2011 Atlanta Braves

[p_rushing]

Martinez needs to take over Proctor's spot. Even though he is the long reliever, he has filled in great this year and couldn't be worse than Proctor.

[KSUowls]

Wow...that ump was god awful all night. Most of it was against the Braves, but that last play was just wow...I'll take it, but wow.

[st0rmb11]

Quote: Originally Posted by KSUowls

Wow...that ump was god awful all night. Most of it was against the Braves, but that last play was just wow...I'll take it, but wow.

watched from inning 9 to the end (which means I got to see more than a full game..haha).

Scott Proctor always scares me when he's in, but I'll give it to him - he worked out of some potentially scary situations tonight.

and I don't even know what to say about that last play. My jaw was seriously dropped for about 5 minutes when I saw it and continued to watch replays...arguably the worst call I've ever witnessed (worse than Jim Joyce's mishap last year. His call cost a guy a perfect game. This call not only cost a team a win, but gave a tremendous game a horrendous ending.)



EDIT - I know my avatar is a Reds logo, and I am a die hard Reds fan, but I also grow up in South Carolina and get EVERY Braves game on TV and have for about 10 years,so I guess you could call me a Braves "fan"...sort of.

[DonkeyJote]

Beltran and Rasmus are off the market. I don't think a Pence trade makes much sense at all (unless they know Chipper is retiring this offseason). I think Upton is the guy, hopefully.

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[KSUowls]

I do wonder how much of an upgrade he is over Schafer. They have similar stats this season. Schafer has hit the ball a little more consistently, Upton has provided more pop when he does hit. Their OBPs are identical. Their stats on the bases this year are pretty close considering Schafer has only played in about half the games that Upton has (Schafer is actually a little better in that department per game). Upton has also been striking out about 1 in every 4 at-bats compared to 1-5 for Schafer.

We've seen that Upton can be a great player, but he's really only put together 2 truly good years the last of which came in 2008. Schafer on the other hand has been showing improvement and still only has about 100 mlb games under his belt so there is room to improve.

So I don't know. I guess I'd be okay either way. I definitely don't want to give up a lot for Upton though.

[DonkeyJote]

Upton is more than a marginal upgrade over Schafer. Their batting averages are very close. Upton has a slightly better OBP (though it's close). But Schafer has a .316 slg%. That's simply not good enough for an everyday major league player. Upton's is around .400, and that's below his career mark. Upton has 15 hr, 52 rbi, and 28 extra base hits in 373 plate appearances. Schafer, in 219 pa's has 1 hr, 7 rbi, and 10 extra base hits. In the field, they have similar range, but Upton has a stronger arm.

There is not a single thing Schafer does better than Upton, with the exception of base stealing, and that's close. Schafer is a fourth outfielder. It's been obvious that's his ceiling since his suspension. Upton has serious All-Star potential. And it's not like he's a finished product. He's still only 26.

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[KSUowls]

Like I said, Upton has shown more pop and I believe is an upgrade, I just think he is much of an upgrade right now.

Their OBPs are exactly identical at .307.

Schafer has been a slightly bigger thread on the bases this year (very slightly) and is a little less prone to strikeouts.

If Upton could return to his 2007 or even his 2008 performances then that would be a huge upgrade, but his career trajectory has been on the decline since then. He entered the league 6 1/2 years ago, and even just taking the seasons from when he first became a full time starter in 2007 he has been mediocre in 2 1/2 of them.

He's an upgrade and I would gladly put him in the lineup over Schafer. All other things considered though I don't know if he is worth any top prospects. Maybe if it were something like mentioned earlier where we got Upton and a reliever.

I think we're all a little too eager to remember his 2007 season and to a lesser extent 2008. Those performances were 3 and 4 years ago and at no other point in his career has he come close to even the lesser of the two.

[DonkeyJote]

I'm not looking for 2007 numbers from him. But he has the skills, and his obp is the same as Schafer's in a down year. We have 4 top pitching prospects. Can't use them all, and prospects are typically over valued.

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