Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Labors, Talent, Tebow
Sep 5, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals relief pitcher Mark Melancon (43) is congratulated by catcher Jose Lobaton (59) after recording the final out against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Nationals showed yesterday how far the Braves still need to go to get to their level. But where pitching and hitting were struggling, old-fashioned grit and determination came close to overcoming all obstacles anyway.
The Atlanta Braves‘ six-game win streak is over. This was mostly due to the fact that it takes a near-perfect game to overcome Max Scherzer, and that didn’t happen yesterday afternoon along the Anacostia River in Washington.
Still, even with the Spring-Road-Game version of the Nationals as Dusty Baker rested several of his regulars, it came down to one inning – the bottom of the third – that proved decisive.
The Nats powered 5 runs across against Ryan Weber thanks to home runs by Trea Turner and Chris Heisey which followed a walk, a single, and a double to account for the extra runs.
Scherzer, meanwhile, struggled a bit with the Braves as he often has, but still was able to get out of most run-scoring opportunities. He went 7 innings, giving up 2 runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, and striking out an uncharacteristically low 5 batters.
In the 9th inning though, Atlanta got to Mark Melancon – getting two runs on 4 hits and bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Anthony Recker. He just missed it, too, flying out to the RF corner to end it.
The final was 6-4 in favor of the Nationals.
Jed Bradley followed Weber, pitching 2 innings and struggling a bit himself: 2 hits, 3 walks, and a run scored. Brandon Cunniff and Chaz Roe finished up without further harm.
Sep 3, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Atlanta Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia (13) celebrates win with relief pitcher Mauricio Cabrera (62) against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Braves defeated the Phillies, 6-4 in 10 innings. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Playoffs Teams Show that Braves’ New Talent is Coming
It’s not an end-all/be-all measurement of performance, but certainly it’s good to take a look at playoff teams as one solid metric of talent and performance in the 30 farm systems around the league.
The following is a compilation of how many affiliates of major league teams achieved the playoffs in their respective leagues throughout all of minor league baseball played in the United States this summer. Note that there are a lot of variations on themes: many leagues have first half/second half division winners and some leagues overdo their ‘winners’ (60% of the California League made the playoffs). Nonetheless, here’s the breakdown:
braves
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* – one spot yet to be decided between these clubs.
Among other factors, this ignores the level of play – rookie leagues are treated equally as AAA. It also ignores team records and whether somebody was “close” … or blown out, for that matter.
A deeper look into those factors would be useful: for instance, while the lowly Angels’ farm system did get a representative team on this list, it was via a short-season Rookies team in the Pioneer League. Seattle’s 6 playoff teams are certainly noteworthy, but did benefit somewhat from some generous berth-giving in a couple of leagues.
So it’s far from a perfect metric, but still interesting to look at: your 2016 MLB playoff representation in the minor leagues.
Aug 22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Tim Tebow (11) walks off the field after win against the Baltimore Ravens during the second half at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Ravens, 40-17. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Braves’ interest in Tim Tebow ‘a pure baseball thing’ — and it makes sense
BOB KILLE / OMNISPORT in the SPORTINGNEWS.COM
More from Tomahawk Take
The Braves have had “multiple” conversations about a potential “low risk” signing of Tim Tebow, GM John Coppolella confirmed.
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“We are interested in Tim because of his potential as a baseball player, not as a gate attraction,” Coppolella said (via ESPN.com). “We have spoken with his representatives multiple times and all parties involved want this to be a pure baseball thing on every level.”
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The Braves’ interest in Tebow — first reported by ESPN and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — makes sense on a lot of levels, according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal:
— He would cost almost nothing, likely a deal worth less than $100,000.
— He wouldn’t block top prospects since he won’t take a spot on the team’s 40-man roster and could start at Double-A, a reach for Tebow but a level at which the Braves are prospect poor.
— He showed enough talent to really be intriguing to the Braves.
ALSO: This from last week.
Pedro Gomez tells us the two #MLB organizations he has heard have the most interest in Tim Tebow are the #Rockies & #Braves.
— 104.3 The FAN (@1043TheFan) September 2, 2016
[ Ed. note – if you Google up ‘interested in Tim Tebow’ or some such thing, nearly every article you find will have an overt reference to marketing, attendance, money-making… whatever. That includes the (somewhat goofy) discussion in this video…
Very, very few actually believe there’s a real baseball angle to Atlanta’s interest, yet John Coppolella, in confirming Atlanta’s pursuit, suggests that it’s the only reason involved.
I believe him.
Would Atlanta stand to make a buck or two in the process? Yeah, that’s probably the case. There would be Tebow jerseys all over creation. I am positive that minor league contract negotiations with Tim’s representatives are trying to guesstimate the extra revenue that could accrue so that he would also get a piece of that action. That part isn’t so much marketing as it is recognition of the obvious business part of this.
Atlanta has no point in getting involved with this for any reason excepting baseball. It’s just not worth the time, effort, added security that would be necessary, the daily media scrum that would happen – everything.
Insofar as the Sporting News’ take, I do think that a AA start would be too aggressive for Tebow at this point. High-A Carolina (or wherever the heck that team ends up next season) is probably a better idea to start with, depending on how his Instructional League and Winter Ball pursuits go.
As for Colorado, the only angle I’m seeing on that at all (and the Rockies have not confirmed interest in Tebow at all) involves his prior membership with the Denver Broncos… yes, another marketing angle. Other than hitting a ball 600 feet in thin air, that doesn’t sound like a fit for baseball reasons at all.
Thus it comes down to one club that seems to actually believe that there’s a real baseball purpose here… and Tim himself has declared that it’s his only goal as well.
So let’s get this together: the minor league seasons are done. Let’s ink Tim to a deal that puts him into the Instructional Leagues and we’ll see how things progress from here. ]
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