Braves Say Goodbye to Shea

In their last series at Shea Stadium before the Mets move across the street, the Braves finished in the same way they have finished many three-game sets in Flushing since 1991. They won the series two games to one. After halting their infamous one-run game losing streak on the road with a 3-2 win in the opener of the double header against Johan Santana and Company yesterday, the Braves failed to score with a lineup that even the eternally optimistic Bobby Cox had to feel a little down about putting up.

Gregor Blanco, CF
Martin Prado, 2B
Kelly Effin Johnson, 2B
Omar Infante, LF
Krotchy McKrotchman, 1B
The French Prince, RF
Lillipad, SS
Clint Sammons, C
Jo-Jo Reyes, P

While there is never an excuse to get shutout by a rookie who the Brew Crew tore a new one in his major league debut, that is still pretty bad.

However, they dusted off, got off the mat, shook off the cobwebs, insert sports cliche here, and came from behind to beat the Mets 7-4 earlier today. The Mets fans, who enter hysteria at the smallest sign of failure, were on suicide watch following the game as nightmares of last September began. Luis Ayala, who I picked up for my fantasy team (oops) entered with a 4-2 lead, built by Braves slayer Oliver Perez and seven quality innings. Ayala then allowed three consecutive hits to Krotchy, PH KJ (sounds like code), and Greg "The Hammer" Norton. Norton's hit went the distance, though, and the game was quickly 5-4. Not to be outdone, Pedro Feliciano entered to allowed two hits and walk two and get charged with the other two runs to build a three run lead that Gonzo could not surrender.

Jorge Julio, who tossed an unimpressive 8th, improved to 2-0 in seven games with the Braves. He has pitched like shit, but that's why win-loss record is increasingly frustrating.

The win, combined with Philly sweeping a pair from the Brewers, has tightened the race in the NL East and the Wild Card. The latter is now tied between the Brewers and Phillies and the NL East is now separated by just a game. But none of that matters. The Braves have now won seven of their last ten. This is a team that won just nine of 29 games in the month of August so perspective, people!

CHIPPER WATCH 2008
Chipper Jones went 3 for 5 today. Albert Pujols went 2 for 4. Here is the updated batting average.
Chipper - .36471
Pujols - .36008

Elsewhere, these people believe Matt Holliday might be in the future for the Braves. A hypothetical offer...KJ, Thomas Hanson, Gorkys Hernandez, and Kyle Cofield. Holliday is due $13.5M next season and will be a free agent after 2009. His agent is Scott Boras. I'm just not too keen on trading away the system for another player. And for the record, though I am not trying to say his OPS away from Coors will turn into his full season OPS, he is only OPSing .803 away from Coors in his career. He is a good hitter, but he's certainly not that awesome.

This quote from Ned Colletti bugs me. “I’ll let you know in a year.” The quote was to the question did he regret signing Andruw Jones? Well, you know, Colletti, you knew the dangers. Andruw has not changed. What, did you think you could throw a shitload of money at him and suddenly, he is Alex Rodriguez? It does not work like that. You should take responsibility for that signing, not pass it on to Andruw.

By the way, I am in love with Kat Dennings. She makes me feel funny like I gotta hurl. Wayne says that I should hurl and "If you blow chunks and she comes back, she's yours. But if you spew and she bolts, then it was never meant to be." Hmm...worth a shot.

Mid-March strikes

-The weather is starting to warm up, my nephew has little league practice today, and stupid people are trying to say stupid things about subjects they have no business writing about. Yep, it's mid-March.

-The Tennessee Journalist has this bit on why the Braves will finish third in the NL East this year.

Renteria was criminally underrated during his time in Atlanta and Jones has been the Braves most imposing offensive threat for almost a decade.

