Kuzul

It’s June 1st and I have an alarming stat for Braves fans—this year’s primary starting pitchers (Hanson, Hudson, Kawakami, Lowe and Medlen) are having a more successful year at the plate than the starting centerfielder, Nate McLouth. Through 51 games (nearly a third of the year!) the pitchers are hitting .184 and McClouth is hitting .179 with no signs of coming out of his slump. In fact, it’s hard for me to even call what’s happening with McLouth a slump at this point.

The Braves have straightened out most of their issues in the lineup—Yunel Escobar, Melky Cabrera and Chipper Jones have heated up while Jason Heyward, Martin Prado and Troy Glaus are still more than holding up their ends of the bargain. McLouth is the lone holdout and has seemed allergic to any kind of success at the plate, save the one dramatic walk-off home run earlier in the year.

So what is there to do? The Braves have five options in the outfield—Heyward, Cabrera, McLouth, Eric Hinske and Gregor Blanco—and I think they need to shift the hierarchy, which is something Bobby Cox has been notoriously slow to do in the past. But in order to really take advantage of what’s possible for the team this year (a playoff berth and beyond) it is completely necessary and needs to happen sooner rather than later. 

Right now Heyward and McLouth play every day in right field and center field, respectively, with a rotating cast in left field. Heyward is entrenched in right field, but it’s time to see what Cabrera can do on a full-time basis.

I propose that Cox start an outfield of Heyward, Cabrera and Hinske as the primary lineup. Hinske has exactly the same number of hits as McLouth in almost half the at-bats and has proven himself as a quality ballplayer over the years.

On days when Hinske needs a rest or there’s bad pitching matchup for him, put McLouth in center and shift Cabrera to left. It may seem drastic and crazy to use McLouth as a fourth outfield considering his salary, but something needs to happen. The Braves are playing well right now and Cox needs to strike while the iron is hot. 

Two other options would be to use Blanco on a more regular basis (but he seems to have settled in as a pinch runner and late inning defensive replacement) or to bring up Jordan Schafer from triple-A. I happen to believe that the Cabrera/Hinske option is superior to this, but if you disagree please let me know in the comments. 

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Does anyone else remember the hype machine surrounding Jordan Schafer from about, say, 2007 up until 50 games into the 2009 season?

The sky was the limit for this kid.

He was (and still is) a superb glove in center and has the potential from a speed/contact standpoint to turn into something resembling an above-average Major League talent.

Pretty amazing what a 50-game suspension and a broken wrist can do to a career isn’t it?

After winning the center field job in Atlanta in Spring Training ’09, Schafer promptly introduced himself to the Major League community with two home runs in the Braves’ opening series in Philadelphia.

Then, the strikeouts came (63 to be exact) over the next 50 games as Schafer saw his line plummet to an abysmal .204/.313/.287.

Hoping to remedy the problem, the Braves sent Charlie Morton, Gorkys Hernandez, and Jeff Locke to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a reigning NL All Star and gold glove recipient in Nate McLouth.

And all was good in Braves Nation…so we thought.

A .237 average and only (considering what the Braves thought they were getting) 14 homers in 129 games since joining the Braves has reduced McLouth to the No. 8 hole in Atlanta and left Atlanta looking around the outfield for an effective answer for their bat in center.

Amazing how things have sort of come full circle, huh?

Now, I think the time is fast-approaching to throw Jordan Schafer back to the wolves and to ship McLouth out of town.

You may be asking why I would suggest throwing a 23-year-old that has struggled to a .232/.319/.317 line in the minors this season into a situation that was not particularly kind to him last year with a guy with very strong potential already manning that spot.

For me, it comes down to glovework, money, and the future.

If you’re going to have a black hole in the lineup, he might as well be able to “go get ’em.”

While UZR painted McLouth as a “neutral” fielder at 0.8 and Schafer as below average at -4.0 in 2009, I think we can all recall Andruw Jones-esqe fielding prowess from Schafer last season while McLouth looked a little more like a mortal.

Or, to put this a little better, Schafer could fly around the field and get to a lot more in the field than the slightly-less-athletic McLouth. 

