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Spring Training 2012: Who Should Be Named Atlanta Braves’ 5th Starter?

As teams begin preparing for the regular season, rosters get filled out. Who stays on the roster or gets dropped is a key issue around this time of the year.

For the Atlanta Braves, they have one situation that will be decided soon. Does Randall Delgado or Julio Teheran get the fifth starter’s spot?

As of yet, neither one has established themselves as the frontrunner for this job. Through this spring, Delgado has a horrible 7.89 ERA with a WHIP of 1.85. He has won only one game and lost four, which is expected with those numbers.

His competition, Julio Teheran, has done worse. His ERA through spring training is at 9.00. His WHIP is at 1.92 and he has an 0-1 win-loss record. However, he has played less than Delgado.

He has pitched 13.0 innings, while Randall has pitched 21.2 innings. Teheran has had fewer opportunities due to soreness to improve his numbers.

Right now, the two options for the fifth spot are not looking as good as they were at the beginning of spring. Thankfully, we are still only in spring training, not in the middle of the regular season. Both pitchers started last year in the regular season, so we can also take into account those numbers.

In three starts and five total appearances, Julio Teheran had a 5.03 ERA, a 1.475 WHIP, and a 1-1 record. He had a very poor strikeout rate of 4.6 K/9. Thankfully, he was able to maintain a 1.25 K/BB rate. For a 20-year-old, his numbers were somewhat respectable, but he did not live up to expectations that year.

On the other hand, Randall Delgado thrived in the majors. In seven starts and 35.0 innings, Delgado had a 2.83 ERA and a 1.229 WHIP. However, his strikeout rate was exactly the same as Teheran’s. His K/BB rate was only slightly better, at 1.29. This shows that he got batters out primarily through contact.

However, this was not a bad thing for him, as shown by the fact that he was able to keep his ERA under 3.00. Like Teheran, his record was 1-1, even though he pitched in four more starts.

Through both the regular season and this year’s preseason, Randall Delgado has the statistical edge over Julio Teheran. He has shown that he can perform at the top level and even though he has done poorly this spring, he has been able to stay healthy and still out pitch Teheran.

While Teheran has a higher ceiling than Delgado, he has yet to fully mature as a major league pitcher. Delgado is closer to being a full-time starter in the big leagues, and has proven that he can be an effective starter for the Braves. For this reason, I believe Delgado should be chosen as the fifth starter in the very good Braves starting rotation.

The argument could be made that Teheran has better stuff, but at the moment, he still has yet to learn how to properly use his talents.

Delgado is more prepared and weathered, and now Fredi Gonzalez should allow him to use his more developed talents once again for the Atlanta Braves.  

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Beauty and the Beast: The Braves’ and the Phillies’ Pitching Cannot Be Beat

In reference to the title, the Braves are the Beauty and the Phillies are the beast but not because of the reasons you might think. Atlanta requires finesse and control to dominate their opponents, while the Phillies use strikeouts and flat out strength to destroy their opponents. Both teams use different overall pitching approaches, but both get the job done and then some.

Why do Braves and Phillies fans always bicker and compare the two pitching staffs? Why can’t we just admire the sheer dominance of the two NL powers? What other division can say that they have the top two pitching rotations in the majors? 

As both a Braves fan and a baseball fan, I love that pitching is once again returning to glory. I also love the great competition between the Braves and the Phillies. It is almost no fun when a team runs away from the rest of the pack because the games lose some of their meaning. I would rather see a team win a division on the last day of the season rather than close out the season 10 games ahead of everyone else. That makes the playoffs even more special and meaningful. 

When it comes to the Braves and Phillies, that competition is apparent and vicious. Although the Phillies are four games up, they are not out of the woods yet. The Braves themselves are four games up in the wild card, which shows how great both teams have been this year. The Phillies’ pitching staff as of July 1 has a 3.04 ERA while the Braves have a 3.03 ERA. It has been like that all year.

 

Of course, it is fun to have friendly arguments over the two staffs, but it is also nice to take a step back and admire what they have done this season. First of all, two Braves pitchers (Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson) and two Phillies’ pitchers (Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels) make up four of the top five pitchers in terms of ERA in the NL.

Second of all, both Halladay and Jair Jurrjens are 11-3 and are the first two pitchers to 11 wins in the NL. Halladay dominates the entire league in innings pitched with 136.1 and in strikeouts, with 131. This gets back to the beast part of things. Halladay has been an absolute beast no question about it.

Jurrjens, on the other hand, has used a different approach. He has surgically dissected his foes and has a microscopic ERA of 1.89. He does not have the best strikeout rate nor does he have the best WHIP. However, he has used control and precision to pitch to perfection and has a great chance of starting for the NL in the All-Star game. 