Now, Renty may have been criminally underrated, though he did go to an All-Star game and got paid handsomely in his two years with the Braves (though the BoSox helped out). But the Jones they discuss is Andruw. Even if you attempt to make the argument that Chipper's injuries hurt his standing in a discussion like this, a simple look at baseball-reference's franchise index shows that over the last ten years, the leaders in OPS are as such.

Chipper Jones - Five Times
Adam LaRoche, Andruw Jones, J.D. Drew, Gary Sheffield, and Andres Galarraga - One Time

I mean, jeez, it's not even close. In the same article, he says the Nationals could finish .500, but the Braves are going to rue the day they allowed Andruw Jones go.

-On the other side, a real sports rag called the Sporting News did a bit on the Braves for their seasonal previews. Though wins as an individual stat is pretty weak, this was still pretty funny/sad.

Jurrjens, 22, was 3-1 in seven starts with Detroit last season. The Braves got three wins in 20 starts from Anthony Lerew, Jeff Bennett, Mark Redman, Lance Cormier and Jo-Jo Reyes combined during their turns as the No. 5 starter.

Ouch.

-The Bleacher Report says the Braves pitching might be the best in the NL East. It's a reasonable claim, one that can only be disputed by the Mets. The article seems to think the bullpen is the one real possible weakness, though it doesn't bother talking about the pen. It still scares me, I won't lie.

-New York Daily News is reporting Bobby may not retire. Yawn.

-Horacio Ramirez was by the Mariners earlier this week, making John Schuerholz's fleecing of the M's for Rafael Soriano all the more comical.

-Four players have already been cut from the pitching battles. Charlie Morton, Phil Stockman, Zach Schreiber, and Matt DeSalvo were sent to Richmond. DeSalvo and Stockman had the best chances of sticking with the team coming into spring training, but didn't impress the Braves enough. Say good-bye to Diory Hernandex and Javier Guzman, too. Both will likely get a chance in Richmond to start the year, but so far, have only been reassigned to the minor league camp.

-In spring action, the Braves added four wins, two ties, and two loses in the last week to their resume. They have the Cards today and tomorrow. Here is a run down on some of the competitions.

-Fifth Starter Battle (assuming Hampton's healthy enough to take one spot)
Buddy Carlyle - 11 K/1 BB, 7 R in 10 innings
Chuck James - 0 K/0 BB, 0 R in 2 innings
Jair Jurrjens - 5 K/6 BB, 5 R in 11.2 innings
Jo-Jo Reyes - 7 K/7 BB, 7 R in 7 innings

Think Jurrjens has this sowed up right now. Chuck James has already accepted possibly going to Richmond to start the year. Buddy is Jurrjens' main competition right now since James needs to build up his arm strength and Jo-Jo is horrible this spring

-Last Two Bullpen Spots (if Soriano, Moylan, Acosta, Ring, and Ohman have spots)
Colter Bean - 2 K/2 BB, 1 R in 3 innings
Jeff Bennett - 0 K/4 BB, 5 R in 5 innings
Blaine Boyer - 9 K/2 BB, 1 R in 9 innings
Francisley Bueno - 3 K/3 BB, 3 R in 7 innings
Chris Resop - 9 K/1 BB, 2 R in 8 innings
Jeff Ridgeway - 3 K/5 BB, 2 R in 6.1 innings
Tyler Yates - 3 K/6 BB, 8 R in 5 innings

Boyer is a keeper and Resop has the inside track for the seventh spot. Bueno, a minor league starter, has emerged as a bit of a contender and is getting the work, showing the Braves think he can do something. I can't see Yates breaking camp with the club.

-Backup Catcher
Javy Lopez - 4 for 23, 3 EBH
Corky Miller - 3 for 13, 1 EBH
Brayan Pena - 5 for 17, 0 EBH
Clint Sammons - 3 for 13, 2 EBH

Javy is being given the at-bats to win the battle for sure. Pena's edge in solid hitting is lessoned by no power and his defensive problems.

