Twins/Braves preview

[biggentleben]

Being the local Braves fan, I will likely need to watch my words the next few days, but I am looking forward to the series this week, the first time ever the Twins have played in Atlanta. Oddly, the Braves have made 3 trips to Minneapolis for interleague, twice at the Metrodome, and in the inaugural season at Target Field.

 

Coming into the series, the Braves are coming off of a home sweep of the Dodgers and are widely considered to have had the toughest schedule in baseball to this point, with their only sub-.500 opponent coming into the weekend being their opening series foes. They've also played the most road games in baseball to this point. Oddity of oddities in the schedule, the Braves will not travel farther west than St. Louis after the 12th of June.

 

The Braves have been distinguished by two things offensively this season - strikeouts and home runs. They have hit 55 home runs, 2nd in the National League, and struck out 386 times, which leads all NL clubs. They have also walked 2nd most in the NL. Early season has seen some major slumps and injuries to big pieces of the Atlanta lineup, so though they lead the NL East at the time, their best offensive days should certainly be ahead of them. Jason Heyward, Brian McCann, and Freddie Freeman have all missed significant time while BJ Upton and Dan Uggla have struggled to get things going offensively.

 

The Braves starters aren't any of the big-name variety like a Kershaw or Verlander, but they have featured the same five-man rotation all season long. The Twins will face off against the Braves two most veteran starters, Tim Hudson and Paul Maholm, along with their youngest, Julio Teheran, this series. On the youngest team in the majors via opening day roster, the 37 year-old Hudson and 31 year-old Maholm count as "ancient" on a pitching staff with one other 30+ year-old pitcher. Hudson has been up-and-down this season, as signified by his last four starts, two wins and two losses, where he threw 14.1 innings with 4 runs allowed in the two wins and 8.2 innings with 11 runs allowed in the two losses. This could be Hudson's last season in the majors, and he's shown himself to pitch much better at home this season with a 2.84 ERA and 3 of his 4 wins coming at home. Maholm started strong and has settled into a consistent role as the second lefty in Atlanta's rotation. He's very stingy on the home run and very tough on lefty hitters, so Mauer/Morneau could be in for a long night against him. The fun matchup will be watching young Julio Teheran take on the Twins lineup. He has been slightly prone to the long ball, but in general has pitched well when luck has been on his side. He has really improved as the season has gone on, and his two May starts were both excellent. He has a little bit of Brad Radke in him in that he rarely walks anyone, tends to get into a little trouble early, but you look up and it's the 6th/7th inning, and he's kept his team in the game all the way through.

 

Where the Braves really shine is on defense. Their pitching staff can boast about allowing the 2nd least runs in the National League, but a lot of that credit goes to the defense. Justin Upton, BJ Upton, and Jason Heyward in the outfield can be argued as the best defensive outfield in baseball, and when Jordan Schafer subs in for a slumping BJ Upton, it can be argued they even get better. Freddie Freeman has been superb at first base, but the real superstar on defense is Andrelton Simmons, already making his mark in the conversation as the best defender in the league. His wizardry at shortstop is only matched in my lifetime by one other player, affectionately known as The Wizard, Ozzie Smith.

 

It should be a fun series, and I will be one of the few here cheering for the home team, but it should be a good series of great baseball!

[jokin]

Ben- what's the word in Atlanta on McCann and pending free agency? The Braves seem to be in position depth-wise to "move on" or trade him before the deadline. Talk about a team that knows its way around the amateur draft!

[biggentleben]

Ben- what's the word in Atlanta on McCann and pending free agency? The Braves seem to be in position depth-wise to "move on" or trade him before the deadline. Talk about a team that knows its way around the amateur draft!

 

Funny part is that they're nearly always panned by BA and Law and such about their drafts, yet they continue to produce very solid pieces.

 

On McCann, I simply don't see a way he's a Brave in 2014, but at the same time, it'd take them being offered a Teixeira-type of deal for him to move him this year, and that's simply not happening. The crazy part is that they might be doing the 3 catcher thing next year as well with Bethancourt's bat finally looking alive in AA with his other-worldly defense still prominent. You pair Gattis and Bethancourt behind the plate, and you have an inexpensive combo that would be above average in offense and defense for the next 3-4 years.

[jokin]

Funny part is that they're nearly always panned by BA and Law and such about their drafts, yet they continue to produce very solid pieces.

 

On McCann, I simply don't see a way he's a Brave in 2014, but at the same time, it'd take them being offered a Teixeira-type of deal for him to move him this year, and that's simply not happening. The crazy part is that they might be doing the 3 catcher thing next year as well with Bethancourt's bat finally looking alive in AA with his other-worldly defense still prominent. You pair Gattis and Bethancourt behind the plate, and you have an inexpensive combo that would be above average in offense and defense for the next 3-4 years.

 

The rich get richer.

 

Isn't it about time that KLaw and Sickels and the rest of the crowd cry "uncle". The Braves and Cards are model organizations for staying repeatedly successful, and in the process staying away from zany to make it happen. Correct me if I'm wrong, the Upton acquisitions are about the most daring thing they've done in recent times.

[biggentleben]

The rich get richer.

 

Isn't it about time that KLaw and Sickels and the rest of the crowd cry "uncle". The Braves and Cards are model organizations for staying repeatedly successful, and in the process staying away from zany to make it happen. Correct me if I'm wrong, the Upton acquisitions are about the most daring thing they've done in recent times.

 

Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami in the same offseason really shied them away from the free agent market, mainly because they have a significantly tight budget via a corporate owner. This offseason was their first chance to attempt to flex some financial muscle with Chipper off the books and Lowe's contract gone as well. From what has been reported on the Atlanta side, the Braves made overtures to retain Bourn and then to trade for Span/Revere before going for BJ Upton. From what is rumored on the Atlanta side to acquire Span or Revere (Teheran or Delgado) and what Bourn was demanding from the Braves (5 years), they made the right choice.

 

The Justin Upton trade is also the first of its kind after shying away. That was a move that Schuerholz made quite often toward the end, and rarely did it come back positive. For examples, look at the long-term ramifications of a one-year rental trades of JD Drew and Mark Teixeira. They had made the trade and sign of Uggla recently, but when you give up a career utility infielder (Infante) and a lefty reliever with command issues (Mike Dunn) and get back a perennial RH power hitter in a lineup without much from the right side at the time, you make that deal. It hasn't worked out as well as the Braves would like, especially as Dunn has figured out his control and would be very valuable this year with Venters/O'Flaherty injured and Infante has become a quite valuable piece.

 

The model the Braves do often and has really hit for them this year is grabbing others' throwaway types. Ramiro Pena and Jordan Schafer are playing huge roles on the team after being easily acquired as they were out of options. Chris Johnson was a throw-in on the Justin Upton deal who's come out to hit .342 with a 134 OPS+. Guys like that seem to come to Atlanta every year, and if you hit on 1 or 2 of them, you feel great, but guys like O'Flaherty, Cristhian Martinez, and co. show you don't have to have a $100M+ payroll each season to acquire very important players. A new owner that forces ripping up arguably the worst TV deal in baseball would do a lot for the team's revenue, but for now, they have to be smart, and Wren has done well in that regard.