I forgot to tell you guys last time but I am gonna give you guys a look into my life of sports. I will from time to time write up posts about sports. Well here goes the first one.
I am just thinking that the Atlanta Braves should be looking to make a protential trade deadline deal for a pitcher. Maybe a starter, maybe a reliever. But what I know for sure is that the Braves cannot not make a move for a pitcher and expect to keep pace with the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies (in the NL East), Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks (in the NL Wild Card race).
The reason for need of a pitcher is because of the struggles of the 3, 4 and 5 starters behind John Smoltz and Tim Hudson. Smoltz and Hudson are a combined 17-10 with a 3.13 ERA. They also have combined for 26 quality starts. The rest of the starters (Mark Redman, Anthony Lerew, Chuck James, Kyle Davies, Lance Cormier, Buddy Carlyle) are a combined 12-24 with a 5.94 ERA. They also only have 16 quality starts. Getting that kind of production from the 3, 4 and 5 starters is not gonna get it done.
For those that don't know a quality start is a starter pitching 6 innings and not giving up more than 3 runs.
Chuck James proved last year (11-4, 3.78 ERA) that he is more than capable of getting the job done. He got off to a good start this season winning his first 2 starts but than stuggled and has gotten back on track over the last couple of months. Take away 3 starts (Padres, Twins, Tigers) over the months of May and June and Chuck James' numbers look very good. His numbers in those 3 starts are 0-3 with a 8.30 ERA. That's ugly. In his other starts his numbers are 4-2 with a 2.71 ERA. Those are great numbers.
I am honestly surprised to see that Chuck James has pitched that well not counting those 3 starts against the Padres, Twins and Tigers. If Chuck James continues to pitch this well he will be able to hold down that number 3 starter job.
Guys that the Braves could protentially look at to help their starting pitching could be right under their own noses in their minor league system. Top pitching prospects left-handers Matt Harrison and Jo-Jo Reyes. Reyes appears to be ahead of Harrison and closer to being major league ready, but Harrison is rated as the number 1 pitching prospect in the Braves organization. Both appear to be long term solutions in the starting rotation down the road and because of their such high protential Bobby Cox and the Braves may not call on them to keep from rushing them before they are truely major league ready.
So the Braves may have to look outside the organization for starting pitching help or to their very deep bullpen. The Braves recently made a trade with the Detroit Tigers sending lefty reliever Macay McBride to the Tigers for lefty pitcher Wilfredo Ledezma with them eying Ledezma in the starting rotation down the road.
Down the road may not be in the too distant future. They main reason Ledezma wasn't put into their rotation immediately was because he is the lone lefty in the bullpen. That is a problem the Braves have because lefty setup man Mike Gonzalez is out for the remainder of the season do to having Tommy John surgery. The Braves may just have to abandon having a lefty in their bullpen and find a righty that can get the tough left-handed power hitters out late in ball games.
Setup man Rafael Soriano actually has a better batting average against against lefties .167 than he does against righties .194. That is kinda suprising to me. I feel that Soriano should replace Bob Wickman as the Braves closer. Soriano is 5 for 5 in save situations this year. Wickman has been very shaky at times this year and is coming off consective bad outtings.
A couple of guys in the bullpen that I hate seeing in games is Oscar Villarreal and Chad Paronto. Both I feel can be upgraded by bringing up Joey Devine and Blaine Boyer. Boyer proved in 2005 that he is capable of getting the job done at the major league level. Devine was a 1st round pick in 2005 who was than rushed to the majors that year and is known for giving up the game winning grand slam to Houston's Chris Bruke in the 18th inning of game 5 of the 2005 division playoff series that ended the Braves season.
Devine than battled a back injury last year and was sent back down to single A to work on his mechanics and has since regained the form that he had at North Carolina State that made him a 1st round pick.
I think the Braves would be better off if their pitching staff looked like this:
John Smoltz
Tim Hudson
Chuck James
Wilfredo Ledezma
Buddy Carlyle/Kyle Davies
Joey Devine
Blaine Boyer
Peter Moylan
Tyler Yates
Bob Wickman
Rafael Soriano
With all of that being said one thing is certain, the Atlanta Braves are much, much better than they were last year.
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