-Final Two Backups (assuming Thor and Prado have their spots sowed up and at least one of these spots will go to a outfielder)
Josh Anderson - 9 for 33, 2 EBH
Gregor Blanco - 7 for 16, 2 EBH
Joe Borchard - 10 for 29, 8 EBH (team high)
Brandon Jones - 6 for 33, 1 EBH
Brent Lillibridge - 9 for 40, 3 EBH
Jordan Schafer - 10 for 33, 4 EBH

I am a bit surprised by the at-bats Schafer has received, but I don't think he'll unseat anyone. Just figured I would add him. Lillibridge has the fact that nobody on this list can play shortstop and Prado has had only limited experience there in the minors. As good as Chard has been, he is in the right field mold and the Braves need a decent center fielder to caddy Kotsay. I say Lillibridge and Anderson more or less fall into their spots, though Anderson hasn't been that bad.

CF and other stuff

-Happy Friday to ya. Since Andruw Jones left, center field has remained a big question mark. Well, according to DOB, the Braves are possibly considering Mark Kotsay and Corey Patterson. I have spoke on Patterson often because I can't possibly fathom why people continue to talk him up when his career OBP is under .300. Not a typo, kids. Kotsay, on the other hand, is a perfect addition on paper. You look at what he brings to the table and while it won't aw you, it certainly will be productive.

.282/.337/.415 career, .264 career EQA, formally an above average CF.

The last three years have been trying for Kotsay, but he is obviously the best player for what he brings, for how long the Braves need to commit, and money invested (surely Oaktown would pick up half of the check or sent a grade B prospect to give the Braves some kind of compensation for Kotsay's salary). I am not saying I would do it...but dammit, I'm considering it.

-MLB Trade Rumors talks up Mike Cameron to the Braves. As I have said, I am back-and-forth on Cameron. He's not as bad as some make him, not as good as others make him. But he truly is a poor man's Andruw who is faster on the basepaths. Not a terrible direction to go. He also as a suspension over his head. Eiii...

-A couple of 2006 Braves signed new contracts. Marcus Giles, who spent last year with the Pads, signed with the Rockies for a measly minor league contract and spring training invite. Braves fans have spoke of Giles often with the steroid label. I think it is probably accurate, though he was one of my favorite Braves. It's pretty sad how his career has tapered off despite the fact he is just 29. Elsewhere, Chris Reitsma reups with the Mariners. Here's hoping he has success.

-Sean Livingstone of the USA Today penned a organizational report. There is literally nothing in this report that is all that interesting. But read it if you want a cheat sheet on everything you already know.

Winter Meetings and Such

-Well, I would have updated yesterday but I had a date. Yes, it's actually possible.

-Anywho, the Braves had a slightly busy week. They traded a young arm for two players, DFA'd half of their starting LF platoon, released a shitty player, lost another shitty player in the Rule 5 draft, and announced who will be making sure our kids is learning next year. Let's get to it.

-First, the trade. Jose Ascanio, a guy I really liked, was traded to the Cubs for Will Ohman and Omar Infante. The latter was picked up in the Jacque Jones deal last month so his time as a Cubbie was pretty short. I will go more into each player in my meet and greets over the next day or so, but suffice it to say I am indifferent. Ohman can get lefties out, important when facing the Phillies, but you also lose a young power arm.

-To make room for the players acquired, Willie Harris joined Peterson Orr and Lance Cormier on the DFA'd list. Unlike Orr and Cormier, Harris could still possibly stick in the organization, but here is hoping the Braves can find someone willing to pass along a high-reward prospect our way. By the way, Cormier was the shitty player released spoke of earlier. The Braves decided to not even attempt to keep him around.

-The Rule 5 draft passed with the tragic loss of Sergio Valenzuela to the Reds. Why the Reds felt it incumbant on themselves to pick up Valenzuela is beyond me. In four years stateside, Valenzuela had yet to make it out of A-ball, though he was on the Richmond roster (probably to protect him from the AAA and AA portions of the Rule 5 draft). He has not pitched often in four years, but has pretty well sucked either way. Last year, he pitched for both Rome and Myrtle Beach and posted a 7.00 ERA and a 1.93 WHIP. The Reds pissed away $50K they could have given me.

