I’m surprised Drew Kelly didn’t ask me why the Braves traded Andrelton Simmons. Because he's so bad on offense. It’s hard to pay $15 million a year for the second-worst offense shortstop in baseball. If Simmons is such a great defensive player (and he is) why did ESPN only take note of his achievements until after he was traded to the big-market Angels? Typical big-city media bias. The Giants’ shortstop may be good, but in 2015 Andrelton once again led all baseball in most defensive metrics. Someone compared his dominance to that of Wilt Chamberlain. Shows you the Gold Glove award is just a popularity contest.
And all those “fans” who all last year kept saying over and over “I’m so through with this team” and “I’ll never set foot in SunTrust Park” – why are they complaining? Why don’t they go complain about some other team? The Dodgers and Yankees and Red Sox have these monster payrolls, and what did they do last year?
But the Braves are in a full rebuild similar to the Cubs and Astros, two teams that made the playoffs this year after long runs of incompetence. Fans forget that Rome wasn’t built in a day. The Braves’ brass may have not made a big deal about the rebuild because they want fans to come to games. What are they supposed to say, “hey, we’re rebuilding for 2017 and 2018. Save your money and come see us then!” That would just give fans something else to complain about.
ROB: As a fan I hate the Simmons trade. However I understand the reasoning and I respect Coppy's guts for doing it. As local fans, I think we were too close to Simmons to realize what a limited player he really is. All that being said, I really hope they don't trade Freeman - or even Teheran.
ME: it’s hard to explain the trade to less reasonable fans. You wonder if Freeman or Teheran would want to stick around after their next contract, but no telling what the situation will be at that time. I’m just over all the complaining from the fans in every sport. They’re just showing how little they know.
Will Coppy trade Aybar? I hear he already has offers. Would be interesting if he resigned Kelly Johnson and Uribe. A scout at the AFL wasn’t very impressed with Lucas Sims.
It does look like 2016 will be a long season. You may have noticed that with the revolving door of players I kinda lost interest last year. I would turn on a game and see a player I’d never heard of before. Not a good time for the Braves to make announcements like the last season at Turner Field patch design. Just gives fans another chance to complain.
ROB: Freddie is under contract until 2021; Teheran 2020. They will be well past the rebuilding phase by then.
Late in the season, Coppy was giving an interview on 680. In the interview, he stated how much of a game changer the new ballpark would be. He said he thought it would put the Braves payroll back into the top 10 in MLB. The hosts (Chuck and Chernoff) pretty much flew by that answer without saying much about it. I don't think they realized the significance of that statement. A top 10 payroll today would put them in the $120MM-$130MM range. That is $20MM-$30MM higher than they have been running since the early 2000's.
That extra money - combined with the strong farm system they are building - will significantly change how this ball club has operated since 2004.
I don't think 2016 will be as bad as you think. Aybar won't be much of a downgrade than Simmons. It sounds like they will use their payroll flexibility to bolster the bullpen. I think you are on target with Uribe and Kelly Johnson - I would not be surprised of one or both were not signed. They will not go into the season with a butcher like Garcia playing 3B.
Olivera will do fine in LF. He swings the bat like a grown man. I think he will have a strong offensive year.
ME: The other night a baseball expert pointed out that the Dodgers had four high-priced, oft-injured, underperforming outfielders. What often happens when four prima-donnas are put together in such close quarters are fights and quarrels and ill-feelings. But manager Don Mattingly kept his team on an even keel and led the Dodgers past the defending world champion Giants to the division championship. Mattingly’s reward? He was fired. The Marlins quickly hired him – but the Dodgers will still be paying his salary for the next 2 or 3 seasons.
Speaking of division championships, a recent back page Sports Illustrated column argued that fighting for division crowns was tons more interesting and exciting than doing away with them and just seeding teams. This year the Cubs and Pirates had the second and third best records is all of baseball – but were forced to play each other in the one game winner-take-all Wild Card play-in game because both finished behind the Cardinals in the division. Don’t tell this to Braves’ spoiled fans, who count the team’s incredible run of division championships as nothing because they only won one world championship.
Jeff Schultz should become a political writer. He seldom writes about sports any more. He’s even worse on Facebook, waging his one-man crusade against the new Braves stadium. Not a word about the new dome for the Falcons or the reported $150 million Phillips Arena makeover for the Hawks. People are starting to call him out.
GT/VT: fumbles, dropped passes, stupid penalties. Neither team wanted to win. Players are given scholarships and walk around campus all year like they are hot stuff. Twelve or 13 times a year they get to walk out on the field and prove they belong. Instead they make fools of themselves.
GT took the opening kickoff and drove down the field for a quick touchdown. On their next possession they passed, and had to punt. On their third possession they stuck to the ground, and scored again. Then Tech started passing, and it was all downhill from there. At least they went on a long run of run plays. But no more points on offense.
What no TV analyst has ever figured out: GT’s passing game is so bad because GT QB’s are forced to take the snap from center, drop back looking left, then turn around to throw the ball right-handed. Every other team in the country takes snaps from the shotgun. By the time Justin Thomas has dropped back to pass (and turned around) the rush is all around him, and he has to run for his life (or throw forward while running backward). You don’t see that anywhere else.
Just one more game the Jackets should have won. At least we won have to hear about their great streak of consecutive bowl games much longer. Not much was made about UGA grad David Pollack riding in Georgia Tech’s Rambling Wreck.
The Missouri case (and the Brady case) are more instances where you have to read extensively about the background of what transpired to know who is right and wrong. It does sound like the inmates are running the asylum. College football players should be grateful to receive all they do: much more than a $100,000.00 college education. Most throw their opportunities away.
ROB: The Hawks are looking good. Splitter is still fitting in, but he is a significant upgrade over Antic coming off the bench. Bazemoore's emergence is mitigating the loss of Carroll. Korver looks older, but it seems we will be less reliant on him this year.
ME: Seems like the experts expected the Hawks to drop off and not repeat last year. Nice to get off to such a good start.
A few names popped out on the hot stove email list (Jack Wilkinson, Bob Rathbun, Kevin McGalpin, and Jim Powell). I recently watched the Seinfeld when Jerry first met Keith Hernandez: aka the “Second Spitter” episode featuring current Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell. The new friends vow to do something together, and Jerry gives Keith his number. Then when Keith doesn’t immediately call Jerry acts like the girl who was stood up. Or Martin Short’s Ed Grimley character daydreaming about Pat Sajak. That’s what I was feeling like before the Hot Stove meeting that Braves radio announcer Jim Powell MIGHT attend. Meeting Powell would be cool. Like me, he lives near Roswell. I’m sure we’d hit it off, and…
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