The Braves finished what turned out to be a monumental collapse last night. They let an 8 1/2 game wild card lead slip away. They closed the season with five straight losses while also losing 18 of the last 26 games, which allowed the St. Louis Cardinals to overtake them for the birth into the playoffs. With the Braves season ending I thought I would post some thoughts I had for the 2012 season.
First, as many of you know if you follow me on twitter, my opinion of Fredi Gonzalez is not very high. Fredi Gonzalez has not been a good manager for the Braves this year. Wren did a fantastic job of putting more pieces on the team this year, and Fredi managed to win less games than the 2010 Braves. Granted, all of that is not his fault, but he is definitely to blame for some of it. Last night was just another example of Fredi's futility. The Phillies started right-handed pitcher Joe Blanton. Prior to last night's game, Diaz had a slash line of .222/.260/.282 against RHP, while Heyward's slash line was .238/.335/.417. Granted, Fredi knew of the Phillies plan to pitch Hamels who is a LHP in the middle of the game, but there was no guarantee that Diaz would come up against him. Not only that, but Fredi could have pinch hit Heyward for Diaz when the Phils put in right-hander Vance Worley in the bottom of the 6th, but instead he left in Diaz and then subbed in Heyward as a defensive replacement in the top of the 7th. Please someone, explain to me how that makes sense. IT DOESN'T. This is just one example of the kind of decisions Fredi has been making all year. Fredi Gonzalez, in my opinion, needs to be relieved of his duties by Frank Wren.
Another contributing factor to the Braves demise is their poor hitting. I think a lot of this has to be laid at the feet of hitting coach Larry Parrish. The Braves showed no discipline for most of the season. They turned into hackers. This is shown by the terrible team on base percentage of .308, which had them ranked 3 spots above last place in that category in the National League. The Braves hitters struggled to improve over the season, and that ended up costing them a spot in the playoffs in the end. If Braves' GM Frank Wren allows Fredi Gonzalez to stay on for another year, at the very least they need to find a replacement for Parrish.
Many Braves fans will disagree with me on this, but Martin Prado does not need to start in left field for the Braves in 2012. He had the second worst OBP of all the regular starters with a .304 mark. And unlike Alex Gonzalez who had the worst OBP, Prado is not a gold glove candidate in left field. There are two options for the Braves to take with Prado. First, they could make him into a bench utility player. This wouldn't be a bad option because Chipper has already stated that he is absolutely coming back next year. So when Chipper inevitably gets hurt, the Braves can plug Prado into that spot, as well as plug him into any other position on the field when someone needs a break. The second option would be to dangle Prado on the trade market. Prado's value is on the decline, and it may be wise to see what the market might bring for him. Either way, Prado doesn't need to be starting in left field on opening day.
Heyward needs to start every day. The Braves will be doing themselves a big injustice if they pigeon hole Heyward into a platoon hitter. If they start Diaz over Heyward against left handers, they will be making a big mistake. Granted Heyward did not have a good year against LHP in 2011 with an OBP and slugging percentage of only .270/.308. However, he has shown that he can do ok against LHP in the past. In 2010 his slash line was .249/.356/.399 and he also hit LHP well in the minors. Compare that to Diaz's line this year of .298/.338/.359 against LHP, and you can see that Diaz actually hasn't been that great. If you label Heyward a platoon player this early, you really stunt his growth. The more at bats he gets against LHP, the better he will be. Remember, he's only 22 years old.
There is no way Derek Lowe should be on the Braves' roster in 2012. I don't care if you have to eat his contract, you have to get rid of him. Release him, trade him for some bats and balls, it really doesn't matter, just get rid of him. Derek Lowe finished the season with a 9-17 record and a 5.05 ERA and an 0-5 record with a 8.75 ERA in September. He allowed opposing hitters to get on base at a .347 clip and slug .406 against him. Just terrible. With the stockpiled young talent in the pitching department, Lowe should not be in the rotation. Hudson, Beachy, Minor, Hanson, Delgado, Teheran, and even Jurrjens are all better options than Derek Lowe. And although he will probably end up being a reliever, Medlen looked nasty in his two appearances at the end of this season and I would even rather have him starting than Lowe.
With all that said, the Braves have a very bright future. They have a lot of awesome young talent that hopefully will bloom into what should be a good Braves team for many years to come. With Beachy, Minor, Hanson, Delgado, Teheran, Vizcaino, Heyward, Freeman, McCann, Uggla, and Bourn, the Braves have an unbelievable core to build on. They just need a few things to happen to put them in the right place to capitalize on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment