Braves - Promoted Johnson
Atlanta Braves - Recalled OF Kelly Johnson; Designated P Matt Childers for assignment.
I thought having Mondesi and Jordan in the outfield was, frankly, pretty damn retarded.
When the Braves did poorly in the ZiPS Projection simulations, I put forth 2 explanation as to why I thought they’d win 10 games. Mazzone (who I’m actually building into the Atlanta park factor for ZiPS) and the fact that the Braves tend to cut the cord on their bad experiments fairly quickly if there’s an alternate possibility.
Well, it’s almost June and the Braves still haven’t dumped the dessicated remains of Brian Jordan and Raul Mondesi. The Braves have typically overachieved in the pitching department and are wasting all their great pitching this year; they’re slumping lately, just staying ahead of the Mets, thanks to an offense literally anchored by these two rotting husks of craptastitude.
Finally, a little bit of hope - Mondesi’s knee hurts (although I guess he could have a limb amputated and it not make him play any worse) and Langerhans has somehow stolen a little playing time from Brian Jordan, who is probably an inferior player to South Park’s Jimmy Lawler.
They won’t miss Childers.
2005 ZiPS Projection - Kelly Johnson
——————————————————————————————————
Period AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG
——————————————————————————————————
Actual ‘05* 151 33 44 11 2 7 19 30 23 4 .291 .412 .530
Rest ‘05 319 53 89 20 3 12 43 41 65 3 .279 .366 .473
* - Contains MLE
2005 ZiPS Projection - Brian Jordan
——————————————————————————————————
Period AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG
——————————————————————————————————
Actual ‘05 144 17 34 5 0 2 19 9 27 2 .236 .286 .313
Rest ‘05 241 26 58 11 1 5 27 17 42 1 .241 .296 .357
——————————————————————————————————
Total ‘05 385 43 92 16 1 7 46 26 69 3 .239 .292 .340
2005 ZiPS Projection - Raul Mondesi
——————————————————————————————————
Period AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG
——————————————————————————————————
Actual ‘05 142 17 30 7 1 4 17 12 35 0 .211 .273 .359
Rest ‘05 323 41 75 18 1 13 44 34 62 6 .232 .307 .415
——————————————————————————————————
Total ‘05 465 58 105 25 2 17 61 46 97 6 .226 .297 .398
Dan Szymborski
Posted: May 29, 2005 at 05:22 PM |
43 comment(s)
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1. Rickey Fredonia Fudge Duckery Precious Twiddle Posted: May 29, 2005 at 06:16 PM (#1370001)Johnson was ripping the ball at Richmond and is batting 3rd in the Braves lineup. Cox says he wants people "on base in front of Chipper." (We're still waiting to see how that effects Raffy Furcal, who happens to be hitting worse than Jordan or Mondesi.)
Jordan is effectively the fourth OF now. Langerhans and Johnson have the starting slots until they lose it. Rumors in ATL suggest that Any Marte or Billy McCarthy could easily take Jordan's slot on the team as well.
The Braves tend to give last-chance veterans 200 or so at bats. We Braves fans refer to this as the Brogna Line. Mondesi just hit it.
"I have to call my family and see what they think and decide after that," Mondesi said after meeting with Cox and general manager John Schuerholz before Sunday's game.
Mondesi said being placed on the disabled list isn't an option he discussed with Cox and Schuerholz.
"I spoke to him in deference of his stature and his career," Schuerholz said. "He's going to take a couple of days to see if he wants to keep playing."
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2071340
Brian Jordan has been much worse though. Both outta get cut.
Would be the noun version of "craptasty."
Not that its a bad word, just interesting.
He kills the Mets though.
Sometimes I have the option of being a real jerk to some of my students who are basically blowing off my class. I could really be cold to them when they fail and not do much to help them. However, if for every three of those students that fails my class and leaves my office respecting me and thinking I'm a good guy there is one who tells one of their friends that I'm a decent guy, then it's worth the small amount of effort.
Schuerholz is a genius when it comes to getting marginal, but possibly useful veterans to come play for him. I wouldn't question his personal skills in matters like this.
No, of craptastic. "Craptasticity" would be another option, but that sounds like a disease. Maybe that's appropriate after all.
As Russ points out, this is classic people management from a front office that excels at it.
Langerhans is also struggling. You have to give Cox credit because he has always been willing to slap kids into the lineup. Is there any chance Francoeur will get a shot at the RF job?
Marte: .285/.382/.497, 26 BB, 33 K, 165 AB
I think McCarthy is an OF too, and he's putting up .295/.359/.476.
He *had* to have been dumped due to that altercation with the fan. How else does a player go from closer to cut with no chance to get it together as a middle reliever?
Mondesi has to come back and play for someone. My HACKING MASS squad needs his futility.
1) i am disappointed that you had that pic pulled
2) the fan called him racist names and danny flipped him the bird. you don't just call up your closer over the phone and tell him he's been released for that when he's been with your club for years.
mondesi is a just guy hired for the year at the end of his career who hasn't been good for 5 years
and the braves treated him with respect and danny got shtt
???????
the fan called him racist names and danny flipped him the bird.
I'm not sure the team knew that at the time and (just to be clear) I'm not saying they did the right thing. The actions of the Reds struck me as rather strange when viewed from a baseball standpoint.
meat posted a pic of you and him and your mother at the ball game, then it was pulled - i thought it was you who wanted it pulled - guess it was meat.
Not that this is just the Braves playing nice guys, they surely wouldn't mind getting out of paying the rest of Mondesi's salary if he decides to retire due to injury.