Those are the two best pitchers in the NL so far to this point in the season. What about the rest of the pitchers on both staffs? Well, Cliff Lee has been on a tear, and Cole Hamels has been masterful. Both use nasty pitches to baffle opponents, with Lee pitching three straight complete game shutouts.

With the performances of Lee, Hamels and Halladay, it is easy to forget the contributions of Roy Oswalt and Vance Worley. These two have anchored the back end of the rotation and have given the Phillies the opportunity to win in almost every game. So far through the season any five of those could be an ace on most pitching staffs in MLB

For the Braves, Tommy Hanson has been a control freak but not in terms of not allowing walks. No, he just makes sure that no one gets base hits. Opponents are only hitting .193 against him, best in the NL. He also is pretty prolific with strikeouts as shown by his NL second-best K/9 rate of 9.77. Another Braves pitcher relies on strikeouts, which is Brandon Beachy, the Braves version of Vance Worley.

Beachy is at this point a reasonable candidate, as is Worley, for Rookie of the Year. Beach has a K/9 rate of 10.54, which would be best in the NL if he did not become injured for part of the season. The other two Braves pitchers are the veterans Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe, who have had seasons like Oswalt’s. They have done good, not great, jobs but have also given the Braves every opportunity to win barring a few blowouts. While the overall performance of the Braves’ rotation has not been as prolific as the Phillies’, they both are more consistent and masterful than almost all other five-man rotations in baseball.

 

Their bullpens also rank among the very best, if not the best, in baseball. While the Braves’ bullpen success was somewhat expected, the Phillies have shocked everyone with their bullpen’s performance, especially since half of it has been and is injured. The Braves have arguably the best reliever in baseball in Jonny Venters, who was had the most appearances in baseball and had a sub 1.00 ERA for most of the first half of the season.

Along with Venters are Craig Kimbrel, their rookie closer, Eric O’Flaherty, George Sherrill, Scott Linebrink, Scott Proctor and Cristhian Martinez. These pitchers all have an ERA under 3.60, and have pitched almost 200 innings combined. They have shown that they are in it for the long haul and that if the Braves pitching has done the job that it has done all season, then good luck trying to win the game. 

The Phillies have Ryan Madson, their closer, Danys Baez, Antonio Bastardo, Michael Stutes, J.C. Romero, David Herndon and Jose Contreras. Although they have not worked nearly as much as the Braves’ bullpen, which is an attribute to the Phillies’ starting five, they have been nearly as stingy late in games. As in the case of the Braves, opponents shouldn’t expect to score all of their runs late in games once the starter has been pulled.

While most staffs in the league either have their pitching weakness with their bullpen or their starter, the Braves and the Phillies just do not have a soft spot. Almost all staffs have one starter that you can almost guarantee you can score on, usually their fifth starter, but the Braves and Phillies pitching staffs don’t have that starter. If you think that the fifth starter is the weakest link for the two teams, think again.

While nuances between the Atlanta Braves‘ and the Philadelphia Phillies‘ pitching staffs can be argued, one cannot argue the effectiveness and the overall dominance of the two so far through this season. There is a major reason why two teams with inconsistent and struggling offenses have two of the top three best records in all of baseball. I personally cannot wait for the series between these two forces right before All-Star Weekend.

If this season has told us anything, those games will be decided by one run. For now, though, we can just sit back and revel at the amazing performances of the two best pitching staffs in the USA. 

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Chipper Jones: Hit No. 2,500 Has Guaranteed This Brave a Spot in Cooperstown

What more do you want from Chipper now? 

He now has the hits, he is a few RBI from 1,500, and he has the home runs. What makes these stats more special is that he is a switch hitter.

If, more like when, he reaches that 1,500 RBI mark, then he will be only the second switch hitter in baseball history to have that amount of RBI, as well as 2,500 hits.

Some people do not think he will get in because he doesn’t have 3,000 hits, or he hasn’t hit 500 HRs. But what he has done, I think, should easily get him in.

How many players have a lifetime .306 batting average and .405 OBP over 10 years? Not many, and those that do are, or will be, in the Hall of Fame. 

Plus, unlike many great players of the past 10 to 15 years, Chipper has never been caught in a scandal. He has always been a clean, honest player who uses his own athletic skill.

Others say that he has been too injured and unproductive in these past few years to make it in the HOF. So? Many baseball greats tail off towards the end of their careers. Plus, Chipper has hit at least ten home runs in his off years instead of hitting .200 and missing 100 games.

Another factor that makes Chipper a special player is that he has played for the same team for his entire 17-year career. Once again, what other offensive players of his magnitude have done that?

He has been such a valuable player for the Braves. He has been their offensive masterpiece during these 17 years. He has been a consistent, reliable, and an overall solid player for Atlanta.

In fact, he was and is so consistent that he tied the record for 14 consecutive 20-plus HRs to start his career. The fact that only he and fellow Brave and switch hitter Eddie Mathews are the only ones that have done that is astounding. 

To cap off all of the great accolades for Chipper, he is the only switch-hitter in MLB history to have a career batting average above .300 and have more than 400 HRs. 

His career is not over, and his numbers could get even better. He already is currently hitting .345 for this season with six RBI. 

Even if he decided to retire last year, he still would deserve to be in the hall of fame. But now it is almost irrefutable that he deserves to make the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

What more do want from Chipper now?

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2011 MLB Spring Training: Atlanta Braves’ Baseball Is Back

Spring is in the air, and so is baseball. I have long missed the sport for over four months, but now it is back. 

The Braves played the Mets, Chipper Jones started, and Bobby Cox was present. It was just like old times. Sure Bobby wasn’t managing or Chipper wasn’t playing third, but they still are part of the Braves.

The Braves have new young pitching, something else familiar to the Braves’ faithful. There always is a young star pitcher, or even pitchers, that the Braves bring up and this year is no different. They sign great young talent, then groom them in the minor leagues. It is a part of the Braves’ DNA to do this every year.

Yes, this is an article talking about Spring training, but it is important. Spring training is a good way for the Braves and other teams to find hot players who deserve to be on the 25 man roster and to prepare their players for the long haul of the regular season.

Spring training is a way for us fans to finally see or hear a game again. I love listening to the golden voices of Jim Powell and Don Sutton, and I was able to hear them on Saturday.

Even if the game means nothing in terms of winning or losing, I still loved hearing the commentators banter. It made me even more excited for the season to start. It made me feel like the regular season had already started.

I am happy that I can read box scores again for baseball. I enjoy seeing how different players perform statistically. I can somewhat quench this thirst by looking at the box scores of spring training games. 

Obviously nothing can make up for the lack of the MLB regular season, but spring training is a nice distraction. I can see my favorite players again and hear the crack of the bat. Life is almost back to normal for us Braves’ fanatics.

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5 Reasons the Phillies’ Big Four Cannot Compare To The 90’s Braves Staff

The Phillies staff this year—if they play the way sports commentators and analysts predict they will—will be great. I am not knocking on their 2011 pitching rotation. They have Roy Halladay (two Cy Young Awards), Cliff Lee (one Cy Young Award), Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels as their projected 1-2-3-4 starters.

If one of them does not win they Cy Young Award this year, then I will be shocked. They should be able to win many games and help the Phillies make the playoffs. 

However, when people say that this staff will be better than the Atlanta Braves‘ legendary rotations in the 90’s and early 00’s, I disagree. Here are the reasons the Fab Four is not as good as the Braves’ rotation was from 1993-2003:

5. The Division

In my opinion, the NL East is the most underrated division in baseball. The division has produced four World Series champions in the past fifteen years, which is second only to the AL East, the best division in baseball.

This year the division will be interesting with three potential playoff teams: the Braves, the Marlins and of course the Phillies. This competition is rare for the NL East, which usually has only one good team.

The Braves won the division 10 straight times, and the Phillies have won it recently four times in a row. The Mets won it once, sandwiched between the Braves and the Phillies’ reign.

Last year, though, the division was very interesting because three different teams held the top spot. Eventually the Phillies held the lead and won the division and the Braves became the Wild Card winners.

This year should be just as close due to the new players added to the contending teams and the returning players. This should make life a little harder for the Phillies pitchers.

Glavine, Maddux, Smoltz, Avery, Neagle and Millwood did not have to face the same competition that the Phillies will, which helped them to achieve more. The division will not be friendly to the Phillies’ rotation.

4. Longevity

What is very impressive about the Braves’ rotation was the length it stayed together. Their fourth starter changed from time to time, but the core three starters stayed together for ten years, something that is unheard of today.

The Braves’ front office was able to keep these amazing pitchers together on the same team for such a long time, and I do not believe the Phillies can replicate that. They signed Lee to a five-year contract, Halladay has two years left on his, and Oswalt and Hamels have only one year left.

Even if the Phillies somehow are able to keep all four or just three I still cannot see them staying for too long. That is another thing that separates the Braves’ rotation from the Phillies’. 

3. Age

One factor that played a part in the longevity of the Braves pitchers was age. Greg Maddux was 27 when he joined the club, John Smoltz was 26 at that time, and Tom Glavine was 27.

They all were able to play for the Braves during their prime. On the other hand, three of the four Phillies pitchers are over 31 years old. Now this does not mean they won’t pitch as well, but it does mean that they will have a lower chance to perform consistently over a long period of time like the Braves pitchers were able to do.

