Uggla, the Wild Card, & 2013

I’m not excited about the one-game wildcard game. The Braves could win 100 games, then not make it into the NLDS. At least the wild card winner gets NLDS games 1&2 at home. As usual, the winner of the World Series will be the team that’s playing the best baseball in late September and October…the “hottest” team.

If the Braves finish the season with the fourth best record in baseball, then lose that one wild card game, would the season be considered a failure? There are about 40 games left in the season. Still plenty of time for the Braves to overtake the Nationals.

As of last week, the Braves four of the five starting pitchers were not in the rotation at the beginning of the season. Hudson is postponing surgery to the off-season. Their best shortstop as missed the past month, and won’t be back for another month. McCann is playing hurt. Moylan has been out all year, and Venters has battled injuries. Still, the Braves have the fourth best record in baseball.  

Wren has made several good moves to replace injured players. This off-season he’ll have several holes to fill, and have decisions to make about which starters to keep. The 2013 Braves could look quite different.

Monday night the Braves matched the Nats for 12 innings, then lost on three infield hits. I went to bed after the Braves batted in the ninth. One of the beat writers said that Sheets and Hanson were moved to the bullpen, either for last night’s game or tonight’s game.

I made note of the Uggla at bat. After making up his mind ahead of time to take the first pitch. Not sure if he does that often, and the Nats knew to throw a strike. Then he made up his mind ahead of time to swing at the second pitch, no matter what. And not just to swing at the pitch, but pull the pitch into left field. No one will have much success trying to pull low and away pitches. A friend said that compared to Uggla, Andruw Jones looks like a slap hitter.

Uggla hits Strasburg well, so he’ll be in the lineup tonight. This weekend I joked that when Simmons reclaims his shortstop position, the heavier hitting Janish will take over for the slumping Uggla. I dislike hitters that try to kill the ball every time they swing. The new hitting coaches seem to have gotten almost every other Brave (including Heyward and Francisco) to cut down their swing and hit singles. Some call that situational hitting.

Chipper knows he’s not the hitter he used to be, so he’s hitting more singles this year. Jones used to shake his head at Francoeur’s similar hitting philosophy, but I haven’t heard Chipper saying anything about Uggla.

Still, Uggla is the exact kind of hitter that many fans say the Braves should acquire (not mentioning what the cost would be). Fans have said the Braves should sign Adam Dunn, whose stats are worse than Uggla’s. Fans want the Braves to trade young pitching prospects (and/or Martin Prado) to the Diamondbacks for Upton. Upton’s stats are far worse than Prado’s, and he has attitude problems. Other fans wanted the Braves to trade for Hanley Ramirez. Another attitude problem, and his stats are only average (and anyway, Simmons will turn out to be better than Ramirez). At least Uggla doesn’t have an attitude problem.    

I could see the Braves parting ways with Uggla, to give him a fresh start. But with Chipper and Bourn leaving, and no obvious replacements ready to take their place, I doubt that will happen this off-season. Unless Wren trades Uggla for a third-baseman, second-baseman, or outfielder. I love Reed Johnson, but I thing the Braves want to keep him in his pinch-hitting role. Hinske seems to have disappeared…he could be gone next year, unless he’s already signed for 2013. Janish will be kept as a backup. Pastornicky might spend 2013 at Gwinnett, to get more seasoning.