Atlanta Braves 2014: I got your extension right here

Oh yeah, Fredi, the passive-aggressive thing is really going to work on these guys.

“Sometimes you have meetings and guys expect you to rant and rave and throw stuff,” he said. “I popped in the hitters’ meeting today for a little bit and told the guys, ‘Hey, let’s whoop somebody’s ass today. Let’s go out there and score three, really put it to them!’ It kind of got a giggle.”

tommy la stella is hitting .393 when behind in the count (although that doesn't really explain why he's only .216 when ahead)

Fredi going full LaRussa

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10887297/atlanta-braves-shake-lineup-bat-pitcher-aaron-harang-8th

He did that a couple of times last season, iirc.

Danny Biceps played tonight, that benching is still just an uggla rumor

@ajcbraves
Freeman 6-for-11 with RISP and 2 outs. Rest of team: 8-for-103

No amount of La Stella is going to fix this team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRfPspjKj08

@BRefPlayIndex: Career batting average with #Braves:

Warren Spahn .196
B.J. Upton .188

47-minute bottom of the 7th

Looks like Chris Johnson has had another meltdown/flipout. Replaced by Peña.

no doubt upset that bj has passed him on the ops list

I rewound the game to his strikeout (I'm just now starting to realize how freaking awesome DVRs are, after 8 months of having one) and you can hear something going WHAM-WHAM-WHAM and then a bunch of bats clattering as Simmons was coming up for his at-bat.

Bossman Jr. finally putting it all together.

It must really be muggy in Atlanta tonight. It's not that hot, but Lester's drenched and a bunch of other players are lathered up.

http://deadspin.com/opponents-barred-from-speaking-as-cobb-county-approves-1582556255

county guvmint at its classical best

la stella up

These guys baffle the hell out of me, but considering the division they play in, they may manage to bluff their way into October. Good work by the new kids this weekend.

Congrats Craigzilla.

http://www.talkingchop.com/2014/6/7/5788526/as-craig-kimbrel-breaks-braves-saves-record-we-look-back-at-his

Since debuting in 2010, Kimbrel has been worth 10.3 WAR. The next highest is Greg Holland at 8.4.

His 43.1% strikeout rate leads all relievers during that same span. As does his 33.7% strikeout minus walk rate. In fact, when looking back at the history of baseball, both of those numbers are the best.

The 155 saves he has recorded are tops in the league, above Jonathan Papelbon's 148. If you recall, Kimbrel came up late in 2010 and acted as a set up man for Billy Wagner, so he hasn't even been a closer for each of the years in this example.

His 1.41 ERA is by far the best in the league since his debut as well. With our old friend Eric O'Flaherty finishing behind him with a 1.68 mark.

Jeez, gonna be a long night.

GATTIS

i might like this team if they weren't the braves

lol

I'm squeezing the last couple of years of homerism out of them before they move to White Flight Stadium and I become a Pirates fan. My wife suggested I become a Cards fan but that whole conversation ended with her saying "okay, okay, jeez, you weirdo."

I don't want to overdo the "omg Andrelton" stuff but this one is worth it.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_06_13_anamlb_atlmlb_1&mode=video&content_id=33684561&tcid=vpp_copy_33684561

braves 'considering' calling up christian bethancourt, moving heyward to center, jupton to right, oso blanco to left, bupton to bench

I saw that this morning. I mostly agree with the Talking Chop guy who said it would make zero sense -- I would upgrade that to very little sense.

paplolbon

Ryan Doumit is a creepy-looking motherfucker -- his eyeballs are solid black, no whites.

hahaha, I googled him and it autocompleted to "ryan doumit eyes"

http://twinstrivia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Doumit-Ryan.jpg

I think this team has had its last look at 1st place in the division this year.

http://i.imgur.com/vI0KPD5.jpg

Now that it's happened on the Fox game of the week, I expect some national press about the ongoing friction or miscommunication between Gattis and the Braves starters (Teheran and Santana in particular). It's been going on for a while. Tonight at one point Gattis went through a series of signs, Teheran shook them all off; Gattis went through a bunch more, Teheran shook them all off; then they just had a staring contest for a while. It felt like forever, but was probably between 5-10 seconds. A couple of weeks ago, Gattis and Santana were so off the same page, I swear they were having a couple of mound conferences per batter.