The Braves are still competitive, and they're getting younger as well (excluding my main man Julio). It's always fun to watch the kids play.
There are reasons why the Braves have stayed on top for so long. One of them is the willingness by Schuerholz and Cox to see if the kids can play. Signing Mondesi and Jordan was a case of getting away from that philosophy. I don't root for them, but I admire the way they do things, and I am glad it did not take them too long to see what had to be done.
Schuerholz, Cox and Mazzone should all go into the Hall of Fame together as a package. Somebody should suggest it to the Hall, and the Hall should bend whatever rules they need, to get there from here.
This is not exactly true... the Braves also have a willingness to see if they can rejuvenate a veteran player. What I think the Braves excel at is not being afraid to cut bait with either a young player OR an old player. The organization never seems to do anything drastic... every decision seems well considered, and although they never seem to have a Holy S**t! type of moment, they never seem to have a F'n S**t! type of moment either.
Let's just say that I hope that I'm never playing on-line poker with those three guys working together on the other end of the ethernet cable. They're the types of guys who don't bluff big, never bet big, but always seem to leave the table with lots of everybody else's money.
I have hated the Braves forever for ruining what should have been the culmination of the best 3 years of my baseball life (1990-1992), but I have learned to have a tremendous amount of grudging respect for their franchise and for the three guys in charge. In fact, is there any fan out there who wouldn't trade their trio of GM, coach, and pitching coach for what the Braves have got?
I wouldn't.
This saved you from the disappointment of learning later that your championship was tainted by steroids.
I speak of Andy van Slyke, of course.
This is not exactly true... the Braves also have a willingness to see if they can rejuvenate a veteran player. What I think the Braves excel at is not being afraid to cut bait with either a young player OR an old player.
In this particular case, Johnson hadn't played above AA at the start of the year and he's probably not a star in the making, so Mondesi and/or Jordan gave the Braves a couple of months to develop and to evaluate Johnson at Richmond. Mondesi and Jordan were pretty good ballplayers back in the day. While the odds were against them recovering their glory, they weren't bad options as fill-ins as long as the team wasn't wed to them.
He had a great debut, IMHO. His presence at the plate was quite astounding. He didn't lunge at anything. Didn't take a single swing off-stride. Only looked bad on one truly nasty cutter inside (that he swung over.) He reminded me of Marcus Giles or Chipper from a plate discipline/control perspective, and I wasn't expecting that. Johnson has a history of struggling in the first few months of a promotion (much like Langerhans.) But as you say, aside from the base-running mistake, he played a hell of a game. And the base-running mistake was forgivable. Utley and Rollins put the deke to end all dekes on the kid, and he fell for it completely.
The most astounding fact of all of this hasn't been mentioned, though. Yes, Johnson was called up. Yes, Mondesi is gone. But Johnson, on being called up, was inserted into the 3-hole in the lineup, because Cox wanted "someone to get on base in front of Chipper." I don't remember the last time someone was called up and put into that pivotal a spot in the lineup.
Well, it wasn't immediately upon his first call-up, but I can think of one player who was called up and batted third in his first start:
Chipper Jones
Chipper Jones
And Kelly Johnson was also drafted as a shortstop. (But that's enough of unrealistic expectations.) Johnson's upside is probably similar to LaRoche's, which is solid, but unspectacular major league regular. If they both meet that, then the Braves have filled two positions cheaply for the next few years.
is furcal signed for next year already?
Furcal is not signed beyond this year, and most of us expect him to go elsewhere. He's likely to get an outlandish offer from someone else. The two DUIs combined with the aging three years overnight have soured the organization on him to the extent they're not going to pay him top dollar.
Best case for Braves fans is he continues to struggle this year and signs a one year deal for next year.
Well, that, and the fact that less than 10 wins would be a real challenge....
(I assume this was a typo for 100)
He was simply overmatched at the position, defensively. He can still play it in a pinch (so can Chipper), but he's not an option as an everyday SS.
is furcal signed for next year already?
No, he isn't, and I doubt he will be. Furcal's replacement is already on the roster: Wilson Betemit. They also have Pete Orr, Tony Pena Jr and some other kid I forget. Of those, only Betemit has much potential with the bat, but Pena's supposed to be Belliardesque with the glove.
and what i've seen of pete orr looks decent - doesn't have furcal's arm, but who does...
So far this year, he is Chipper's backup at 3B, one fo the primary PHs after Julio Franco, and a pinch runner. His numbers so far are a solid 275/408/500, though there's a really odd skew in his L/R splits (he's a switch hitter.) All of his power comes vs. LHP. All he does vs. RHP is walk, and walk, and walk...
Pete Orr is another in a long line of useful and popular backup middle infielders, in the line of Nick Green, Mark Derosa, Mike Mordecai, Ed Giavanola, etc., et. al. He has his uses, but I strongly suspect that he would be overmatched as an everyday player, a la Derosa in 2004.
Great point. Compare this to the lunacy that is Willie Randolph's line-up construction, where David Wright has spent most of the year in the number seven hole! He's been hitting behind Doug Mientkiewicz, for reasons known only to Randolph.
I'd trade our GM/manager/pitching coach for the Braves' in a nanosecond.
Great point. Compare this to the lunacy that is
Willie Randolph'sPhil Garner's line-up construction, whereDavid WrightGod-knows-who has spent most of the yearin the number seven hole! hitting somewhere diffeerent every day! He'sI'd trade our GM/manager/pitching coach for the Braves' in a nanosecond.
- well, i don't know how long a nanosecond is, but it wouldn't take ME that long to trade. and i'd throw in our good for nothing but Ks hitting coach as a bonus
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