Bench Grows Stronger with Overbay Signing
August 21, 2012 at 2:17 am by David Lee under Atlanta Braves, Transaction Analysis
As I linked to earlier in the news post, the Braves signed first baseman Lyle Overbay to a minor league deal and will send him to Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday.
Overbay will be on the Braves bench come Sept. 1 when rosters expand, providing Atlanta a bat to solidify the left-handed half of its pinch-hit crew.
It was reported a couple weeks ago the Braves were looking hard for a left-handed bat for the bench, getting linked to names such as Johnny Damon. It’s a sign that they aren’t satisfied with Eric Hinske’s production, and for good reason. Hinske is hitting a lowly .205/.282/.299 with a .254 wOBA and just one home run. It’s apparent that he can no longer be trusted with the big pinch-hit at-bat late in the game.
Meanwhile, Overbay is hitting .292/.367/.448 with a .347 wOBA and 10.9% walk rate in 110 plate appearances this year. That includes a .364 wOBA against right-handed pitchers, compared to Hinkse’s .273.
Overbay has two 20-homer seasons to his name, but he has never been known for pop. However, he does know how to get on base, owning a career .344 wOBA with an 11.3% walk rate. While the pinch-hit home run is always big, having the ability to get on base late in the game means a lot. Overbay is capable of doing this, while Hinske has proven he can’t right now.
Signing Overbay is another shrewd move by Frank Wren in shoring up what was a weak bench just a few weeks ago. The addition of Reed Johnson in the Paul Maholm deal was a great move in that it gave the Braves a legit right-handed bat that they lacked since Matt Diaz went under. While trading for Paul Janish was out of necessity, it still proved to be a great move, and Janish should provide sound defense off the bench when Andrelton Simmons returns.
The bench was perhaps the Braves’ weakest link earlier in the season, but several solid moves by Wren changed that quickly. Overbay is just the latest example.
Ben Sheets Signing Means No Risk, Solid Potential
July 1, 2012 at 5:52 pm by David Lee under Atlanta Braves, Transaction Analysis, Transactions
As reported prior to the game Sunday, the Braves signed Ben Sheets to a minor league deal. He will make his first start Wednesday for Double-A Mississippi.
Frank Wren said Sheets could potentially be a rotation member within a few weeks. This is a bold statement for someone who hasn’t been on a mound since 2010. Sheets underwent Tommy John surgery after 119 innings for the Athletics that year, and the right-hander has been on the disabled list seven times in his nine-year career.
However, the move comes with no risk. As a minor league deal, the Braves are not guaranteeing Sheets anything, and if he doesn’t return to form, they can cut bait with no loss.
And if he does return to form, the Braves get a 33-year-old that once posted a 28.2% strikeout rate over 237 innings. Sheets has recorded a strikeout rate over 20% three times while earning a career 3.65 FIP and 20.1% K-rate. He has always displayed great control with solid strikeout stuff, working off a low-90s fastball and a curveball that profiles as a true out pitch. Sheets also ramped up his changeup usage at 16.3% while in Oakland, so we’ll see whether he goes back to the fastball more or remains changeup-heavy in his return.
In the meantime, Sheets will work in the minor leagues as he attempts to regain his stamina and feel. Look for him to make several starts between Double-A and Triple-A, and monitor his progress, because his walk and strikeout totals could tell a story on how he responds to the elbow surgery.
If all goes well in the minors, Sheets could take a spot occupied by Mike Minor or Randall Delgado. If Sheets blows the Braves away in his return, the younger pitchers could even find themselves involved in trade rumors. We’ll see how it goes.
I Would Have Kept Jairo Asencio
March 29, 2012 at 7:14 pm by Ben Duronio under Atlanta Braves, Transaction Analysis
The Braves apparently liked having three lefties in the bullpen last year. For different stretches of the season, the Braves carried both a left-handed specialist in George Sherrill and a right-handed specialist in Peter Moylan or Cory Gearrin. Having specialists certainly has its benefits, but it also can cause issues as well. I cited many times last year, and the guys talked about it in the podcast last night, that the biggest problem the Braves bullpen had was the lack of a right-handed pitcher in middle relief that can succeed against hitters of any handedness.
Arodys Vizcaino was supposed to be that pitcher, but his elbow ligament did not allow him to fill this spot. Instead, the Braves are likely going with Yohan Flande and Gearrin — maybe Moylan at some point in the season as well — as the final two members of the bullpen. I would have kept Jairo Asencio.
