2015 Atlanta Braves

[canes21]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

Another game, another showing of the worst bullpen in baseball. If this team had an average bullpen, they're over .500 by a 4-5 games easily. The sad thing is that no one had any expectations and the pen has already lost so many game that there isn't going to be any move to try and help the bullpen out. We're just stuck for 135ish more games of watching great starting pitching while the bullpen will probably have 70 losses on their resume which will be absolutely ridiculous.

I've never struggled to watch the Braves before, but I really can't see myself watching the rest of the season if it continues like this. I've just never seen such an awful group of "pitchers" in my life. All of us that post in here could probably go out there and do a better job.

I feel for the starters because once the bullpen comes in, it's a guaranteed loss just about with this team. Add Fredi Gonzalez into the mix and it's a real miracle the Braves are still .500 a quarter into the year.

[Sportsforever]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

Tonight was the first time I've really been angry all year. It's 1-0 and Miller had thrown 86 pitches through 7. Adnrelton leads off with a single and instead of asking Miller to sacrifice he pinch hits with Ciriaco. I knew the game was lost at that point...just infuriated me to no end. The bullpen stinks!

[Blzer]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

I'm a Giants fan first, so this was a fun game to watch on one end but a frustrating game on the other end. I too was scratching my head with the pinch hit. No dive from Markakis, a bad hop to Simmons, and that 8th inning just circused its way for a long while.

Also surprised Belt's ball went out. I thought for sure that would be warning track power, but that ball just never came down.

And let Fredi know that the Giants can hit lefties, especially Giants lefties (Aoki, Belt, Crawford).

[DonkeyJote]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

The bullpen is bad, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. The starting pitching is still middle of the road (15th) and the offense is worse (20th in runs, 26th in ops).

[TheMatrix31]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

Tonight was the first time I've really been angry all year. It's 1-0 and Miller had thrown 86 pitches through 7. Adnrelton leads off with a single and instead of asking Miller to sacrifice he pinch hits with Ciriaco. I knew the game was lost at that point...just infuriated me to no end. The bullpen stinks!

Incredibly frustrating. Then all the bad defense setting them up to cash in. Just an infuriating game. The way Shelby is pitching, we need to win every single time he's out there. It's unacceptable not to.

[KSUowls]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

Tonight was the first time I've really been angry all year. It's 1-0 and Miller had thrown 86 pitches through 7. Adnrelton leads off with a single and instead of asking Miller to sacrifice he pinch hits with Ciriaco. I knew the game was lost at that point...just infuriated me to no end. The bullpen stinks!

I didn't see the game. I assumed Miller didn't pitch deeper into the game because his pitch count was high...but 86 pitches and you pull him? WTF?

I've never been a fan of Fredi, but that is just atrocious. That said, even without Fredi's blowups this is still just a .500 team. Outside of Miller the starters have not shown any consistency yet. The offense is middle of the road, and the bullpen is bad. Hopefully this is the last year of Fredi though.

[DonkeyJote]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

I didn't see the game. I assumed Miller didn't pitch deeper into the game because his pitch count was high...but 86 pitches and you pull him? WTF?

I've never been a fan of Fredi, but that is just atrocious. That said, even without Fredi's blowups this is still just a .500 team. Outside of Miller the starters have not shown any consistency yet. The offense is middle of the road, and the bullpen is bad. Hopefully this is the last year of Fredi though.

Middle of the road for the offense is very generous. 20th in runs, 26th in ops.

[Speedy]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

With the folks upset with Shelby taken out...I get it but I don't mind it; it's May and it's a long season -- I think Fredi saw it as an opportunity to get Shelby out on a high not

Middle of the road for the offense is very generous. 20th in runs, 26th in ops.

They're putting the ball in the play which I do like...I think ATL needs to rid itself with all these veterans and let guys play. Ciriaco did end up at 2nd with 2 outs and of course...nobody can do anything.

Speaking of veterans, Johnny Gomes was supposed to be this "lefty smasher" but I'm not seeing it. His .600 OPS needs to go (or purely be used as a pinch hitter like Hinske a few years back) in favor, again, some of you the younger players such as Todd Cunningham.

That's the knock I have on Fredi...we rarely see guys develop under him. Cunningham does really well, hits a rough stretch and Fredi makes him ride the pine. Kelly Johnson as a rookie back kept playing thru like an 0-27 stretch as Bobby let him work thru it.