Add to that the fact that Schafer would be making the league minimum for what may well prove to be lackluster play as opposed to McLouth’s $5 million and the pendulum swings even further to the former No. 1 prospect in the Braves’ organization.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Schafer is still very “toolsy” and is likely to be the Opening Day starter in 2011 anyway.

Why not let him play through his issues a little more at the major league level (that’s how you have to learn)?

As I’ve been trying to say, it really couldn’t be much worse than what the Braves are currently getting.

Now, I’m not suggesting that this needs to go down today.

No, Melky Cabrera and Eric Hinske should be starting in the outfield right now along with J-Hey (both are swinging red-to white-hot bats right now) instead of the Hinske/Cabrera-McLouth-Heyward situation we’ve been seeing.

But once everyone starts leveling out a bit in terms of “playing to talent,” I think Schafer has to be the guy you look to.

Plus, if he starts to figure it out, he’s got the talent and speed that would look awfully good at No. 8 or leading off if he really works out the kinks (SomeoneFast, Prado, Heyward is scarier than Prado, Heyward, Chipper-—by a mile…and let’s remember that he drew 27 walks in 50 games which in one less than Jason Heyward’s 28 through 43 games, as a point of reference).

Nate-Dogg just isn’t doing the job for the Braves right now (and hasn’t looked comfortable at the plate in a long time).

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If Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox does not start Brooks Conrad at third base for tomorrow’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he may have lost his mind.

Admittedly, I am still heavily under the influence of the euphoria that ensued after Conrad hit an opposite-field, game-winning grand slam in a 10-9 victory over the Cincinnati Reds today, which capped an eight-run Atlanta rally Thursday.

However, it’s not crazy to at least entertain the idea of putting today’s ninth-inning hero in the starting lineup at the hot corner.

Of course, to start Conrad, Cox would have to bench Braves legend Chipper Jones, something that the Atlanta skipper would never even think about doing.

Cox’s loyalty to No. 10 in this case is unfortunate for the Braves, seeing as Conrad now has three homers compared to Chipper’s two, and nine RBI, which is two fewer than the future Hall-of-Famer’s 11.

By the way, just a footnote, Conrad’s stats have come in just 28 at-bats, while Jones has made 111 trips to the plate this season.

Conrad, who sports a .977 career fielding percentage (Jones: .952 at 3B), also offers Atlanta a better option defensively, seeing as Chipper’s hamstring and foot problems limit his flexibility in the field.

Granted, Conrad’s recent surge could just be a fluke and his .204 batting average last season isn’t anything to cheer about, but this recent offensive explosion has earned him a better chance of cracking the starting lineup.

Now, strong arguments will contend that Jones has the track record and the talent to break out of his slump—heck, he knocked in two runs in Wednesday’s 5-4 win over Cincinnati—but sadly, any good day he has offensively should be considered an aberration at this point.

Also, there’s the issue of benching the team leader, which has the potential to demoralize his teammates who look up to said leader for motivation and inspiration.

I would respond to the latter argument with two questions:

“Has Chipper’s veteran presence significantly helped the Braves so far this season?”

“Wouldn’t the fact that Chipper is ‘unbenchable,’ no matter how much he struggles, demoralize bench players (e.g. Omar Infante, Conrad) who are fighting for at-bats?”

In baseball, it’s crucial to play the hot hand, especially when doing the opposite is detrimental to a team’s playoff chances.

Benching Jones in favor of Conrad could possibly serve another purpose, like lighting a fire under the 16-year veteran.

Maybe the challenge of fighting his way back into the lineup will unleash the skills that made him the National League Batting Champion in 2008 with a .364 average.

Additionally, sitting for a few games could give the veteran third baseman a chance to rest from his injuries or work out a few of the kinks in his swing.

Now, I neither intend to disrespect Chipper by my thoughts nor declare that Conrad should become the permanent starting third baseman for the Braves.

I believe Jones will eventually break out of his slump, but until then, you have to go with the better guy, who, in this case, is Conrad.

If you asked for Chipper’s thoughts, he would tell you that he wants what’s best for the Braves—he even offered to give up his No. 3 spot in the lineup to Jason Heyward (a great idea).

And right now, starting Conrad at third base is the best way to go for Atlanta.

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A crazy man once said “Just win, baby.”

It’s short, simple, sweet, and to the point.