His Major League stats in a short stint last year were awful, but Asencio was absolutely dominant in 54.2 triple-A innings. While his 2.56 FIP in Gwinnett will rise significantly in a full season in the Majors, Asencio was still likely the better option than at least one of those two pitchers.
The difference between them all is likely very small, and I have not heard the cash total that they are receiving back. I expect it is a small amount though. It is possible that the Braves figured they would have to send Asencio down at some point, so they got something of value for him when there was an offer still on the table. I would have rather seen them take the risk with Asencio though, as the potential for him to become a very solid middle reliever outweighs the risk of missing out on the likely small sum they received for his services, in my opinion.
Wren Doesn’t Need to ‘Respond’ To The Jose Reyes Deal
December 5, 2011 at 2:58 pm by Franklin Rabon under Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins, NL East News, Transaction Analysis
A lot of Braves fans have been burning up Twitter with the news of the Marlins apparent signing of Jose Reyes. The main theme is “how is Wren going to respond to this move?! How will we compete?!” My answer is “the same way we were going to in the first place, by making smart, long term sustainable moves.”
First, let’s briefly address the Marlins by making the obvious pun, something is really fishy here. I don’t think the Marlins, in their wildest dreams, believe that things are really going to turn around attendance wise in South Florida. Sure, their will be an initial bump, as curiosity about the new ballpark and weird conglomeration of new faces causes a few people to pack the stadium early on. It’s also hard to make out exactly what will come of the SEC investigation on Loria’s ripping off south Florida Taxpayers creative public financing for the new stadium.
My belief is that Loria is looking to build some appearance of value based upon the fleecing of the taxpayers for a new stadium and a few big gate seasons and then sell the team before the bottom falls out. That’s just speculation obviously, but a lot is going on here that we’re not privy to, and the Securities and Exchange Commission is taking a look, which is never a good thing.
Even with Reyes, the Marlins have a lot of holes. Nobody is exactly sure of how healthy Josh Johnson is going to be, and even with him, their pitching is shaky at best. The Marlins could field a very dangerous lineup, with their young power talent plus Reyes and Hanley. But that won’t really matter if they get the same pitching they had as last year. Sure, they could contend, but these moves aren’t made at an angle of trying to contend, they’re made at being flashy, generating headlines and publicity.
Another telling sign was the lack of no trade clause. Not because that, in and of itself means much, but because historically the Marlins have handed out no trade clauses. If this had been the Braves, nobody would have thought twice about the lack of a no trade clause, because that is just how the Braves operate. But with the Marlins, it was a deliberate change of strategy. They’re clearly not willing to commit to this ‘spending plan’ for the long haul.
At best, the Marlins and Mets are just switching places right now. Now, if they go out and sign C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols, then we’re perhaps talking a different scenario, but I still see that as unlikely. I think because of the trouble the Marlins give the Braves at times, we tend to forget that the Marlins were actually the last place team in the division. They finished 17 games behind the Braves.
Thus, I believe that the notion that the Braves have to “respond” to the Marlins moves is absurd. Will the Marlins be better this year? Absolutely, it’d hard to be a whole lot worse, they lost 90 games last year. However, I don’t really see a world in which they make a quantum leap forward to contention just because they made one splashy and stupid move (Jose Reyes’ contract) and one just plain stupid move (Heath Bell’s contract). The chances are much higher that the Marlins are looking to dump those contracts this season than they are actually contending.
The Atlanta Braves just need to worry about following the long term plan to building and maintaining the club that they’ve been so disciplined with over the past few years. This team needs a couple of nice moves to patch up a few holes, and they’re back in the playoffs, with a shot at winning the world series for several more years. About the only thing that could mess that up is if they tried to “respond to” the signing of Jose Reyes.
