The Braves look to be resigned entering the season with Chris Reitsma as the leading candidate to close. I have my doubts about any commitment to him in that role. After all, the Braves did trade for Kyle Farnsworth last season and immediately made him the closer. I am also concerned because the Reds did the same thing – took the job from him.
What also worries me is his workload over the past two seasons. He has appeared in 80 per season for the past two and his strikeouts dropped by 30% from the 2004 to 2005 season. As a Yankees' fan, I have watched Joe Torre burn through his relievers (Ramiro Mendoza, Jeff Nelson, Mike Stanton, Steve Karsay and last season, Tanyon Sturtze.) I see a giant red flag.
Who would close then? I have covered Jorge Sosa already (Most recently here.). However, GM John Schulerholz said he is not in the bullpen. Joey Devine looks to be the obvious closer-in-waiting. The Braves drafted him 27h overall last draft and recalled him after a brief stint in the minors. He didn’t look great but one can’t dismiss the Braves actions. However, he is not ready as evidenced by his high minor league WHIP in AA and AAA (1.67).
The player I like is Chuck James. While everyone talks about Framcisco Liriano leading the minors in strikeouts, lefty James was right behind him - striking out 193 in 151.1 innings with a greater than 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio. And James had more success in his as-brief September tryout (1.59 ERA vs 5.70!) I have James right at the top of my NL pitching sleepers with minimum expectations set at a quality middle reliever a la Ryan Madsen.
On offense, the OF is set in center and right field. Left field is a competition between Ryan Langerhans, Kelly Johnson and Matt Diaz. Two of these three will be fantasy contributors. Right now, I would bet Langerhans and Johnson are those two because Bobby Cox is most familiar with them. Matt Diaz had two very good seasons at AAA and may be able to help, but he will have to await his opportunity, if he gets one at all.
IF Diaz does well (and I hope so if only to pile on the incompetence of the Royals organization), I can see some ABs coming at the expense of……Jeff Francoeur! This is clearly not a popular prediction, but I am not sold on Francoeur as much as his torrid 2005 start has led others to be. His minor league plate discipline was abysmal and his power was pedestrian. He is still young, though, so a developmental leap cannot be ruled out. Let’s see how he does after the league has had an entire off-season to watch tape and see where his weaknesses reside.
I covered Brian McCann and top prospect, Jerrod Saltalamacchia here. I like both and will be interested to see how the Braves resolve it. (A trade of McCann is my gut instinct but not until 2007 or 2008 after an even split of PT.)
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3 comments:
Chuck James-He's the next big lefty for the Braves. He'll take the place of Ramirez with better results. Francoeur will settle down, still put up good numbers, but not as good as some would like to see based on last year's results.
The McCann/Salty situation...from what I've read one of those guys will be given a 1B move/tryout sometime later down the road. This way both could fit in the lineup. As for this year, it depends greatly on how they do, especially Salty. If Salty has a monster year and McCann hits a sophmore slump then he may see some action this year, maybe. I doubt it, but there is a chance. Take last year, who would have thought McCann would have been starting. Estrada had the big year in '04 and much of the same was expected in '05 , but injury and lackluster production caused his demotion. I really don't expect anything to happen until 2007ish. Like I said, this depends moreso on the players production to result in a course of action.
You don't think LaRoche will improve to the point of making a move to 1B impossible?
This is a make or break year for LaRoche. Left-handed pitching has been his downfall, added to his overlonging slumps. Don't get me wrong, I personally have nothing against him and hope he does do good. 1B has been the revolving door for the Braves for sometime and maybe LaRoche can fit the bill with a awesome 2006.
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