The Braves pitcher were able to stay together for ten years because they were young when they united. The Phillies pitchers are in the middle of their prime right now, which generally means that in five or six years they will begin to decline.

While this sometimes is not true,  it is very likely that it will happen to at least one of them. Just one of them declining would almost erase the need for this entire article. Age is significant in this comparison, and the Braves have the Phillies beat in that aspect. 

2. Skill

Individually, the Braves’ pitchers generally beat the Phillies’ pitchers stat-wise. I will go more in depth in this by doing side by side comparisons for the four starting pitchers of both rotations:

Roy Halladay vs. Greg Maddux

 

Roy Halladay

Greg Maddux 1993-2002

Season Pitched

13

10

Games Started/Season

25

33

Career ERA

3.32

2.51

Career WHIP

1.18

1.04

Winnings %

66%

70%

Avg. Wins/Season

13

18

CG/Season

5

6

Innings/Season

177

231

SO/Season

132

170

SO/9

6.7

6.5

BB/9

1.9

1.4

SO/BB

3.53

4.87

SHO/Season

1

2

 Cliff Lee vs. Tom Glavine

 

Cliff Lee

Tom Glavine 1993-2002

Season Pitched

9

10

Games Started/Season

24

33

Career ERA

3.85

3.25

Career WHIP

1.27

1.30

Winnings %

63%

67%

Avg. Wins/Season

11

17

CG/Season

2

3

Innings/Season

157

223

SO/Season

121

141

SO/9

6.9

5.7

BB/9

2.2

3.2

SO/BB

3.1

1.79

SHO/Season

1

1

Roy Oswalt vs. John Smoltz

 

Roy Oswalt

John Smoltz 1993-1999*

Season Pitched

10

7

Games Started/Season

30

30

Career ERA

3.18

3.24

Career WHIP

1.18

1.16

Winnings %

64%

63%

Avg. Wins/Season

15

14

CG/Season

2

3

Innings/Season

202

205

SO/Season

167

194

SO/9

7.4

8.5

BB/9

2.1

2.6

SO/BB

3.6

3.2

SHO/Season

1

1

*After 1999 he became a relief pitcher

Cole Hamels vs. Fourth Starters

 

Cole Hamels

Steve Avery1

Denny Neagle2

Kevin Millwood3

Season Pitched

5

4

2

6

GS/Season

30

28

32

27

Career ERA

3.53

3.92

3.25

3.73

Career WHIP

1.18

1.24

1.15

1.22

Winnings %

57%

56%

69%

62%

Avg. Wins/Season

12

10

18

12

CG/Season

1

2

4

1

Innings/Season

189

170

222

167

SO/Season

179

118

168

140

SO/9

8.5

6.3

6.8

7.5

BB/9

2.4

2.5

2.2

2.7

SO/BB

3.62

2.49

3.09

2.77

SHO/Season

1

0

3

0

1 1993-1996  1997-1998  1997-2002

Although the stats for the Phillies’ pitchers are from their entire career, I wanted to compare their career stats to the numbers made by the Braves’ rotation during their time in Atlanta. As you can see, most of the time the Braves’s pitchers beat out the Phillies’ in most categories.

Oswalt and Smoltz are pretty even, but Maddux is better than Halladay and Glavine is better than Lee. The Braves’ fourth starters were slightly better than Hamels, but only slightly. The Phillies’ pitchers are great, but the Braves’ nineties pitchers are even better.

One of the three Atlanta pitchers took home the NL Cy Young Award five out of the first six years they were together. The three pitchers combined in their careers won seven Cy Young Awards, which beats the three that Halladay and Lee have won combined.

Obviously the pitchers on the Phillies have not finished their career and can still win that prestigious award, but it will be very hard to match what the Braves did. Overall, it will be hard for them to replicate the numbers that Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz made in their career together. 

1. Playing Games

The most obvious reason the Big Four cannot compare with the Braves’ legendary rotations in the 1990’s is they have not even played a single game together in the same uniform. 

It is ridiculous to make comparisons between a team on paper and a team that actually played. Even if the team on paper performed exactly as they are supposed to then the Braves’ staff still is better. But they haven’t yet, so do not make such judgements until the facts are in. The Braves’ rotation played ten seasons together, and the Phillies’ acclaimed rotation has played zero games on the same team.

The Phillies have a great bunch of starters that should help get them deep in the playoffs, but they have not become legendary yet. Comparisons cannot be made between them and any good rotations in history until they have actually played together for a reasonable amount of time. When that day comes, I will reassess, but until then the Braves’ rotations in the nineties are better than the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies’ Big Four. 


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