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The Best and Worst Signings of 2009
October 11, 2009 at 8:00 am by Capitol Avenue Club under Economic Analysis, Front Office, Transaction Analysis, Transactions
Looking back at the free agent market in 2009, there were plenty of busts and plenty of goldmines. The purpose of this research was to find out which signings were the best and worse. For brevity’s sake, I limited this study to free agents who signed a major league deal worth at least $1,000,000. The math I used was simple. I took the 89 players, added their collective average salaries (over the course of the deal), and divided it by their collective WAR (Wins Above Replacement). This gave me the average amount clubs paid per WAR in 2009. That figure $4,518,279–nearly identical to the $4.5 million clubs paid in 2008. I then multiplied each player’s WAR by $4,518,279 and subtracted their salaries to see which player netted his team the most on-field production beyond his salary. The results may surprise you:
| Player | 2010 Salary | WAR | Team | WAR$-Salary |
| Bobby Abreu | $5,000,000 | 2.6 | LAA | $6,975,811 |
| Jeremy Affeldt | $4,000,000 | 0.8 | SF | -$315,135 |
| Garret Anderson | $2,500,000 | -0.9 | ATL | -$6,645,473 |
| Brad Ausmus | $1,000,000 | 0.6 | LAD | $1,763,649 |
| Luis Ayala | $1,300,000 | 0.0 | MIN | -$1,300,000 |
| John Bale | $1,200,000 | 0.1 | KC | -$739,392 |
| Joe Beimel | $2,000,000 | 0.3 | WSH | -$618,176 |
| Casey Blake | $5,833,333 | 4.3 | LAD | $13,972,816 |
| Willie Bloomquist | $3,100,000 | 0.0 | KC | -$3,100,000 |
| Milton Bradley | $10,000,000 | 1.1 | CHC | -$4,933,311 |
| Russell Branyan | $1,400,000 | 2.8 | SEA | $11,497,028 |
| Doug Brocail | $2,750,000 | -0.5 | HOU | -$5,053,041 |
| A.J. Burnett | $16,500,000 | 3.1 | NYY | -$2,221,148 |
| Pat Burrell | $8,000,000 | -0.6 | TBR | -$10,763,649 |
| Daniel Cabrera | $2,600,000 | -0.3 | WSH | -$3,981,824 |
| Orlando Cabrera | $4,000,000 | 0.7 | OAK | -$775,743 |
| Bartolo Colon | $1,000,000 | 0.2 | CHW | -$78,784 |
| Alex Cora | $2,000,000 | 0.0 | NYM | -$2,000,000 |
| Craig Counsell | $1,000,000 | 2.8 | MIL | $11,897,028 |
| Joe Crede | $2,500,000 | 1.8 | MIN | $5,790,946 |
| Juan Cruz | $6,000,000 | 0.0 | KC | -$6,000,000 |
| Ryan Dempster | $13,000,000 | 3.6 | CHC | $3,581,893 |
| Adam Dunn | $10,000,000 | 1.1 | WSH | -$4,933,311 |
| Alan Embree | $2,250,000 | -0.1 | COL | -$2,710,608 |
| Adam Everett | $1,000,000 | 0.9 | DET | $3,145,473 |
| Kyle Farnsworth | $4,625,000 | 0.7 | KC | -$1,400,743 |
| Brian Fuentes | $8,750,000 | 0.4 | LAA | -$6,907,567 |
| Rafael Furcal | $10,000,000 | 3.3 | LAD | $5,200,068 |
| Nomar Garciaparra | $1,000,000 | -0.4 | OAK | -$2,842,433 |
| Jon Garland | $7,250,000 | 2.4 | ARI | $3,804,595 |
| Jason Giambi | $5,250,000 | -0.3 | OAK | -$6,631,824 |
| Tom Glavine | $1,000,000 | 0.0 | ATL | -$1,000,000 |
| Ken Griffey Jr. | $2,000,000 | 0.2 | SEA | -$1,078,784 |
| Jerry Hariston Jr. | $2,000,000 | 1.0 | CIN | $2,606,081 |
| Mike Hampton | $2,000,000 | 0.9 | HOU | $2,145,473 |
| Mark Hendrickson | $1,500,000 | 0.5 | BAL | $803,041 |
| Eric Hinske | $1,500,000 | 0.8 | PIT | $2,184,865 |
| Trevor Hoffman | $6,000,000 | 1.5 | MIL | $909,122 |
| Bob Howry | $2,750,000 | 0.4 | SF | -$907,567 |
