Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 08, 2008
One Hit Wonders
Chipper Jones

07 July 2008: Chipper Jones tosses his helmet away after striking out against Hiroki Kuroda.
Photo:Icon SMI

Hiroki Kuroda one hit the Braves Monday night in an extremely well pitched game. He faced one over the minimum and used just 91 pitches to dispatch the Braves. Given the recent history of the Braves offense, that's no surprise.

Over their last thirteen games, Atlanta's offense played in a deep funk. As a team, they are hitting .213 with a .284 OBA and a .333 slugging percentage. Those numbers get most individuals sent back to the minors. Their situational hitting is even worse, with just 18 hits in 101 at bats with runners in scoring position.

Interestingly, Teixeira, Jones and Blanco are hitting well during this period. So well, in fact, that in order for the team to post such low averages, everyone else is terrible. Jeff Francoeur was sent down, but McCann, Johnson, Kotsay and Escobar are pretty terrible right now as well.

This probably makes a trade of Teixeira more likely. With the Braves falling fast and Mark heating up, now appears to be the time to trade the hitter for some prospects who can fill in the offense over the next couple of seasons. The problem is, about the only contender that can use help at first is the Athletics, and they tend not to trade for free agents. The other bay area team, the Giants, can also use some offense. Playing for now rather than building for the future is the kind of move Sabean has made lately. It should be an interesting month of speculation.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:24 AM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Saw Chipper on ESPN yesterday and even he was speculating about a Teixeira deal. He was muttering about how he needs protection (not the Trojan kind, though Chipper's history might suggest otherwise) and doesn't want to see Teixeira go.

I'm not sure. Atlanta is still just six behind the suddenly very mortal-looking Phillies. While an overwhelming package could probably get Teixeira right now, the Braves may want to wait a little.

Really, Atlanta's biggest problem this year has been horrible luck (5-21) in one-run games. If that luck starts to turn, they could look like contenders by the trading deadline. The Braves still have the second-best run diff in the NL East. They're not that bad and could still make a run.

Posted by: Casey Abell at July 8, 2008 11:47 AM

Hey somebody's got to win. Their bullpen is really weak - leads to a lot of close losses.

Posted by: Bandit at July 8, 2008 01:03 PM

"Their bullpen is really weak"

Perhaps you should check some stats.
1st in NL in Opp BA
3rd in NL in ERA

Posted by: Cooper at July 8, 2008 09:43 PM
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