-The Braves have announced their 2008 coaching staffs for the minors. Chris Chambliss returns to the organization as the R-Braves hitting coach. The rest of the R-Braves staff remains the same. Crazy ass Rocket Wheeler is back with Mississippi and the M-Braves and Pelicans staff remain the same. Rome's staff was bolstered with promotions from Danville. Carlos Mendez, a former Braves farmhand, joins the Danville coaching staff as a hitting coach. Danville also includes Derrick Lewis, another former Braves farmhand who was GCL's pitching coach last year. Lewis last played in the Braves organization in 2003.

-A couple of former Braves joined new organizations. The lesser known one, Jose Capellan, was traded by the Tigers to the Rockies for Denny Bautista in your typical "I got a great arm who doesn't get it and you do too. Let's swap~!" It was not that long ago that Cappy was running neck-and-neck with the Andy Marte's of the world as top dog in the Braves organization. But he is already in his third organization since those Brave days.

-The other more noticable former Brave to find a new employer is Andruw Jones. Did you hear he signed with the Dodgers...or, the Braves West. In recent years, they have targetted Jason Schmidt, Rudy Seanez, Rafael Furcal, Wilson Betemit, and even Roberto Boom-Boom Hernandez. Now they add Andruw, though for a nice paycheck of $36M over the next two years, hardly the 5-7 years Scott Boras wanted. Andruw is paired with Furcal and gives the Dodgers some legitimate power for a team that finished near the bottom in the NL in homers and SLG. I actually think this is a good deal for the Dodgers. J.C. believes Andruw was worth $40M for the next two seasons and I have stated that he is clearly better than Torri Hunter, who got the big deal. Win, win.

Boring Week of Nothing

-Well, there was little to talk about after this week. Let's see, Mike Hampton is hurt. Major surprise, right? Chances are pretty good that his winter league action is over. After one inning. Seriously, I can't wait until his contract is up.

-Speaking of Braves no longer being Braves (terrible movie title), Peterson Orr was released. Can I get a w00t, w00t?

-w00t, w00t

-If that wasn't enough for a w00t, w00t...maybe the fact that Lance Cormier has been DFA'd is enough to get ya excited. At least, two of the medicore players who aren't good enough to stick around won't continue to get shots.

-In other transaction news, the Braves have offered arbitration to Ron Mahay, but declined to offer it to their other free agents, most notably including Andruw Jones. One final nail in the coffin for Andruw's time as a Brave.

-Braves are supposedly quite interested in getting in a few deals at the winter meetings, but no idea who will be their main targets. I still think Coco Crisp might be a focal point. Either way, I doubt we'll see a Lastings Milledge type deal.

Andruw won't be an Angel...

Andruw Jones's main competition for top free agent center fielder signed today with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of The United States of the Western Hemasphere of the planet Earth of the Milkey Way Galaxy. Torri Hunter is an okay ballplayer, but someone is going to have to explain how he got $18M a year over the next five seasons when he hasn't been that good. Let's look at a comparison between Andruw and Hunter.

Andruw career OPS+ = 113
Andruw last three years OPS+ = 117
Hunter career OPS+ = 104
Hunter last three years OPS+ = 113

Andruw career EQA = .281
Andruw last three years EQA = .283*
Hunter career EQA = .262
Hunter last three years EQA = .273*

Andruw defensive rate = 113
Andruw last three years rate = 104
Hunter career defensive rate = 102
Hunter last three years rate = 98

* = not exact...just took the final total of the last three years and averaged them out, but it's pretty close.

But Hunter had a nice year last year, critics will say. Yes, he posted a 122 adjusted OPS, two points off his best total of his career. For a five year period before 2007, Jones had a 124 adjusted OPS. Yay.