| Orlando Hudson | $3,800,000 | 2.9 | LAD | $9,557,636 |
| Raul Ibanez | $10,500,000 | 4.1 | PHI | $8,384,933 |
| Cesar Izturis | $2,500,000 | 1.3 | BAL | $3,487,906 |
| Randy Johnson | $8,000,000 | 0.4 | SF | -$6,157,567 |
| Gabe Kapler | $1,000,000 | 1.2 | TBR | $4,527,298 |
| Kenshin Kawakami | $7,666,667 | 1.7 | ATL | $163,672 |
| Mark Kotsay | $1,500,000 | -0.3 | BOS | -$2,881,824 |
| Mike Lincoln | $2,000,000 | -1.0 | CIN | -$6,606,081 |
| Braden Looper | $5,500,000 | -0.9 | MIL | -$9,645,473 |
| Felipe Lopez | $3,500,000 | 4.4 | ARI | $16,766,758 |
| Mark Loretta | $1,250,000 | -0.2 | LAD | -$2,171,216 |
| Derek Lowe | $15,000,000 | 2.7 | ATL | -$2,563,580 |
| Brandon Lyon | $4,250,000 | 0.7 | DET | -$1,025,743 |
| Damaso Marte | $4,000,000 | -0.1 | NYY | -$4,460,608 |
| Aaron Miles | $2,450,000 | -1.3 | CHC | -$8,437,906 |
| Guillermo Mota | $2,350,000 | -0.1 | LAD | -$2,810,608 |
| Jamie Moyer | $6,500,000 | 0.6 | PHI | -$3,736,351 |
| Joe Nelson | $1,300,000 | -0.4 | TBR | -$3,142,433 |
| Darren Oliver | $3,655,000 | 1.5 | LAA | $3,254,122 |
| Chan Ho Park | $2,500,000 | 1.6 | PHI | $4,869,730 |
| Carl Pavano | $1,500,000 | 3.7 | CLE | $15,542,501 |
| Brad Penny | $5,000,000 | 2.5 | BOS | $6,515,203 |
| Oliver Perez | $12,000,000 | -0.8 | NYM | -$15,684,865 |
| Andy Pettitte | $5,500,000 | 3.3 | NYY | $9,700,068 |
| Nick Punto | $4,250,000 | 1.2 | MIN | $1,277,298 |
| Horacio Ramirez | $1,800,000 | 0.0 | KC | -$1,800,000 |
| Manny Ramirez | $22,500,000 | 2.6 | LAD | -$10,524,189 |
| Tim Redding | $2,250,000 | 0.1 | NYM | -$1,789,392 |
| Edgar Renteria | $9,250,000 | 0.3 | SF | -$7,868,176 |
| Dennys Reyes | $1,500,000 | 0.2 | STL | -$578,784 |
| Arthur Rhodes | $2,000,000 | 1.0 | CIN | $2,606,081 |
| Juan Rivera | $4,250,000 | 3.5 | LAA | $11,871,285 |
| Francisco Rodriguez | $12,333,333 | 0.3 | NYM | -$10,951,509 |
| Ivan Rodriguez | $1,500,000 | 0.8 | HOU | $2,184,865 |
| David Ross | $1,500,000 | 1.7 | ATL | $6,330,338 |
| CC Sabathia | $23,000,000 | 6.0 | NYY | $4,636,488 |
| Takashi Saito | $1,500,000 | 0.4 | BOS | $342,433 |
| Brian Shouse | $1,550,000 | -0.1 | TBR | -$2,010,608 |
| John Smoltz | $5,500,000 | 1.5 | BOS | $1,409,122 |
| Russ Springer | $3,300,000 | 0.4 | OAK | -$1,457,567 |
| Willy Taveras | $3,125,000 | -0.3 | CIN | -$4,506,824 |
| Mark Teixeira | $22,500,000 | 5.2 | NYY | $1,451,623 |
| Koji Uehara | $5,000,000 | 1.6 | BAL | $2,369,730 |
| Jason Varitek | $5,000,000 | 1.3 | BOS | $987,906 |
| Ramon Vazquez | $2,000,000 | 0.0 | PIT | -$2,000,000 |
| David Weathers | $3,900,000 | -0.8 | CIN | -$7,584,865 |
| Ty Wigginton | $3,000,000 | -0.3 | BAL | -$4,381,824 |
| Randy Wolf | $5,000,000 | 3.0 | LAD | $8,818,244 |
| Kerry Wood | $10,250,000 | 0.4 | CLE | -$8,407,567 |
| Gregg Zaun | $1,500,000 | 1.8 | BAL | $6,790,946 |
The five best signs of 2009 are as follows:
Number Five – Juan Rivera. 3 years, $12,750,000. 3.5 WAR.
Rivera hit .287/.332/.478 (.348 wOBA) and posted a UZR of 12.8. It was, by far, Rivera’s most valuable season.
Number Four – Craig Counsell. 1 year, $1,000,000. 2.8 WAR.
Counsell hit .285/.357/.408 (.336 wOBA) and posted a UZR of 6.4. It was Counsell’s most valuable season since he posted a WAR of 3.4 in 2005.
Number Three – Casey Blake. 3 years, $17,000,000. 4.3 WAR.
