House That Hank Built
Fansided

Atlanta Braves Morning Chop for SAT 9/27

By Alan Carpenter

facebooktwitterreddit

First Priority for Interim GM Hart

If things are not settled satisfactorily (and quickly), you might end up calling this ‘Wren’s Revenge’.

About 2 weeks ago, the Braves opted out on their Player Development Contract (PDC) with the Lynchburg Hillcats of the Advanced Class A Carolina League. At the time, my thought was “why on earth would they do so without at least a handshake agreement to go elsewhere?”

Within the next week, though, Wren was fired as the minor league shuffle was leaving the Braves behind.

Tuesday, September 30th represents MLB’s deadline for organizations to have their PDC’s in place for the next season.  All of the High-Class A affiliations are now already set… except for 2:  the Braves and the Rangers.  There are two remaining venues:  Zebulon, North Carolina and Bakersfield, California.

Nobody wants to go to Bakersfield.

As Josh Leventhal put it for BaseballAmerica.com:

"• Sept. 22: The Rangers get their chance today to make a pitch for why the Carolina Mudcats (Carolina League) should choose them over the Braves as their new affiliate. It’s a nice situation for the Mudcats to pick between two quality organizations—and a desperate one for the Braves and Rangers. The odd team out gets shipped to the California League to play in High Desert, where high winds, an old ballpark and a remote setting combine for a less-than-ideal player development situation."

It could get worse:  according to Leventhal’s chart, there are also no PDC’s expiring after 2015, so whoever gets Bakersfield and its sub-standard stadium could be stuck out there for two years.

I suppose this is a “no news/good news” situation.  At this point, you would have to think that the fine folks in Zebulon – located just east of Raleigh – must be waiting for the Braves to get their act together.  Every other PDC was moved upon quickly – within a couple of days.  They could have easily gone ahead and signed up the Rangers.  But no – this one has now lingered for nearly two weeks.

Give ’em a call, John.  Quickly?

Braves’ Draft Position Improved Again Last Night

Live Feed

3 moves Braves should make next after Sean Murphy contract extension
3 moves Braves should make next after Sean Murphy contract extension /

FanSided

  • Sean Murphy extension shows why Atlanta Braves are MLB's smartest franchiseCall to the Pen
  • Braves waste no time locking up Sean Murphy as part of coreFanSided
  • 1 reason Braves should give Carlos Correa a call and 1 they shouldn’tFanSided
  • 3 Braves replacements for Dansby Swanson not named Carlos CorreaFanSided
  • 3 teams that should swoop in on Carlos Correa if Mets deal falls throughFanSided

    • I don’t know if it’s the lack of a ‘Killer Instinct’, an inability to handle prosperity, or ultimately just choking; but the Atlanta Braves blew a 4-run lead last night as

    Ervin Santana

    was unable (again) to sustain a good start through 3 trips around the lineup, losing 5-4 at Philadelphia.

    This time, the offense was better, though with 3 runners left on second base (two with less than 2 outs and one of those in the 9th inning), you know that more runs were left on the table.

    On the upside, Justin Upton‘s 100th RBI and Chris Johnson‘s 10th homer highlighted the 11 hits.  However, B.J. Upton (1-3, BB, 2B) struck out twice to set a team record:  173 strikeouts on the season (his previous career high was 169 with the Rays in 2012).  Here are the top 10 all-time single-season strikeout leaders in Braves’ history:

    • B.J. Upton – 173 (2014)
    • Dan Uggla – 171 (2013)
    • Justin Upton – 170 (2014)
    • Dan Uggla – 168 (2012)
    • Justin Upton – 161 (2013)
    • Dan Uggla – 156 (2011)
    • Michael Bourn – 155 (2012)
    • Chris Johnson – 155 (2014)
    • Jason Heyward – 152 (2012)
    • B.J. Upton – 151 (2013*)

    That asterisk is because B.J. was reduced to 126 games in 2013.  He has 132 more plate appearances this season.  For the record, Jason Heyward has drastically cut down on his strikeouts – and perhaps that also explains much of his power outage as well.  To date, he is sitting on 97 strikeouts this season.

    But before all of these guys came around, the team leader in bat dragging was Andruw Jones:  147 in 2004.

    About that draft position thing

    Because Atlanta loses all of the relevant tie-breakers, the Braves fell to 4th place in the NL East last night – via a 3-way tie with the Mets and Marlins.  Additionally, the San Diego Padres have now caught Atlanta.  Since we lose that tie-breaker too, the Braves are now sitting with the 12th worst record in baseball, and thus would draft 13th (Houston gets a compensation pick) in 2015.

    With a couple of wins and some help, all of those teams could be passed to drop that to the 15th slot (16th pick).  However, the Tampa Bay Rays could also still ‘pass’ Atlanta and give us the 11th slot (12th pick).

    Yes, we’re reduced to looking for ‘draft pick optimism’.

    Here’s the numbers from last night.

    Home/Braves News