I would love to see TP get a shot -- but that's just me.

[Blzer]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

With the folks upset with Shelby taken out...I get it but I don't mind it; it's May and it's a long season -- I think Fredi saw it as an opportunity to get Shelby out on a high not

The Braves don't see rest until Thursday, and SF (the city) has been very cold recently. Hopefully he doesn't tire out the entire bullpen while the Giants are providing more offense than anybody else in the league right now. If Miller was their best bet and the Giants stay hot at home (four straight shutouts), that will just mean more bullpen work.

Fredi could have afforded having Miller go one more inning, if just for that at the very least.

[Speedy]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

The Braves don't see rest until Thursday, and SF (the city) has been very cold recently. Hopefully he doesn't tire out the entire bullpen while the Giants are providing more offense than anybody else in the league right now. If Miller was their best bet and the Giants stay hot at home (four straight shutouts), that will just mean more bullpen work.

Fredi could have afforded having Miller go one more inning, if just for that at the very least.

I don't like the pinch hitter he chose...I'm more so on his side for getting Shelby some rest for the season ahead. Guy is project to throw 234 innings which is 51 above his career high (last year of 183).

[KSUowls]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

Middle of the road for the offense is very generous. 20th in runs, 26th in ops.

Middle of the road is kind of the peak, but it wasn't that long ago that they were around 15th in the majors in runs scored. A 7 game stretch this early in the season where you score just 11 runs is going to drop you. OPS isn't going to be there with this team ever though, but that isn't the end of the world either. OPS and runs scored are generally positively correlated, but there is enough offense on this team to be competitive with the style that they play.

I agree with Speedy. This team isn't making the playoffs so stop stunting the growth of guys like Bethancourt and play him. Lets find out if we have our catcher of the future or not. Todd Cunningham is more than likely never going to be a major league starter, but he's 26, there is a chance he could be a depth guy. We're not going to know that when he's only starting 60% of the games since he was called up though.

[canes21]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

That's very frustrating. Fredi has no direction with his decisions and we keep seeing late game collapses because he never looks like he's thought of anything ahead of time.

I can handle a rough year if we're developing young talent. That hasn't exactly been the case though. And what's killing me is how many winnable games have fallen apart because Fredi hardly makes any moves, and when he does, they are all extremely questionable. When is the last time we saw Fredi let a guy face one batter specifically? You pretty much are given a 6 runs leash if you come in from the bullpen before Fredi thinks of pulling you. Match ups don't matter to him either.

There is no sense of true direction. He clearly isn't the manager this organization needs to develop back into a contender, so let's hope we get the right guy after this season because keeping Fredi will just set the team back even more.

[Sportsforever]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

For you guys who are savvy on our Minor League system, is the reason we aren't calling up Wisler/Bueno service time or are we wanting to keep them in the rotation at AAA?

It seems to me with the dumpster fire that is our bullpen that I'd rather watch Wisler and Bueno learn on the job out of the 'pen at the big league level than watch Cunniff/Johnson/Martin, etc dump gas on fires.

[canes21]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

What does it matter who is in the pen? Fredi doesn't know how to manage late game situations. Sure, the pen is awful, but it could be helped a little by Fredi. He needs to use these guys more often in minor roles. I'm tired of evry bullpen pitcher being asked to do an entire inning. Play the match ups. Let a guy go at one batter regardless of the result and then be out of there.

Make the lack of talent by limiting their pitches and batters faced. The bullpen is being exposed because every one is going 30 pitches at a time regardless if they give up 3 runs or get 3 outs. Let Jim Johnson go full out on one batter and then be pulled. We've already seen this pen can't handle what they've been asked right now, so try using them differently. Let them work less per game to try and mask their lack of talent and we'll either see improvement or nothing will change.

[Amoo316]

Re: 2015 Atlanta Braves

6th in the NL in runs scored after tonight's games. 11th in the NL in ERA, while having 2 starting pitchers in the top 20 in ERA (Miller and Wood). Current record 26-27.

Personally if you told me at the start of the season ATL was a .500 team, I think myself and many others would have been accepting of that. The problem we have now though is that baseball is different then softball and instead of 7 innings they play 9.

I watch this team play and they feel more like a .550-.575 team to me, then the bullpen happens and I just.....