Will work for Bullpen
 

Ugh. This is the worst Braves bullpen since they started winning division titles. It's really painful to sit through this.

Well, at least we managed to use them all.

Yeah, i was going to post something about this today.

The freakin bullpen is absolutely driving me nuts. They are such a fun team to root for now, with all the rookies. And could (should) EASILY be in first place despite the youth, if they had a bullpen.

Why Bernero is still on the team amazes me. I think he has given up 21 runs in his last 14 innings. Nice.

After an uncommonly good stretch, Reitsma is back to his normal unreliable self.

I wish they would trade Furcal for a closer. Betemit should be the leadoff hitter.

I really like Johnson..21 years old, and more walks than k's? Plus after that 1-30 start, he has to be hitting close to 350 since..

If the Braves still think Chipper has 5 productive years and think that K. Johnson and Langerhans are legitimate corner OF options for the long haul, trade Marte/Brayan Pena C at Richmond hitting near .350 and Furcal and get a solid closer from a crappy team and a quality middleman. Remember Francouer is lurking as well.

No. No more quality prospects for shitty closers.

It could be worse. You could have signed Danny Graves

I hear John Rocker is looking for work.

Cubs just cut Joe Borowski if you want a take a chance on a guy in his mid-thirties who can sometimes hit 90 on the radar gun and serves up a lot of homeruns.

Joe "The Big" Borowski?

Then not win the division or go to the playoffs. If they want to or feel like they can win *now*, meaning this year, they're going to have to do something like this. I didn't say a shitty closer, however some decent team that happens to have a good closer for a losing team may be willing to part with them.

The bullpen situation is terminal, I suspect. Gryboski is the only one that I trust and even he isn't performing up to his expected levels. When a situation is terminal, you have to make some decisions. If they stand pat, they won't make the playoffs, IMO.

My point is, this is exactly what we did for Kolb. He turned out to be a bust, and we lost our prospect in the process. I'm not against getting a closer, but I'm against trading another prospect for one.

I think we will make the playoffs without one, but we will lose yet again because our offense will slump and the closers will give up the close 1-0 and 2-1 games.

Chipper has several years left and IS a third baseman. He looked lost in the outfield. He needs to stay put, and the team needs to trade Marte. Giving up Marte and maybe one of the young arms for some help in the bullpen must be done.

Better to give up Chipper and keep Marte.
Alas, nobody would want his contract :(

I wouldn't trade Marte for a guaranteed 2005 NL title at this point.

Yeah- I think Marte will be the best hitting 3b in the NL (yes, better than Rolen offensively) in the long run. But what I figure is Chipper moves to 1b next year - they dump LaRoche who's solid, but not great.

If only we could find a way to get rid of Larry.

For those that want to trade a propsect for a closer, which solid closers do you think you could acquire?

I am not sure that Baez, Mesa or Wickman are that much of an improvement. Do you think Jorge Julio of the Orioles is worth one of those prospects?

I will invoke my no trade clause.

I never understood why we got kolb. i just cant trust a closer who averages 1 strikeout every 3 innings. Not sure who we could get, though.

Hmmm... i wonder if maybe in addition to furcal, they should look to trade giles, too. Leave chipper at 3rd, train marte for 2nd or ss (with betemit playing whatever marte isnt playing). I like johnson and langerhaans (or however you spell it) and andruw in the outfield. that could be a pretty solid lineup for several years.

I think the braves need to fasttrack that college player they drafted with their first pick...think he throws in the mid 90s? RUmors having him coming up this year anyway. But, if giles and furcal bring us a solid closer, that would work for me :)

You're thinking of Joey Devine from NCSt. He's already pitched I think 6 scoreless innings in his minors debut.

Capellan has struggled at Brewers AAA from what I've heard. Mayber Schuerholz thought he was overrated and a one trick pony with having only 1 pitch.

Well, the Yankees just cut Stanton & Quantrill ... I'm not so sure that I might not give either/both of them a look, maybe they'd be a little better than what we've been getting at least for a little while (until they made their way around the league at least once).

I'd take both of them over Bernero/Kolb/Boyer/etc. right now.

heck, right now i think i'd take rick camp or gene garber (at their current ages) over what we have now...

or maybe we can get terry forster (the fat tub of goo...letterman reference) to come out of retirement

I've said it before..Alejandro Pena, Juan Berenguer, and Jeff Reardon.

To the Batphone!

We need Rick Camp to hit a HR in a potential 18 inning game.

July 4th is coming up, too... 3am fireworks for everyone!

i'll never forget staying up late to watch that game and seeing him hit that homerun live (via tv, not in person)...one of the reasons i love that i grew up with sports.

Don't forget "Large" Charles Kerfeld.

Well today's game is going well. Estrada thrown out in the bottom of the 1st for arguing balls and strikes while catching, Cox thrown out for protecting Estrada.