Atlanta Braves Thread

In an effort to hit his weight, Dan Ugla has decided to join Weight Watchers. The concept of increasing his batting average has been futile to this point.

 

It will be a major feat if he gets up to the Mendoza line.

 

He's lost at this point. He has always been prone to slumps followed by hot streches, let's hope he's about to get it going. Team right now is just treading water with injury problems.

 

54 games into the season and he is at .180. Sort of reminds me of the year McLouth had last year.

 

Interesting read from ESPN concerning bullpen use. Most used down to least used.

The instinct of managers is to do everything they can do to win games that can be won, and early this season, with run production down significantly, most games are close in the late innings. Most games can still be won.

And so time after time after time, managers are going to their best relievers, which explains why Jonny Venters has thrown more innings than any reliever in the majors and is on pace for 98.2 innings, and the Reds' Logan Ondrusek is on track to have about 90 appearances.

You will see a lot of relievers on fumes at the end of this season, a scout mused the other day, and a lot of the reason for that is because of what's happened in April and May.

Today, we rank the bullpen usage in the National League -- from the most heavily used to the bullpens that are in the best shape moving forward, through the prism of the respective teams' most important relievers. (For some relievers listed below, career highs are appropriate, given their longer service time; for some, it's not.)

1. Atlanta Braves

Craig Kimbrel
27 appearances, 26 innings
On pace for: 83 games, 79 innings
Career highs: 69 games, 76.1 innings (majors and minors combined in 2010)

Jonny Venters
29 games, 32.2 innings
On pace for: 89 games, 92.2 innings
Career highs: 79 games, 83 innings (2010)

Eric O'Flaherty
28 games, 26.1 innings
On pace for: 86 games, 79.1 innings
Career highs: 78 games, 56.1 innings

2. Cincinnati Reds


Francisco Cordero
23 games, 24.1 innings
On pace for: 72 games, 75.1 innings
Career highs: 77 games, 77.1 innings

Logan Ondrusek
29 games, 31 innings
On pace for: 89 games, 95 innings
Career highs: 74 games, 78.1 innings (2010 combined majors and minors)

Nick Masset
27 games, 28.2 innings

On pace for: 83 games, 86.2 innings
Career highs: 82 games, 76.2 innings

Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said he has never been through a stretch like this, in terms of making changes with his pitching staff.

3. San Diego Padres
The San Diego bullpen has racked up a lot of innings this year, but closer Heath Bell -- who almost certainly will be traded in the next eight weeks -- has been protected.

Heath Bell
20 games, 20 innings
On pace for: 62 games, 62 innings
Career highs: 81 games, 93.2 innings


Mike Adams 24 games, 23.2 innings
On pace for: 75 games, 72.2 innings
Career highs: 70 games, 66.2 innings

Chad Qualls 25 games, 27.1 innings
On pace for: 78 games, 84.1 innings
Career highs: 81 games, 88.2 innings


Luke Gregerson 24 games, 22 innings
On pace for: 75 games, 69 innings
Career highs: 80 games, 78.1 innings


Ernesto Frieri 23 games, 26 innings
On pace for: 72 games, 81 innings

4. Florida Marlins
Leo Nunez
26 games, 25 innings
On pace for: 84 games, 81 innings
Career highs: 75 games, 68.2 innings

Mike Dunn
23 games, 22.2 innings
On pace for: 75 games, 71.2 innings


Ryan Webb
24 games, 24 innings
On pace for: 78 games, 78 innings
Career highs: 54 games, 59 innings


Edward Mujica
23 games, 24.1 innings
On pace for: 75 games, 78.1 innings
Career highs: 67 games, 93.2 innings


5. Colorado Rockies


Huston Street
25 games, 25.2 innings
On pace for: 79 games, 79.2 innings
Career highs: 69 games, 78.1 innings


Matt Lindstrom
24 games, 21.1 innings
On pace for: 76 games, 67.1 innings
Career highs: 71 games, 67 innings


Matt Belisle
23 games, 21.1 innings
On pace for: 73 games, 67. 1 innings
Career highs: 76 games, 92 innings


Rafael Betancourt
22 games, 21 innings
On pace for: 70 games, 67 innings
Career highs: 72 games, 79.1 innings

6. Houston Astros


Mark Melancon
26 games, 24.1 innings
On pace for: 79 games, 73.1 innings

Jeff Fulchino
26 games, 23.1 innings
On pace for: 79 games, 70.1 innings
Career highs: 61 games, 82 innings


7. New York Mets
Francisco Rodriguez
25 games, 25 innings
On pace for: 79 games, 79 innings
Career highs: 76 games, 86 innings

Taylor Buchholz
22 games, 24.1 innings
On pace for: 72 games, 78.1 innings


8. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers have had injury issues with their prime relievers, so their outlook is a bit skewed.

