Fick: Asshole or hero?

I think Hampton goes lights out next year. He's obviously getting his confidence back, and with a full off season to work with Mazzone, I think he tons it.

 

I am not a Braves fan, but Hampton pitched his ass off last night. He gave up a couple jacks. The only two mistakes he made were hit out of the park and that is rare. Usually you can get away with 10 mistakes a game and the only 2 bad pitches he thru got jacked. Even Cox said how brilliant he pitched. He did his job and that is to keep your team in it for 6 innings, unfortunately for him, Wood was perfect. I think criticizing Hampton is the wrong thing to do. 9 out of 10 times his performance would of won last night.

 

Easy now, don't be bitter. If we keep all of those guys you just talked about for pitching there is no way in hell we are going to be better. Just because they are the Braves doesn't all of a sudden make them great.

Remember on offense this year was not the normal from a lot of these players, most of them had career years. Do you really expect Lopez to do that well next year?

And I have the f*cking right to be pissed about the Braves sucking ass in the playoffs year after year. I cheered for them during the Murph and Horner years, so I have pulled for them a long time.

Sure we can keep the same team we have and do exactly what we did this year.

Byrd - 32 and is on the DL so you never know if he will be worth a damn
Hampton - 31 and never been great, good every now and again
Holmes - 37 old and only declining
Maddux - 37 old and only declining
Mercker - 35
Smotlz - 36 old and injury prone now

Castilla - 36 old and only declining
Franco - 42, need I say more???
Bragg - 34 old and not going to get any better than he is now
Sheff- 34, still produces but when will that stop? Not too far around the corner.

Please tell me where the future is in that other than hoping to squeeze another year out of them before the fall out of their recliners?

 

That should be "we true fans....."

 

first things first.
hampton turned the corner 2nd half and is back in form.
byrd will be back next year and is a dominate pitcher.
maddox needs to be around to help these next couple guys i'm gonna mention.
ramirez is gonna be a good one. he slowed towards the end of the season, but most rookies do that late in a season when they get in that unchartered territory of pitching more innings than they ever have before (webb and willis did the same thing).

now, for the future,
we have this kid named adam wainwright that will most likely be up next year, if not on the roster in april. watch out for him, he is nasty.
closer in the minors who's name escapes me but i'll look him up when i get some free time. he is solid and in the next couple years can take over where smoltz leaves off.


already mentioned our 3rd baseman whose name i will also look up when i get a chance.

sheff done at 34? please. he was dinged up last year and this year is just an example of what he can do.

chipper is a career 300 hitter, so why would we want to get rid of him?

andruw in the best CF in the game, and showed more patience at the plate this year. if he can harness his free-swinging like he did for stretches this season he will be a 5 tool guy.

furcal is solid at short. people make a big deal of how many errors he makes. half those errors tho are from getting to balls that noone else can get to. watch him next season, you will see.

giles is solid at 2nd. not the best fielder, but his bat makes up for it.

1st base i already stated is a concern to me. not much in the minors, so we should make a move there. fick was solid the first half, but got out of the groove the 2nd half and couldn't find it again. he is a better offensive guy than people give him credit for and if he's back next year i look for huge improvements for him.

at 3rd, honestly i'd like to see derosa getting more time over there. i like him better at 2nd than giles, but with the season giles had i say move him to 3rd and platoon with castilla.

catcher, if we get javy back then we're good there. if not, we'll need to bring someone in. would feel uneasy with a rookie catcher behind the plate.

biggest concern to me is the bullpen. other than trey hodges and smoltz we need to clean house. get some fresh faces in there and take a shot on maybe another rookie in there. hodges and ramirez turned out well for us this year.

now. i too have been a fan through the rotten years. so i too, have a right to be pissed at you sorry fans who criticize. thats what makes it all fun.

personally, i'd like to see us quit running into the HOTTEST teams in the playoffs. happens every damn year.

 

thank you, mr 3rd place

 

Like I said, they're the biggest post season chokers of all time. Deal with it dude. I'll say what I want, when I want and and if you gotta problem with it TOO BAD BOY!

 

Hampton will be OK next year, 15-20 wins/3.50 ERA.
Byrd will be a 5th starter at best, 8-12 wins/4.50 ERA.
Maddux will be in San Diego.
Ramirez will be decent, 10-15 wins/4.00 ERA.
Adam Wainwright could be the Dontrelle Willis/Brandon Webb of this year, he is all that.
Sheff will be elsewhere next year.
Chipper may play some 1st base down the road.
Andruw will have a MONSTER season, 40 HR/120 RBI/.305.
Furcal will cut down on his errors to about 15, 40 SB.
Giles will have a similar season.
Julio can last 1 more year to groom the replacement, Lopez the same salary would work here.
DeRosa will be the 3rd baseman next year.
Fick will be elsewhere next year.
Cunnane, Wright, and Mercker can work for me in the pen.

 

ok if anyone says that is an ACCIDENT... no! that was obviously intended to help the braves, because they needed it badly!

 

Someone is dreaming if they think Andruw Jones a lifetime .268 hitter is going to hit .305 next season.

Maddux is having a home built 20 minutes from San Diego's new ballpark.He is history in Atlanta.

Former Piedmont Boll Weevil catcher Johnny Estrada will start behind the plate for the Braves next season.Javy is gone.

The Braves will resign Sheffield.