It also defines perfectly what any professional team’s mindset should be on a night-in, night-out basis.

But, that simple saying spoken, from the mouth of a deranged lunatic that once called JaMarcus Russell a great quarterback, seems to be just outside of the range of comprehension for the 2010 Atlanta Braves.

Now, don’t take this as a wild rant following a 11-1 shellacking at the hands of the Arizona D-Backs.

It’s not (although that certainly helped to push this out).

This is a product of a month-and-a-half’s worth of frustration and exasperation that this Braves fan has felt and cooped up for far too long.

It has been my understanding that a team is supposed to build on what it has learned.

To rid itself of fundamental lapses that have cost them in the past so as to create a setting both on the field and in their clubhouse conducive to a winning atmosphere.

Apparently, that memo hasn’t reached someone in the Atlanta Braves’ organization.

I mean, how else do you miss a fly ball by 50 feet in outfield when you were once a gold glove recipient?

How else do you look seas in the water following an impressive four-game streak in which your team valiantly overcame deficits when needed in desperate times and flat-out rolled at others?

How else do you find yourselves relying on the same 20-year-old kid in every single pinch?

And how else are you unable to find some sort of motivation during the final season of your skipper’s reign over what used to be the most enviable team in the National League?

For me, it comes down to a few simple things.

No spirit…no fundamentals…no toughness…and no comradery.

(Now, directly at the Braves.)

How do you explain a meteoric rise and fall of what has the potential to be (and has been shown to be) a very dynamic club?

How?

Nothing has frustrated me more than looking like an idiot for supporting various peoples’ causes.

For getting my hopes up.

And for standing up for a team that I called a Wild Card favorite before the season that has amounted to a 17-19 hot mess.

The season’s not done…we still have 126 more games to go through/watch/enjoy/whatever.

If it was a level line of “don’t give a [intercourse],” it’d be one thing.

But the utter lack of enthusiasm and direction following halfway-descent runs is deflating my hopes that I had set to a pretty high level.

I’m sticking by the team ’til the end…I love the Braves too much not to.

But I’m having a harder and harder time adjusting to the turned corners only to meet brick wall after brick wall.

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This is not the storybook ending to the Bobby Cox era that the Atlanta Braves had envisioned.

In fact, it is a nightmarish beginning to the end of the illustrious Braves manager’s 29-year career.

Cox, in his 25th season with the Braves and in the final year of his brilliant managerial career, just watched his club endure an 0-7 road trip, their worst since 1949.

His team has lost nine straight games to drop them to an embarrassing 8-14 on the season.

To add injury to insult, Braves starter Jair Jurrjens and shortstop Yunel Escobar were hurt in Atlanta’s latest 10-4 loss at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday.

Jurrjens exited after the first inning due to a strained left hamstring, and Escobar departed in the seventh with what was described as a strained left abductor.

The Braves righty hopes to make his next start, and Escobar is currently listed as day-to-day.

These latest blows to strike the Braves made Atlanta’s winless seven-game road stretch and nine-game losing streak even more intolerable and unbearable to watch.

While tempers are running high throughout the entire team, the person whose frustration is at the most heightened state right now is Bobby Cox.

It has been 30 years since Cox has suffered a comparable losing streak.

In 1980, he was at the helm when the Braves went 0-6 to start the season. However, that team did not have the preseason expectations that this year’s club had.

The usually affable manager appears baffled by his team’s struggles and is desperately searching for the right lineup combinations or roster adjustments to spark his sputtering squad.

Cox and the Braves haven’t talked much about his swan song to this point. They were hoping it would translate into wins on the field—with the hope that success would instead speak volumes.

There are still five months of the season left, which is enough time for the Braves to right this sinking ship and send Cox out on a winning note.

But to this point, the Braves have let their skipper down.

For a man that ranks fourth on baseball’s all-time managerial wins list and is a shoo-in future Hall of Famer, he deserved more in his final season.

Much, much more.

The listless, apathetic, uninspired play from his troops over the past nine games is shameful.

It is time for Chipper Jones and the veteran leaders of the Braves to grab hold of this despondent group and arrange for a players only team meeting to turn this season around.

A manager’s moves can ultimately only go so far, it is now up to the players to get out on the field and execute.

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