Matt Guerrier
25 games, 25.1 innings
On pace for: 75 games, 76 innings
Career highs: 79 games, 88 innings


Mike MacDougal
23 games, 18.2 innings
On pace for: 70 games, 55.2 innings
68 games, 70.1 innings

Kenley Jansen (who just went on the disabled list Sunday)
20 games, 21 innings
On pace for: 60 games, 63 innings



9. Washington Nationals
Drew Storen
23 games, 25.2 innings
On pace for: 73 games, 79.2 innings


Tyler Clippard
22 games, 27.2 innings
On pace for: 70 games, 86.2 innings

Sean Burnett
24 games, 18.2 innings
On pace for: 76 games, 57.2 innings


10. Chicago Cubs
Carlos Marmol
22 games, 23 innings
On pace for: 70 games, 73 innings
Career highs: 82 games, 87.1 innings


Sean Marshall
22 games, 21 innings
On pace for: 70 games, 67 innings
Career highs: 80 games, 74.2 innings

Kerry Wood
21 games, 20.2 innings
On pace for: 67 games, 64.2 innings
Career highs: 65 games, 66.1 innings (as a reliever)

11. Arizona Diamondbacks
J.J. Putz
21 games, 22 innings
On pace for: 65 games, 69 innings
Career highs: 72 games, 78.1 innings


David Hernandez
24 games, 23.1 innings
On pace for: 75 games, 72.1 innings


Juan Gutierrez
20 games, 18.1 innings
On pace for: 62 games, 56.1 innings


12. San Francisco Giants
Ramon Ramirez
22 games, 21 innings
On pace for: 70 games, 67 innings
Career highs: 71 games, 71.2 innings


Javier Lopez
24 games, 17.2 innings
On pace for: 76 games, 54.2 innings
Career highs: 77 games, 59.1 innings

Jeremy Affeldt
24 games, 17 innings
On pace for: 76 games, 54 innings
Career highs: 75 games, 97.1 innings

Sergio Romo
22 games, 15.1 innings
On pace for: 70 games, 48.1 innings
Career highs: 68 games, 62 innings

13. Pittsburgh Pirates
Joel Hanrahan
23 games, 23.2 innings


Jose Veras
23 games, 21.1 innings



Chris Resop
21 games, 23 innings



14. Milwaukee Brewers
Like the Phillies, the Brewers have gotten good starting pitching, and relied less on their bullpen than other teams.

John Axford
24 games, 23.1 innings
On pace for: 75 games, 72.1 innings

Kameron Loe
28 games, 25 innings
On pace for: 87 games, 78 innings
Career highs: 53 games, 58.1 innings


15. Philadelphia Phillies
One of the benefits of having a deep rotation is that the relievers are not required to do a lot; the Phillies ranked only 22nd in bullpen innings. The Phillies have Brad Lidge on the disabled list, and only two relievers who have 20 or more appearances so far. The Philadelphia bullpen has a chance to be very fresh down the stretch.



Ryan Madson
23 games, 23 innings
On pace for: 72 games, 72 innings.
Career highs: 79.2, 87 innings



Antonio Bastardo
20 games, 19 innings.
On pace for: 62 games, 59 innings.



16. St. Louis Cardinals
Every year, the Cardinals' bullpen innings management is among the best in the majors, and while they do have a closer issue looming -- hello, Heath Bell, perhaps -- none of the relievers have been significantly taxed, with only one reliever having accumulated 20 or more appearances.

Jason Motte
22 games, 21 innings
On pace: 64 games, 64 innings.
Career highs: 69 games, 56.2 innings

Trever Miller
22 games, 9.2 innings
On pace for: 67 games, 28.2 innings


We'll have the American League breakdown later in the week.

 

After 60 games he is down to .172. He looks fucking clueless. Please sit the bastard for a while and not just a game or 2. Can we get Omar back?

 

Fsu lhp Sean Gilmartin was the braves first round pick.

 

Even he can probably out hit Uggla for avg.

 

Watching Uggla is getting ugly. The man can't hit a pitch over the outer half of the plate. The lower half of his body opens up, and his left foot points directly toward the pitcher, no matter where the pitch is located. The only way he can put solid wood on a pitch is if the pitcher makes a terrible mistake over the middle to inside part of the plate. If he isn't going to change his mechanics, I don't why he wouldn't stand closer to the plate.

 

Definitely not much fun to watch atm. The Braves have just had no luck with a couple of players. They trade for McLouth and sign Uggla and both forget how to hit when they get to Atlanta.