Quote:
Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA
That's okay, I continue to be amazed at anyone gravely worrying about the batting order at this point in the season.
For the Braves to be successful this year, McLouth has to be productive & the best chance of him doing that is where he's at in the order. 1B is a black hole offensively, Uggla is doing exactly what I feared he'd do after getting paid before producing anything.
Which is a bad deal only as long as the guy behind him doesn't produce. Thing is, Gonzalez also likely has to be productive if the team is going to do anything notable & it's a little early to declare him a bust for the year after 11 games (although the trend since September is discouraging).
At the bottom line though is this: if Heyward is ultimately an on-base guy instead of a power/RBI guy then this team is FUBAR anyway.
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Even if Mclouth is productive, he's not going to be better than Heyward. You are telling me the best option is to give Mclouth more protection than Heyward?
Gonzales is a guy the Braves traded because of clubhouse presence as opposed to actual talent. His career OBP is .294. Any team that decides to pitch to Heyward in a two out situation needs their heads examined.
As for OBP: you must have missed my point about him slugging around 200 points better than the next closest Brave. I don't care what point it is in the season, you hit your best hitters higher up in the order. The Reds shouldn't hit Brandon Phillips 6th because they want to get Jay Bruce going.
this may only mean the difference of a couple of wins this season, but those couple of wins could determine if the Braves make the post season. FWIW, I'm not even saying he should hit 2nd. In my mind, Chipper should hit 2nd and he should hit third. The days of Chipper hitting 25 HR are over IMHO. But he can sure as hell control the bat, avoid k's and help set the table.
Your best OBP and SLG (therefore OPS) should be hitting in the front four. To have him hitting 6th because you want to try to revive a 30 year old mediocre player is silly. And I'm not sure where the "if Gonsalez is what he is and continues to suck, the Braves aren't going anywhere anyway, so lets allow teams to walk our best hitter so they can face him" strategy takes us either. Hell, I could be wrong here, but I think sacrificing even one at bat of Jason Heyward is insanity. Putting him in the bottom third of the order is just nonsensical.