Whoa...what the hell?

Been out of it for a couple of weeks and missed time to comment on a trade. Damn you, Wren. I had an agreement with Schuerholz to keep any amazing trades on the DL until I was ready to comment on it. For my part, I will catch up with a column to be posted Monday or Tuesday at chopnation.com so be sure to check it out. Both players acquired in the deal were soon after added to the Baseball America Top Ten Prospects for the Braves organization.

1. Jordan Schafer, of
2. Jason Heyward, of
3. Jair Jurrjens, rhp
4. Brandon Jones, of
5. Gorkys Hernandez, of
6. Brent Lillibridge, ss
7. Cole Rohrbough, lhp
8. Jeff Locke, lhp
9. Tommy Hanson, rhp
10. Julio Teheran, rhp

I think Hanson is a bit too low and Heyward might be a bit too high, but a good list overall. Elsewhere, a hilarious column found here poises the question, "Is David Eckstein as good as Renteria? Maybe, maybe not..." That made me chuckle.

What else is going on in Braves world? Well, Tom Glavine seems like a sure bet to sign. I guess I just have to accept that when Schuerholz and Wren talked about improving the staff, they really meant Glavine above anything.

Jeff Francoeur won a Gold Glove. Yet again, that award is a useless display of defensive ability. Congrats Francoeur nevertheless.

Andruw Jones met with Stan Kastan. Apparently, nothing was discussed. Andruw playing coy? Things are so different! Speaking of now former Braves, the Braves traded Hiram Kyle Davies for Octavio Dotel, got nine games out of him, and declined his option. Oh, how miserable that deal makes me.

Wren flatout said the Braves will not be after a free agent closer. Wonder if Schuerholz has told Wren yet that loose lips sink ships or however that oddass phrase goes. Since taking over, Wren can't stop flapping his yap about whatever new thought he has. Still, if this one holds out, kudos.

Well, that's about all that is going on. I'm sure by the next time I post, the Braves will have signed Jesus because Wren loves to mess with my lack of posting during the week. Bastard.

A-Z Reviews: J

Big review here with five players, four of which played big parts in the team last season.

Chuck James
-Charles, Chuck, or (as Chip nauseatingly calls him) Chucky had high hopes coming into the year. He had posted solid marks almost across the board in 2006, except for homeruns, and looked like the young pitcher the Braves needed to transition into the next era. However, there were critics. Like me. Who felt a lot of performance was sheer luck. A soft-tossing flyball pitcher who throws two pitches and neither are a breaking ball? Something has to give. Well, what gave was a bad season to follow. His 4.24 ERA again masks how poorly he pitched. His FIP and DERA were worse, his strikeouts were down, homeruns allowed went up. And again, he failed to get grounders. Even worse, in his 30 starts, James went six innings or better 12 times. Now, I wasn't a math major, but my dog tells me that's worse than half. Or less than. Whichever is worse.

2008 Outlook: James could be out of the long-term plans for the Braves for a few reasons. One, Jo-Jo Reyes is well loved by the organization. Two, if you sign Glavine and Hampton comes back, are you seriously going to go with three lefties in the staff (and three lefties who are essentially the same at that)? James probably isn't quite as bad as he pitched last year, but he needs to work on adding a sinker to his game. Or a curve. Or a slider. Or hell, a knuckleball. Right now, he throws two straight pitches. Even if you change speeds as well as Greg Maddux, you need to get some movement.

Kelly Johnson
-KJ. Dr. Sabermetric (I'm warming up to it). Start of the year, I was worried with KJ at second because this team defensively scares me. Keller put my worries to bed with a solid April and though he was not awesomely awesome over like that again, he was solid for the entire year. He finished with a .286 EQA and I believe he can only improve on that. 7.1 WARP1, third best VORP among NL 2B, 4.1 pitches per at-bat, and a lot better defense than I thought we would see. His 107 defensive rate means he was 7% better than average and 9 RAA is not too shabby at all. 14 errors look worrisome to most, however.