File under "are you fucking kidding me?" -- B.J. Upton is batting leadoff tonight.

Tom Hart, the Barveses field reporter, is in the booth tonight. (Joe Simpson is still out from achilles tendon surgery.) I would say that anything that takes oxygen away from Chip Caray is a good thing, but Paul Byrd has been the main fill-in for Simpson, and he's been terrible. Hart is good, though.

Unfortunately, Uggla's still on the team and Stella! has the night off.

http://images.cdn.bigcartel.com/bigcartel/product_images/138139087/max_h-1000+max_w-1000/FCC-Red_01.jpg

Ha, might get one of those.

I have no idea where this gang of run-manufacturers came from, but suddenly their percentage of runs from homer is way down and they're 9-1 in their last 10. Admittedly vs. Astros/Phils/Mets, but still, I love this crazy "put the ball in play" concept.

Lol, Gerald Laird, master of the bunt single. (He just got career #44.) They never expect it!

It works approximately 24.6% of the time for the .246 lifetime hitter.

Phil Gosselin called up from AAA; the corresponding roster move is that Dan Uggla has been suspended for one game by the team. Fredi won't say why but Dave O'Brien at the AJC says it's for being "late."

After sorta Kawakami-ing him for a month and a half, it looks like the Popeye era is nearly done.

rosenthal saying uggla is done, though whether dfa'd or outright released remains unclear

plz SOMEONE snap him up so I can at least get another 25 HM points

xp - I've been waiting/hoping for that news today.

http://i.imgur.com/vI0KPD5.jpg

No amount of La Stella is going to fix this team.

― WilliamC, Wednesday, May 7, 2014 10:10 PM (2 months ago)

...although I'd love to be proven wrong. STELLLLLLLLAAAAAAAA!

btw this 20yo ss jose peraza is tearing shit up

no power and he doesn't walk, but it's less of a big deal when you hit .350

also he doesn't strike out

I'm terrible about following prospects -- I've heard a little about Peraza but not a lot. Just read his profile at Talking Chop and they've moved him from SS to 2B, with a timeline to reach the bigs in 2016.

no power and he doesn't walk, but it's less of a big deal when you hit .350 -- he'd fit right in with these weird nu-look small-ball Braves. Homers way down (only 7 in July), slash numbers all up.

Simba Is Not Human, 7/22/14 edition: http://deadspin.com/andrelton-simmons-makes-another-superhuman-defensive-pl-1608860163

Went to the Friday night game -- too bad the Braves didn't show up. I'm done paying to see these guys in person.

https://sports.vice.com/article/baseball-erotica-1-john-smoltz-and-tom-glavine

Ah yeah, I just meant front office/coaching staff.

so, Hart?

http://www.talkingchop.com/2014/9/23/6836957/braves-have-offered-john-hart-the-gm-job

Frank Wren could invent a cancer vaccine in 20 years and the headline will read "Disease Eradicated By The Guy Who Signed Dan Uggla To A Long-Term Contract."

-Matt Sussman, BP

Congratz to B.J. Upton on his new Braves single season strikeout record (172).

Fredi survives.

Greg Walker out as asst. hitting coach, Doug Dascenzo replaced by Bo Porter as 3B coach.

Hart gives in to the arm-twisting, named Pres. of Baseball Operations. Coppolella's title of "right-hand man" to be changed to GM sooner or later.

Saving these for next season, hope I have a reason to use 'em.

http://mlb.com/assets/images/7/9/2/75569792/FreemanDancing1_sntuy6i6.gif

http://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/freemandancing2_p7n7ls6v.gif