Blake hit .280/.363/.468 (.354 wOBA) and posted a UZR of 8.4. His next most valuable season came in 2004 (3.3 WAR), making it by far Blake’s most productive season.
Number Two – Carl Pavano. 1 year, $1,500,000. 3.7 WAR.
Pavano pitched 199 and 1/3 innings with the Twins and Indians, posting a 3.77 K/BB ratio and 5.10 ERA. The only season in which Pavano posted a higher WAR was 2004, the year he posted a 4.4 WAR which prompted the Yankees to sign him to a nearly $40 million contract that they’ll forever regret.
Number One – Felipe Lopez. 1 year, $3,500,000. 4.6 WAR.
Lopez hit .310/.383/.427 (.356 wOBA) and posted a UZR of 7.6. He was also worth 4.6 WAR in 2005.
And the five worst signs of 2009:
Number Five – Braden Looper. 1 year, $5,500,000. -0.9 WAR.
Looper pitched 194 and 2/3 innings, despite leading the league in ER allowed (113) and HR allowed (39).
Number Four – Pat Burrell. 2 years, $16,000,000. -0.6 WAR.
Burrell hit just .221/.315/.367 (.304 wOBA) in 476 PA’s, serving almost exclusively as the DH.
Number Three – Manny Ramirez. 2 years, $45,000,000. 2.6 WAR.
The suspension undoubtedly hurt Manny’s productivity, as he notched only 431 PA’s. Despite hitting .290/.418/.531 (.396 wOBA), he have a lot back in the field (-9.2 UZR) and was overall worth just 2.6 WAR.
Number Two – Francisco Rodriguez. 3 years, $37,000,000. 0.3 WAR.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched 68 innings with a 3.71 ERA, a 1.309 WHIP, and a 73-to-38 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Not exactly “closer” stats.
Number One – Oliver Perez. 3 years, $36,000,000. -0.8 WAR.
Oliver Perez only pitched 66 painful innings, posting a 6.82 ERA, a 1.924 WHIP, and a 62-to-58 strikeout-to-walk ratio. It’s totally amazing to me that Omar Minaya still has his job.
On Bobby Cox’s Return
September 23, 2009 at 4:54 pm by Capitol Avenue Club under Atlanta Braves, Front Office, NL East News, Transaction Analysis, Transactions
As you all probably know by now, Bobby Cox will return to manage the team in 2010. After that, he’ll fill in an advisory role from 2011-2015. Basically, 2010 is Bobby’s last year managing the Braves. Per David O’Brien:
Just got upstairs after the interview with Frank and Bobby. As you’ve heard, Cox is coming back for one season to manage, then has a five-year contract to be an advisor. They said that with all the misinformation and speculation out there the past couple of days, they went ahead and announced now what they were going to announce after the road trip.
Both again denied that anything close to what reportedly happened in spring training actually happened. Bobby said sure, they’ve had disagreements like any GM and manager, but he laughed at the suggestion that he almost quit because of any of those disagreements.
I think this is a good thing for the organization. Both so it gives the organization another year to find a replacement and ensures Bobby will be around for 6 more years. Having Bobby around is not a bad thing.
There are, generally, only three types of different opinions on Bobby Cox. He’s a polarizing character. He’s been around a long time, and everyone who has been around a long time causes polarization. So, and correct me if I missed one but, there are only three types of opinions on Bobby Cox that I can think of.
1) The “I love him” opinion. This one usually belongs to an older fan or a fan that is more rooted in the traditions of the game. People who don’t really give a shit about statistical analysis at all. And not even pseudo-analysis (RBI, HR, AVG. They simply couldn’t care less about the numbers). Let me stop and say I don’t think this is a bad thing. I learn things from them every day. And if you think they’re bad for the game you probably fit in category two. But anyway, they don’t care that a bunt costs you runs in the long run. They’re intent is to win each game, not to maximize their efficiency. Not that they’re correct in their execution of this strategy, as maximizing efficiency generally leads to more wins, but that’s what they’re about. And I give them an “A” for effort. And even though they could be wrong, you still learn things from “”A” for effort” people in every facet of life. Baseball included.