2008 Outlook: I expect better things out of KJ. A .300 EQA and a .900 OPS are not lofty goals, but real possibilities. If he can work on the grounder to his non-glove side, always a tough thing to do as my friend BFH pointed out, KJ will be an elite 2B for years to come.

Andruw Jones
-It's over. As I wrote in Raw Numbers #32, the Braves and Andruw Jones are no more and in many ways, I am both sad and excited about it. There is not much left to say about Andruw's year. As for as adjusted OPS goes, it was his worst full season. Taking 1997 out of the mix (a full season, yes, but he was mostly a part-time player), Andruw set career lows in runs scored, hits, doubles, and tied his career low in RBIs. His 236 total bases, a career low. And for Andruw, it just got worse. I was still pretty convinced into June and some of July, Andruw would turn it around to at least put up respectable numbers. I was so wrong.

2008 Outlook: This season, Andruw was absolutely horrible and there are many reasons to believe that Andruw will go down the same road players like Ruben Sierra (after his first seven years, he was never the same) and Darryl Strawberry (once he hit 30, it was all over). Andruw's over 30, though in today's game, that's not exactly a death sentence. Unlike Rusty Greer, he was not defensively reckless in center, but his body has taken a considerable amount of blows. His defense is already in decline. If he can keep it fairly average, he will still be a suitable CF, but once it falls, and I believe it will, he will be like Willie Mays in another way. Playing center field longer than he should.

Brandon Jones
-B.J. began the year with Mississippi and posted a very solid .875 OPS with them, complete with 15 HR and a .214 IsoSLG. He moved on to Richmond and his power slumped, but he still hit the ball well in 191 PA (.292 AVG/.354 OBP). That earned him a shot with the big club. He was only 3 for 19 with 8 K's, but did add a 2B and 4 ribbies. Jones is considered, by many, one of the Braves top five prospects and from what I heard, routinely flirting with a .900 OPS should be pretty easy for the kid.

2008 Outlook: Jones will turn 24 in December so he still has some time. Right now, I just don't see a lot of playing time available unless Bobby wants to platoon Diaz yet again with a new guy, this time the left-hand hitting Jones. Seems kind of dumb considering Diaz's last two seasons. If he is not traded this offseason, and I believe the chance is pretty high, Jones will probably fine-tune his game with Richmond next year, at least early on, giving the Braves a backup plan in case of injury.

Chipper Jones
-No matter how you slice it, Chipper Jones had an amazing 2007 campaign. An MVP calibar one. His .340 EQA ranked second in his career and his adjusted WARP's were the best he has ever had. He even reached 600 PA for the first time since 2003, which was the last year he reached the celebrated 100 R/100 RBI plateaus that he also reached this year. The 42 doubles were a new high and he walked more than he struck out for the eighth time in his career. His second place finish for the batting title got all the press, but for the first time in his career, he had the highest OPS in the league. Had he played just a bit more and the Braves been a bit more competitive, Chipper may have won his second MVP. All this...for $11M. Not too shabby.

2008 Outlook: It all comes down to health for Chipper because he remains one of the best hitters in the game. His career OPS is the tenth best active OPS. Defensively, he had one of his best years (though his range has gotten noticeably worse than it was and it never was that good). If healthy, Chipper is a candidate for any hitting award in the majors. I expect more of the same myself. 140ish games, incredible hitting, weaker defense. We're stuck with his defense so if he can do the Vinny Castilla thing (no range, but play everything you get to pretty well), he won't be too much of a problem.

Raw Numbers #32 Up!

Link

Give it a look if you haven't yet. It is my look back at Andruw's career and what his legacy with the Braves actually is. Thought it turned out fairly good myself.

