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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Braves land shortstop Janish in trade with Reds

Janishism is a religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all thrown baseballs.

The Braves satisfied their need for a shortstop by acquiring Paul Janish from the Reds on Saturday in exchange for right-hander Todd Redmond.

With Andrelton Simmons expected to miss at least six weeks with a fractured right pinky finger, the Braves have spent the past week attempting to land a shortstop… Janish has batted .237 with a .332 on-base percentage in 49 games with Triple-A Louisville this year. He has not played in the Majors since batting .214 with a .259 on-base percentage and .262 slugging percentage in 114 games with the Reds last year.

In 221 games at the big league level, Janish has batted .221, with a .591 OPS.

The Braves will now rely on Janish at shortstop until the sure-handed Simmons returns. Jack Wilson dislocated his right pinky on Friday night and was placed on the disabled list following Saturday’s win over the Mets…

Redmond, 27, has gone 6-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 18 starts for Triple-A Gwinnett, where he has been since the start of the 2009 season. He was named Southern League Pitcher of the Year in 2008 after going 13-5 with a 3.82 ERA for Double-A Mississippi. Wren said the Braves will wait until Janish arrives on Sunday morning before making any kind of roster move.

The District Attorney Posted: July 15, 2012 at 12:34 AM | 21 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: braves, paul janish, reds, transactions

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1. TomH Posted: July 15, 2012 at 07:54 AM (#4182875)

Pastornicki's stock has fallen this far - that you need to give up players to get Paul Janish? Wow.

2. Rickey Fredonia Fudge Duckery Precious Twiddle Posted: July 15, 2012 at 09:05 AM (#4182890)

Pastornicky simply can't handle SS defensively at the MLB level. He doesn't have the range or the arm. The Braves started Martin Prado there over him as an emergency option, which tells you how they evaluate his defense at SS. He's in AAA to learn to play 2B and CF. The team still likes his bat as a multi-position backup but they have no inclination to play him at SS in the majors again.

Janish will start until Simmons is better, at which point Janish will almost certainly end Jack Wilson's time in Atlanta and become the backup MI.

3. Steve Parris, Je t'aime Posted: July 15, 2012 at 10:13 AM (#4182909)

Janish is fine as a backup. As the reds found out last year, he's overexposed as a starter.

4. dr. scott Posted: July 15, 2012 at 10:54 AM (#4182927)

How long have the braves AAA team been in Gwinnett? I'm sure I'm really dating myself, but I remember something about them leaving Richmond, but no memory of where they went.

5. Matt Chico's Bail Bonds (Dan Lee) Posted: July 15, 2012 at 11:36 AM (#4182955)

Janish is fine as a backup. As the reds found out last year, he's overexposed as a starter.

...and, hey, he's got a 91-92 MPH fastball if you need a spare reliever in a blowout. He's gotten destroyed in his two MLB pitching appearances, but he at least looks like he knows what he's doing out there.

6. PASTE Thinks This Trout Kid Might Be OK (Zeth) Posted: July 15, 2012 at 11:43 AM (#4182962)

Is it uncommon for shortstops/third basemen/right fielders with good arms for their positions to be able to throw 90-ish MPH fastballs off mounds?

7. snowles Posted: July 15, 2012 at 11:45 AM (#4182967)

Pastornicki's stock has fallen this far - that you need to give up players to get Paul Janish? Wow.

As a Jays fan, a lot of us were disappointed about giving up Pastornicky, but seeing him fall this far has been surprising to say the least. Major league utility player seemed like his floor. The Escobar trade is looking more and more one-sided, conditions excepted of course.

8. DA Baracus is gritty and hits with RISP Posted: July 15, 2012 at 12:05 PM (#4182989)

How long have the braves AAA team been in Gwinnett?

Since '09.

9. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: July 15, 2012 at 12:09 PM (#4182992)

The Escobar trade is looking more and more one-sided, conditions excepted of course.

On the other hand, Escobar himself is almost 30 and is hitting .254/.298/.342 this year.

10. Sweatpants Posted: July 15, 2012 at 04:20 PM (#4183232)

The setup to this was moderately amusing. The Braves didn't make a move to replace Simmons during the break and figured that Jack Wilson, the only shortstop on the roster, could hold down the position until they made a deal. Of course, in the first game after the break, Wilson injured himself diving after a ball, so Martin Prado had to come in from left to play a position at which he had two games of major league experience. It would have been a lot more embarrassing for the front office if the Braves had lost that game or yesterday's.

