Moves Paying Off?

For all the fans who thought:

1. trading Heyward and Gattis were bad moves.

2. signing Markakis was dumb.

3. who hated to see aging catcher Brian McCann leave the Braves for the Yankees $80 million.

4. that Uggla should get one more chance.

5. the injury-riddled Teixeira should’ve been given a monster contract.

6. that Tommy La Stella was the answer at second base.

7. that Chris Johnson should be replaced after one off year.

8. the Braves should’ve picked back up Jeff Francoeur after he was discarded by the Mets, Rangers, Royals, Indians, and Padres.

WHAT ARE THOSE KNOW-IT-ALLS SAYING NOW?

avg.obp.SLG.ops.W.K

375 479 400 879  8 07 Markasis

320 400 480 880  4 04 Chris Johnson

283 353 609 962  5 11 Freeman

277 300 362 662  2 07 Prado

257 317 457 774  1 10 McCann

217 269 304 574  2 03 Ichiro

213 229 362 591  1 09 Heyward

200 282 400 682  4 07 Francoeur (below)

190 302 548 850  8 09 Teixeira

167 167 167 333  0 01 La Stella

130 184 239 423  3 18 Gattis (above)

129 182 194 375  2 07 Uggla

9. Justin Upton may have started strong (see below), but he’s in the final year of his contract – needing to produce huge numbers to earn his next big contract. Why didn’t he post these big numbers the past two years? And can he keep up this pace? Last year his pre-all-star batting average dropped almost 20 points after the break. Even if the Braves had kept Justin, this coming off-season they would’ve been out-bid by the Yankees, Dodgers, or Red Sox. Instead of nothing the Braves have four prospects and a draft pick, including the most impressive 2B/3B Jase Peterson.

327 370 612 983 04 014 2015 YTD

278 349 495 844 35 101 2014 pre all star

260 333 485 818 25 070 2014 post all star

10. Several times fans have said the Braves should sign free agent outfielder Cody Ross, yet everywhere he goes he quickly wears out his welcome and is released.

Perhaps the Braves front office actually knows a little bit about making personnel moves. These statistics above, not to mention the 2015 win loss record, seem to justify most of the off-season moves. A similar comparison of Kimbrel and Grilli’s stats would more than justify the Kimbrel/BJ Upton trade – a move that many national baseball experts are calling a great deal by the Braves.

This weekend the Astros celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Astrodome by donning throwback shooting star uniforms. Even the ground crew got in on the action.