Expect a few player reviews up today as I try to get through it. Also, Baseball America was supposed to release the Top 20 Southern League prospects today, but they just changed the release date to October 9th, or for those scoring at home, tomorrow. Bastards!

Uh oh, it's Terence...

Terence Moore and I have a love-hate relationship.

To specify, I hate himself so much that I love when he comes out with such stupidity. I don't like Dave O'Brien and Mark Bowman annoys me, but they can't help being who they are. I feel Moore can...but chooses to not.

Braves make big mistake letting Andruw go

Oh, goody. Off to a great start. The Braves latest big mistake was letting the .220-hitting, rapidly aging Andruw Jones go. Hmm...maybe he likes the name of my blog, too.

Bad move.

Terrible move.

Actually, this is an atrocious move for the Braves, because manager Bobby Cox had it right for eternity when he said of Andruw Jones, who ranks 1a, 1b or 1c among baseball’s center fielders for the ages, “He has RBIs in his glove.”

Oh, the suspense. Was it bad or terrible? No, it was atrocious! I could have deleted bad and terrible, but I'm going for suspense!

It didn’t matter that Jones often looked ridiculous for long stretches after swinging and missing at pitches in search of reaching the farthest dark hole. Who cared that his batting average spent two seasons going south instead of north? No, he wasn’t much in the clutch this year, and yes, his agent is Scott Boras, the bogeyman for teams wishing to sign one of Boras’ clients below the amount of the national debt.

Who cares? Um, the Braves maybe? Jeez, Terrence, I don't know. By the way, whatever you define clutch by (I call it luck, but whatever), Andruw's career RISP is .254/.360/.444. This year? .231/.360/.439. A big jump in AVG, but a .005 point jump in SLG and OPS. No, he wasn’t much in the clutch this year

And, yes, the Braves can ease some of the post-Jones trauma with the signing of free agent Torii Hunter, the former center fielder and slugger for the Minnesota Twins. He also has a magic glove, and even though he can’t slug with Jones, he is more consistent at the plate with his ability to sustain hitting streaks.

Yes, Terence. The value of a player is not how frequently he gets on base, but whether or not he is "consistent" at "sustaining" streaks in which he gets one hit or more in a game. At value here with all the information on players that readily available is whether or not he can get a single in any amount of consecutive games. Hunter is not even that much more of a AVG hitter. He has batted .271 over his career, a wonderful eight points better than Andruw. Jeez.

That said, with the new folks at Liberty Media claiming they are willing to increase the payroll, the Braves’ Designated Geniuses should have discovered ways to acquire much-needed starting pitching while keeping Jones. In fact, Jones was part of the solution regarding that starting pitching. He is the hidden reason the Braves produced Cy Glavine, Cy Smoltz and Cy Maddux, along with all of those consecutive years of team ERAs that ranked first or second in baseball. He caught everything. He threw out everybody. He made the spectacular routine. He did so through an 11th year with the Braves that will produce a 10th Gold Glove, but management will shove Jones out the door by allowing him to become a free agent while yawning.

Well, mostly yawning. As a lifetime Braves player who contributed heavily to the franchise’s record 14 consecutive division titles, Braves officials will continue to say nice things about Jones as they wave good-bye. Still, the bottom line remains: He’s gone, and he’s only 30, and history comes to mind. Not in a good way, especially if the baseball gods wish to spank the Braves for their short-sightedness.

On one hand, Moore has a point. Andruw's defense was very helpful to the pitching success the Braves reached. Was he the hidden reason? No, but in a sense, again, his defense is underscored.

Andruw's RAA 1998-2007
98...22
99...19
00...13
01...10
02...11
03...18
04...-1
05...-5
06...-3
07...-1

Since Andruw's obvious lost step between 2003 and 2004, the Braves have only won one ERA title and have not had one Cy Young winner.

