Afternoon Chop: Atlanta Braves’ News 11/18
Mar 7, 2013; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher
Aaron Northcraft(64) throws against the Detroit Tigers during the top of the ninth inning of a spring training game at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Morning Chop: A summary of Atlanta Braves’ News
Tea party group to mobilize against Braves stadium
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Tea Party is gearing up to oppose the new Atlanta Braves stadium being planned in Cobb County.
The statewide group’s co-chair Debbie Dooley told The Associated Press on Monday that the group believes the $672 million project is a bad deal for taxpayers. The group will be reaching out to county voters through emails and automated calls detailing their opposition and urging them to contact the county commission ahead of a key vote Nov. 26.
Cobb County Chairman Tim Lee has called the project a good deal, with the Braves assuming 55 percent of costs. The public portion would come from reallocating existing taxes and new taxes on business and tourism.
Dooley says the “devil is in the details” and expects local taxpayers will end up bearing significant costs.
The political spin over the new Braves ballpark is on down in Atlanta
Question: if ballpark deals are as obviously awesome and beneficial as everyone says, why do the people who support the Braves new ballpark deal feel the need to conduct push-polling and to write constituent letters that would make your average Ministry of Propaganda blush?
Jim Galloway of the AJC has the details of it all, including that telephone poll which actually spends more time advertising than it does questioning folks about their opinions. And a letter from a Cobb County commissioner to a constituent complaining of public money being spent on a ballpark which starts out with “Sorry that you are so upset about a fabulous economic development for our County that will not effect your property tax bill.”
Of course, the anti-stadium folks have their own campaigns too.
Anyway, this will all be fun to go back and look at in five years when the “Ballpark not the economic engine its backers promised” stories come out.
Braving New Territory: Awards and Stats
Consider this a freebie. Oh wait, what? They’re all free? We don’t make you pay for this? Well, that’s dumb. Anyyyyway …
Over the past month, we’ve been delving into the differences between everyday statistics and nuanced statistics, and this is the time of the year where the battle between the two really rages. It’s also the time of year where both sides really blast the rhetoric to volume 11. What’d I like to do today is focus on how to properly use the nuanced statistics we’ve learned when evaluating award winners.
There’s a great line from the show House in which an administrator grants that rules don’t work 100% of the time, but he asserts, “While the rules only apply 95% of the time to 95% of people, everyone thinks they’re part of the 5%.” What’s great about the discoveries that have been made in regard to baseball research and nuanced statistics is that they apply to so many players. They apply to so many players as a result of the great research that has been done, and that research was done using the general baseball population. That led to many of the theories we use today, and they work a vast majority of the time. The issue, of course, is the extreme.
Braves Winter League Roundup: 11/17
Back again for another week. This week, I decided to add the Arizona Fall League guys who completed their fall seasons earlier in the week. I have also removed any of the players from previous lists who are now considered minor league free agents.
Arizona Fall League
- Tommy La Stella: 18G, .290/.436/.468, 16BB/4K – La Stella grabbed most of the headlines for the Braves in the AFL and rightfully so. He will be fighting for a role in Atlanta come spring and continued to do what he does best, hit and get on base. He reportedly put a good amount of work into his defense, which might determine what time of role he takes on come spring.
- Kyle Kubitza: 19G, .305/.431/.458, 13BB/22K – Kubitza quietly put up a very similar slash to La Stella, coming on strong in the final week. The 23-year-old might jump over Salcedo while moving up the organizational ladder with his impressive 2013 campaign.
- Elmer Reyes: 13G, .256/.347/.349, 5BB/8K – In limited games, Reyes put up solid number playing up the middle for the Scorpions. Turning 23 next week, Reyes should begin 2014 in Mississippi.
- Robby Hefflinger: 20G, .189/.244/.284, 4BB/30K – For all the positives to take from the AFL, this was not one of them. Hefflinger struggled at the plate, striking out 37% of the time and looked over matched at times during the televised AFL games. At Lynchburg, he gained a lot hype for his big power, banging 21 home runs in 74 games. However, at 23, this was mostly a product of beating up on younger competition. The contact issues are going to be the biggest concern as he moves through the system……