The comments section on the AJC has been lighting up Braves management, especially the GM, for the way the signings of Dan Uggla and B.J. Upton worked out. Uggla (now gone, still owed $18 million) and Upton (headed for a second consecutive season under .200 if they keep playing him every day, which is doubtful), in just year two of a five year, $75 million deal, have only been the most visible examples of a problem thats plagued them for many years: offensive inefficiency. Last season, when they ranked in the top five in the NL in walks and home runs, they were able to disguise the fact they were near the bottom in such categories as two-our hits, hits with runners in scoring position, advancing runners from second with less than two outs, etc. But now, in the absence of consistent power (they hit zero homers during that horrific eight-game road trip wipeout) all those other deficiencies are fully exposed. Aside from Justin Upton (who got injured last night, but hopefully isnt out long) and Evan Gattis, theres no one in the Braves lineup that scares opposing pitchers. Jason Heyward has turned into a .260 singles hitter, and even Freddie Freeman, probably their best pure hitter, seems to have lost his power stroke. On July 30 they were 1/2 game out of first. Today, as they begin a weekend series with Oakland, theyre six out and only 61-60. Somehow, theyve beaten the Nationals nine out of 13 this season. Unfortunately, theyre only 52-56 against everybody else.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 21:14:00 +0000
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