p=85 Hey everyone, I just got a quick update today as the Braves have invited some non-roster invitees to spring training. Every once in a while one of these players will make the team out of spring traning but for most of them, this is about as good as it will get.

RHPs Rafael Cruz, Emiliano Fruto, Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen; LHPs Francisley Bueno, Mariano Gomez and Juan Perez); catchers J.C. Boscan, Phillip Britton, Alvin Colina and Matt Kennelly; INFs Brooks Conrad, Freddie Freeman and Brandon Hicks, and OFs Jason Heyward and Jordan Schafer are the players that have been invited.

One player that got sent down you just might see back in the Braves bullpen later in the season.  Charlie Morton is highly regarded in the Braves organization and should be in the big league bullpen later in the year.

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