2) The second type of opinion is the “I hate him” opinion. This one generally belongs to the younger fan. The 15-to-29-year-old fan that thinks they know a lot more about the game than they actually do. They criticize Bobby Cox for playing Francoeur then they criticize Bobby Cox for sitting Francoeur. They criticize Bobby for using Moylan then they criticize him for not using Moylan. They criticize Bobby for using Prado then they criticize him when he sits Prado. These are just a few examples of the copious amounts of complaining these people do. Not that I completely discourage the complaining. I don’t think the entire spectrum of one’s baseball discussion should revolve around Manager’s failings, though. The larger problem is that they fail to see the bigger picture. The fact that a manager makes a sub-optimal decision he has much less impact than you actually think. And people constantly rattle off things like, “Bobby cost us the win tonight”. Like I always say, if there was a manager that was worth 5 wins, teams would pay him $20 million. No such character exists.
3) The “I really don’t care” opinion. This one is shared by those most in-touch with the game today (not necessarily the past), the most statistically savvy that actually know what they’re talking about. The reason they don’t care is because they realize what goes on behind the scenes is much more important than his on-field decisions. The on-field decisions, while they have some negative impact, are far outweighed by his ability to manage the clubhouse and get the most out of his players. So, as long as he’s doing that, he’s doing his job. And Bobby Cox has certainly done his job. Realizing that managers don’t have very much impact, they’re rather indifferent on the issue. Should he actually be costing the teams wins, perhaps they may be more inclined to take an opinion on the issue.
The consensus among good baseball fans is that this is–at worst–a no impact move and at best a good move.
Braves Record and Roster Moves
September 21, 2009 at 3:21 pm by Capitol Avenue Club under Atlanta Braves, Transaction Analysis, Transactions
The Braves have made 4 rather significant playing time decisions throughout the course of the season. First, they optioned Schafer to AAA and acquired Nate McLouth. Second, they benched Kelly Johnson in favor of Martin Prado. Third, they traded Jeff Francoeur for Ryan Church. Lastly, they traded Casey Kotchman for Adam LaRoche.
For the first 50 games, the 50 games preceding the first major roster change, the Braves were typically using a line-up that looked like this:
1. Kelly Johnson – 2B
2. Yunel Escobar – SS
3. Chipper Jones – 3B
4. Brian McCann – C
5. Garret Anderson – LF
6. Jeff Francoeur – RF
7. Casey Kotchman – 1B
8. Jordan Schafer – CF
They went 25-25 in those 50 games, a .500 winning percentage. After McLouth was acquired, the line-up typically looked like this:
1. Nate McLouth – CF
2. Yunel Escobar – SS
3. Chipper Jones – 3B
4. Brian McCann – C
5. Garret Anderson – LF
6. Casey Kotchman – 1B
7. Jeff Francoeur – RF
8. Kelly Johnson – 2B
The Braves went 11-15 over their next 26 games, a .423 winning percentage. The Braves then benched Kelly Johnson in favor of Martin Prado. The line-up then typically looked like this:
1. Nate McLouth – CF
2. Martin Prado – 2B
3. Chipper Jones – 3B
4. Brian McCann – C
5. Garret Anderson – LF
6. Yunel Escobar – SS
7. Casey Kotchman – 1B
8. Jeff Francoeur – RF
9 games later, the Braves had gone 5-4, a .566 winning percentage, when they traded Jeff Francoeur for Ryan Church. The line-up then typically looked like this:
1. Nate McLouth – CF
2. Martin Prado – 2B
3. Chipper Jones – 3B
4. Brian McCann – C
5. Garret Anderson – LF
6. Yunel Escobar – SS
7. Mayan Diurch – RF
8. Casey Kotchman – 1B
After 18 more games, and going 11-7 (.611 W%) in those 18 games, the Braves pulled the deadline deal swapping LaRoche for Kotchman. The line-up has since typically looked like this:
1. Nate McLouth – CF
2. Martin Prado – 2B
3. Chipper Jones – 3B
4. Brian McCann – C
5. Garret Anderson – LF
6. Yunel Escobar – SS
7. Adam LaRoche – 1B
8. Mayan Diurch – RF
The Braves have gone 27-19 with this line-up, a .587 winning percentage.
Overall, the Braves have gone 54-45 (.545) since they got rid of Schafer, 43-30 (.589) since they benched KJ, 38-26 (.594) since they got rid of Francoeur, and 27-19 (.587) since they acquired LaRoche.
I only mention this because I wanted to see if Chipper was really right and trading for LaRoche completely turned this team around. LaRoche has been very good since he’s come back to the Braves, but there’s not much evidence to suggest LaRoche is the sole reason for the Braves’ better play. If anything, getting rid of Francoeur was what helped the most. But I think it’s everything. Getting rid of one out machine at a time. All together, they’re in good shape now. Alas, it was assymbled too late.
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