Here's Moore's problem. He doesn't account for that lost step. He also doesn't understand a lot about the relationship between defense and pitching. Yes, Andruw helps his pitching. His pitching also helps him out. His greatest numbers came before Glavine and Maddux left town. So, in essence, they were also the hidden reason Andruw looked so great. Their control led to balls he, from CF, could get a better read on because he was positioned correctly and they were hitting their spots.

Again, Andruw made them look better and he will be missed, but at the beginning of this column, Moore quoted Bobby. "He has RBIs in his glove." Yes, and they are measured by RAA. Listen, Andruw can't help the fact he gets little help from his corner outfielders and his pitchers and that does hurt him defensively and yes, he's still an incredible guy out there.

But at no time in Moore's column does he speak of what Andruw does at the plate in a positive manner except to say he outslugs Torii Hunter's career IsoSLG of .192. So, we're essentially talking about Andruw's defense and I'm here to tell you...it's great, but it ain't that great. I spent all season talking about what Andruw leaving will bring. I accept it, though, because this game, while it tends to ignore defense too many times in the modern age, is still a game played with a bat in addition to the glove. And while Andruw is a good hitter if you accept that he simply had a collassal failure of a year, Andruw's still just a guy with an adjusted OPS that is 15% better than the average. He is not, in no way, shape, or form a $15M type player.

Moore continues...though, truly, this next part is just Moore's personal masturbatory material.

Consider 1966. That was the first year Frank Robinson played for the Baltimore Orioles, and it was the first year of David Justice’s life.

Let’s start with Robinson, the undisputed star of the Cincinnati Reds for nearly a decade. He was traded to the Orioles for nothing worth mentioning before that 1966 season, because Reds owner Bill DeWitt said Robinson was “an old 30.” All that a creaky Robinson did in his first season with the Orioles was take the American League’s Triple Crown Award, lead them to their first world championship and grab World Series MVP honors. He eventually pushed the Orioles to three more pennants and another world championship (over the Reds), and then trotted to Cooperstown from there.

As for Justice, the batting hero of the Atlanta Braves’ only world championship in 1995, he suffered a shoulder injury early during that next season, and then he was dealt to the Cleveland Indians before the following year for nothing worth mentioning.

He was …

That’s right, 30.

Justice immediately slugged the Indians to their second World Series in three years. He later joined the New York Yankees, where he became the MVP of the AL championship series before helping to lead the pinstripe bunch to another world championship. When he ended his career with a playoff trip with the Oakland A’s, he had reached the playoffs six times after his trade from the Braves. He also retired as the all-time postseason leader in games played, at bats, extra-base hits, runs, hits, total bases, walks and RBIs.

This isn’t to say Jones will become Robinson or even Justice during his post-Braves career.

This is to say why even take the chance?

Why? Because David Justice allowed the Braves to keep Glavine and Maddux. Moore's love for David Justice is on par with Joe Morgan's dreamy eyes for Gary Sheffield. According to Morgan, the Tigers problems has nothing to do with their pitching not being healthy as an effective as it was in 2006. It was all Sheffield. Well, Moore's little obsession with Justice is an every column add-in.

Justice was an asshole. He wasn't traded because he was, but he was an asshole. He was also expensive and coming off an injury - and beginning to look injury-prone. In his career, he had played in 150 games once. The Braves needed to find money somewhere to keep the pitching together. They were loaded at the time with outfield prospects, too, including Andruw Jones. Yes, Justice had some great time in the AL. The DH was keeping him healthy, too.

The implication that Justice got his teams to the playoffs is laughable. He played on some damn good teams after his trade. But he didn't make his teams that much better.

Jones will make his team better, I believe. His defense will help out. But Andruw is not on his way out cause he's 30. He's on his way out because he doesn't provide nearly enough bang for the Braves buck. He's out because he has more trouble the past two seasons than ever with injuries.

Andruw's gone because it's best for the Braves.

Cry, Terence, cry.

I do like how you closed comments because you were being made a fool of.