11. tjm1 Posted: July 16, 2012 at 05:10 AM (#4183565)

Is it uncommon for shortstops/third basemen/right fielders with good arms for their positions to be able to throw 90-ish MPH fastballs off mounds?

There are even some 1B with good arms who can do that. E.g. Dave McCarty was one of them, and Mark McGwire and Dave Kingman were both first recruited to USC as pitchers.

12. MM1f Posted: July 16, 2012 at 09:05 AM (#4183626)

Janish was always supposed to pitch while he was at Rice, but they wound up letting him focus on playing short. When he was drafted the line on him was that he was a great defender who might not be able to hit enough, but if he can't hit you can move him to the mound.

13. Der_K Posted: July 16, 2012 at 09:13 AM (#4183630)

4: Richmond's market was AAA worthy, but the park wasn't. The Braves tend to own their affiliates, so they set up shop in the northern burbs instead. Richmond is now in AA (the Flying Squirrels, assoc. with SF), the Eastern League had some weak entries to replace (took the Norwich Conn. spot).

I'm okay w/ Janish on the roster - really strong glove.

14. Matt Chico's Bail Bonds (Dan Lee) Posted: July 16, 2012 at 09:23 AM (#4183638)

When he was drafted the line on him was that he was a great defender who might not be able to hit enough, but if he can't hit you can move him to the mound.

Yeah, in the link I posted up in #5, he strikes out Chris Duffy on what looks like a pretty nice slider.

What you see is likely what you get with Janish - a completely cromulent insurance policy in case your real shortstop breaks down. He's probably not enough of a hitter to be an everyday option and not enough pitcher to do anything other than eat innings in a double-digit blowout loss. I have a soft spot for these guys; their skill set is so broad, but they don't do any one thing well enough to be useful.

15. Edmundo got dem ol' Kozma blues again mama

Posted: July 16, 2012 at 09:25 AM (#4183642)

The Richmond stadium looks like the last gasp of the concrete, multi-purpose stadiums of the 70s.

16. Rickey Fredonia Fudge Duckery Precious Twiddle Posted: July 16, 2012 at 09:36 AM (#4183651)

The Richmond stadium looks like the last gasp of the concrete, multi-purpose stadiums of the 70s.

Two things conspired to move the Braves' AAA. First, they wanted a new stadium in Richmond and Richmond didn't want to build it for them. Outer Gwinnettia was willing to foot that bill to bring the Braves AAA team there (but god knows they can't be funding any transit projects or anything!) And the Braves liked having the AAA roster a cab's ride away from the big league team too.

17. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit Posted: July 16, 2012 at 10:00 AM (#4183670)

And the Braves liked having the AAA roster a cab's ride away from the big league team too.

I don't know why all teams don't do this. May as well make it easy in case of emergency.

18. Rickey Fredonia Fudge Duckery Precious Twiddle Posted: July 16, 2012 at 10:26 AM (#4183692)

I don't know why all teams don't do this. May as well make it easy in case of emergency.

Agreed. When the Braves AAA team was in Richmond, calling a guy "on the shuttle" up literally meant finding him a new apartment (in Atlanta) and moving his stuff down the coast 500 miles. Now it means having him drive from his apartment in Duluth to Atlanta rather than up to GA-20 for games.

19. DL from MN Posted: July 16, 2012 at 11:36 AM (#4183761)

I don't know why all teams don't do this.

Not always easy to find a city in your market willing to foot the bill for a AAA team. Seattle has Tacoma. Oakland has Sacramento. There are others but sometimes your metro area doesn't have a minor league town close by. MN has no affiliated minor league baseball at all.

20. Coot Veal and Cot Deal make $486 every day Posted: July 16, 2012 at 11:48 AM (#4183772)

And the Braves liked having the AAA roster a cab's ride away from the big league team too.

I was a Senators fan when I was a kid; their Triple-A club for a while was... the Hawaii Islanders.

21. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: July 16, 2012 at 11:48 AM (#4183774)

The Richmond stadium looks like the last gasp of the concrete, multi-purpose stadiums of the 70s.

I'm surprised to see this from a Phillies fan. You never saw an AAA Red Barons game? Lackawanna County Stadium (now PNC Park) is an outdoor stadium that had Astroturf until five years ago! I am not sure what the ongoing major renovations entail, but it's still standing.

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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Braves land shortstop Janish in trade with Reds

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