David Pinto worked for ten years as the chief researcher for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. Starting in 2002, David brought his research and insights to a wider audience through his blog, Baseball Musings.

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Showing entries for Category: Braves

McGriff and Teixeira

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July 30, 8:14 AM

by David Pinto, Baseball Examiner

Casey Kotchman
Photo: Icon SMI

In 1993, the Atlanta Braves faced a problem. They consistently trailed the San Francisco Giants in the middle of July by 8 or 9 games. Their first baseman, Sid Bream, hit like a poor shortstop. So they traded three prospects for Fred McGriff, having an off year for the Padres. The three prospects amounted to very little, but McGriff caught fire power wise and helped the Braves to a great comeback. (The change of park probably helped.)

Tuesday, trailing the NL East leader consistently by 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 games over three weeks, the Braves trade a top hitting first baseman away. While Casey Kotchman is no Sid Bream, he's still hitting below average for a major league first baseman.

First Basemen, 2008
Stat	Teixeira	Kotchman	ML Average
Batting Average	.283	.287	.271
On-Base Average	.390	.327	.354
Slugging Percentage	.512	.448	.454

The Braves have changed. Frank Wren made a trade that turned a strength into a weakness. John Schuerholz did just the opposite during his tenure. He was excellent at identifying a weakness on the Braves, and trading for or signing a player to shore up the position. Wren certainly has a huge hole in the outfield with Jeff Francoeur and needs help in the back of the rotation. By not addressing the real weaknesses of the team, Wren shows that he doesn't understand the model that made the Braves successful for well over a decade.

For more info: Baseball Musings.

Topics: Baseball , Braves , Angels , Mark Teixeira , Casey Kotchman , Fred McGriff , Sid Bream

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Braves Offense Falls

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July 8, 8:56 AM

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... Read More
Topics: Baseball , Braves , Chipper Jones , Mark Teixeira , Hiroki Kuroda

Shutting Down the AL

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June 28, 8:03 AM

Jair Jurrjens helped the Braves to a 4-0 win over Toronto Friday night, pitching eight shutout innings. Jurrjens accomplished quite a feat in interleague play for a National League pitcher. He posted a 0.00 ERA in his three starts. He did allow five... Read More
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June 10, 8:12 AM

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Chipper Jones Graph

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May 31, 10:47 AM

Here's a graph of Chipper Jones's probability of hitting .400 after each day the Braves play. The X axis show day number, of if the Braves play a double header, both games are rolled into that day. For example, 50 isn't the 50th day of the... Read More
Topics: Baseball , Offense , Milestones , Braves , Chipper Jones

Chipper Jones Update

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May 29, 12:11 PM

A week ago I looked at the probability of Chipper Jones hitting .400 for the season based on what he already accomplished, and posted a spreadsheet for future calculations. Last Thursday the probability stood at .000095. Chipper is still... Read More
Topics: Baseball , Offense , Braves , Chipper Jones

Chipper and Injuries

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May 22, 3:59 PM

Big League Stew saw a picture of Chipper Jones in pain last night and thought his run at .400 might be over:Jones sat out a game with a sore groin last week, so I can only assume the inevitable injury is creeping closer. But here's to his continued (good)... Read More
Topics: Offense , Braves , Chipper Jones