Why Do The Braves Get A Pass?
From their status as a pre-season World Series pick to the sudden waiting game that is occurring with the Braves relievers that are on the road to coming back, the Braves are getting a
pass for their faults. Their starting pitching is still short and their lineup, while solid, is still missing consistency from left and center field. For a team that has been unbeatable at home and inept on the road, there should be more 
questions about them from the mainstream media than there have been. And as for this non-stop talk about how tough their bullpen is going to be once Rafael Soriano, Mike Gonzalez and John Smoltz return, it strikes me as sounding eerily similar to all the reports about how great Mike Hampton looked in the spring; Hampton has yet to throw one pitch in the big leagues this year and no one seems to know when or if he's even going to come back. Much like Hampton, I'll believe the hype about the impending return of the Braves relievers when I see it.
pass for their faults. Their starting pitching is still short and their lineup, while solid, is still missing consistency from left and center field. For a team that has been unbeatable at home and inept on the road, there should be more 
questions about them from the mainstream media than there have been. And as for this non-stop talk about how tough their bullpen is going to be once Rafael Soriano, Mike Gonzalez and John Smoltz return, it strikes me as sounding eerily similar to all the reports about how great Mike Hampton looked in the spring; Hampton has yet to throw one pitch in the big leagues this year and no one seems to know when or if he's even going to come back. Much like Hampton, I'll believe the hype about the impending return of the Braves relievers when I see it.
They haven't had a problem with production out of CF. That's kind of backwards, CF has been probalby the biggest pleasant surprise. Both players who play there, Kotsay and Blanco are hitting near .300 with high OBP and have both played excellent defense. I'll give you a pass and pretend you said they've missed consistency from LF and RF.
Diaz has been bad, no way around that and they have gotten very little out of the OF power wise. But its hard to lay too much blame out of the guy who is supposed to be batting 7th or 8th with your pwoer production.
The problems with the Braves are these:
1) Jeff Francouer. He's gone completely in reverse and at times just seems lost at the plate. He hasn't hit for very much power despite supposedly putting on 15 pounds of "pure muscle" in the offseason.
2) Mark Teixeira. He just hasn't produced. I think he will, but thus far he's been a hole in an otherwise productive lineup. He hasn't hit for power, OBP, or with RISP. I have little doubt that the Braves would have 2-3 more wins with Brian McCann batting 4th, but Bobby doesn't move his big hitters around when they're struggling.
3) Starters not going deep enough. This isn't so much a problem right now, as its a potential problem late in the season. The Braves have what, the second best ERA in the NL? The Braves have been slightly unfortunate with playing a lot of makeup games and doubleheaders, and a few injuries, but its still a problem and Boyer and Acosta, who have been brilliant in roles they shouldn't even be in need a rest.
4) Diaz. He supposedly proved himself last year and the year before and was ready to play every day. He's been bad. But again, I have a little bit of trouble putting too much blame on him. When everybody is in the lineup, Diaz is your #8 hitter.
When it comes down to it though, problems 1 and 2 are the big killers. Because those two are the main reason why the Braves have been so bad against LHP. Francouer acts like he is a star, but he's really just been a cheaper Andruw Jones. He'll dramatically win a few games here and there, but then just kill the team by having no productive ABs against a LHP.
The problem with the bullpen isn't how good its been, because they've been very good, they just need some new arms so that Boyer and Acosta don't have to pitch in every tight game. The Braves don't have a great staff, but they probably have the best staff in the NL East, not that that is saying very much right now.
Report any abuse or spam