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2022 Atlanta Braves Season Thread: off season decisions loom

Duvall sounds like he's done for the year. Probably bring Ender back up. Sure hope they give Pache the chance to start, though. If he struggles, you can always pinch hit for him with Panda and move Riley to LF/Acuna back to CF. Riley has been so good with the glove at 3B all year, I don't really want to lose that unless we have to.
 
tigerswood said:
Duvall sounds like he's done for the year. Probably bring Ender back up. Sure hope they give Pache the chance to start, though. If he struggles, you can always pinch hit for him with Panda and move Riley to LF/Acuna back to CF. Riley has been so good with the glove at 3B all year, I don't really want to lose that unless we have to.
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Yeah, this is probably the correct way to play this. I'm tempted to say just put Ozuna in the OF, DH D'Arnaud, and let Flowers catch. If that is what the plan is they will call up Contreras, if not it will be Ender.

In those two scenarios, you have to balance the benefit between Pache>Ozuna in the OF vs Flowers>Pache at the plate and Flowers>D'Arnaud behind the plate (marginally). Not making D'Arnaud catch up to 7 straight days may also benefit his bat, which is worth considering.
 
Panda/Culberson at 3B, Riley in LF, Acuna/Pache in CF, Acuna/Culberson in RF. There is no reason to have Markakis take at bats anymore. It is horrible & he is useless.
 
YoungBuck95 said:
Panda/Culberson at 3B, Riley in LF, Acuna/Pache in CF, Acuna/Culberson in RF. There is no reason to have Markakis take at bats anymore. It is horrible & he is useless.
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Not a Braves fan, but Charlie Culberson has one hit on the season. Pablo Sandoval was released by the Giants and hit .214 this year with no power, and he is too fat play effective defense. Realize that Nick Markakis is in the twilight of his career, but he works counts and still has a plus arm. Think Markakis is the best option even if he's no longer the player that he once was.
 
YoungBuck95 said:
Panda/Culberson at 3B, Riley in LF, Acuna/Pache in CF, Acuna/Culberson in RF. There is no reason to have Markakis take at bats anymore. It is horrible & he is useless.
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This feels like a SSS hot take based on the playoffs, but I agree he looks lost up there. I'm not sure Sandoval's bat is superior to Markakis' bat to the degree that it is worth downgrading defense and moving Riley to LF over 3B where he has been plus defensively this year, but one more night of 3 pitch K's from Nick might change my mind on that.

timdunkandthefunk said:
Kershaw scratched with back spasms. Wooooow.
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Oh shit. Well that changes a lot.
 
Duvall out Camargo in. Kinda weird it's not Ender or Contreras, but sure.
 
If Kershaw is bad enough to not pitch this series that is a huge blow to the Dodgers, but if he can go game 3 or 4 it's really not that big of a deal. I don't really like winning because of injuries, plus I like Kershaw, so I kinda hope he gets a chance to pitch still.
 
Leave Riley. Start Pache in OF. He came in with a 1-2 count and drew a walk. Then drew another. Markakis was one of my favorite players to watch the last two seasons, but he looks absolutely lost up there. He'd have been better of just closing his eyes and taking three hacks.
 
Thrilled they didn't add Ender. He was spectacularly bad this year. Camargo may not be great but he's a significant step up from Ender.
 
deacon14 said:
This feels like a SSS hot take based on the playoffs, but I agree he looks lost up there. I'm not sure Sandoval's bat is superior to Markakis' bat to the degree that it is worth downgrading defense and moving Riley to LF over 3B where he has been plus defensively this year, but one more night of 3 pitch K's from Nick might change my mind on that.



Oh shit. Well that changes a lot.
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Is over a month a month a small sample size when it comes down to it? Since the beginning of September, he is 16/97, with 5 walks, 24 strikeouts. That is abysmal. He absolutely deserves 0 at bats in the post season.

With Camargo up, swap him and Pablo & roll w/ what I stated above.
 
YoungBuck95 said:
Is over a month a month a small sample size when it comes down to it? Since the beginning of September, he is 16/97, with 5 walks, 24 strikeouts. That is abysmal. He absolutely deserves 0 at bats in the post season.

With Camargo up, swap him and Pablo & roll w/ what I stated above.
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I'm not trying to defend Markakis, he has absolutely struggled massively. But Camargo and Sandoval are unlikely to be much better, and the loss on defense from moving Riley to the OF and playing a worse defender at 3B isn't worth it unless the person replacing Markakis' ABs is obviously going to be better. I would have been in favor of playing Pache over Markakis before Duvall went down, with improved defense nullifying the need for Pache>Markakis at the plate, but Duvall's injury complicates the situation.
 
deacon14 said:
If Kershaw is bad enough to not pitch this series that is a huge blow to the Dodgers, but if he can go game 3 or 4 it's really not that big of a deal. I don't really like winning because of injuries, plus I like Kershaw, so I kinda hope he gets a chance to pitch still.
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do you remember which Cleveland player was injured in 1995 that helped the braves win the WS?
 
2020 Atlanta Braves Season Thread: Playoffs!

Pilchard said:
Not a Braves fan, but Charlie Culberson has one hit on the season. Pablo Sandoval was released by the Giants and hit .214 this year with no power, and he is too fat play effective defense. Realize that Nick Markakis is in the twilight of his career, but he works counts and still has a plus arm. Think Markakis is the best option even if he's no longer the player that he once was.
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I went nuts when Sandoval was the first bat off the bench. I was surprised to see Culberson next because Snitker never gave him ABs in the regular season, which was the most puzzling aspect of the Braves this year in my opinion.

Ender offers nothing. Pache is better defense and running and anyone else is a better bat. I’d prefer to put Pache in the 9 spot and keep Riley at 3rd. Adding Camargo provides the most flexibility.

Ozuna in the OF, especially a spacious one, is scary, but the idea of using Travis as a DH in a game makes some sense.

Edit: now I see it was Camargo. No 3rd catcher on the roster makes a catcher as a DH unlikely.
 
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Of the 9 guys with 20+ at-bats in the postseason so far, only 3 have fewer strikeouts than Markakis. He's bad but was out-hitting Duvall and not that much worse than a couple others.

I love getting Pache the experience, and you have to assume the Culberson pick is a combination of the potential for a feel-good story after getting his face destroyed by the Nats last year plus he's an ex-Dodger.

Sandoval was a pretty surprising pick for last night's at-bat but hey, big dude took the HBP then made a solid play at 3rd. Worked out great.
 
DeacDiggler said:
do you remember which Cleveland player was injured in 1995 that helped the braves win the WS?
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This.

Winning game 1 is a big deal. The last time Braves won a series when we lost game 1 was the 1999 NLDS. Frankly last night is a game the Braves generally lose in the playoffs, game 1, failure to capitalize with runners in scoring position.

With that said, I still don't know if I would bet against the Dodgers yet. Get a win tonight though and a 2-0 series lead :)
 
Any chance this is a strategic move by the Dodgers? Hoping to steal a game 2 or 3 versus inexperienced Braves pitching, then trot Kershaw out in game 4 in the bullpen game?
 
skinnydeac said:
Any chance this is a strategic move by the Dodgers? Hoping to steal a game 2 or 3 versus inexperienced Braves pitching, then trot Kershaw out in game 4 in the bullpen game?
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I doubt it. No team wants to get into a 2-0 hole, if they thought Kershaw gave them the best chance to win tonight they would do that.
 
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