I’m Back
Sorry for my prolonged absence. I went the the beach and just kind of lost myself. I’ve been lurking around the internet some, but I haven’t felt like posting much. If you haven’t gotten an response back from me on an e-mail, I will get back with you shortly. But anyway, I got quite a bit of work done on my trip thanks to my new laptop, which makes easing back into work-life less of a transition.
I did a good bit of reading, and I’ll be posting some book reviews shortly on:
- National Pastime, by Stephan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist
- Baseball’s All-Time Great Sluggers, by Michael Schell
- Scout’s Honor, by Bill Shanks
So, check back if you’re interested in my opinions on any of these.
Also, a lot has changed with the Braves since I left. As I noted earlier, Mondesi is gone and Kelly Johnson was promoted in his place. I would like to thank an anonymous source for tipping me off on this move before it was made public. Had I been in the office to check my messages, Sabernomics would have gotten the scoop on this move. So, Deep Throat, feel free to keep sending me more good stuff.
But in addition to Johnson, the Braves also called up super-stud prospect Andy Marte, Brayan Pena (although Pena was just demoted), and Brian McCann. With all of these hitters getting of to slow actual starts (except McCann) I really wanted to look at these guys PrOPS. Unfortunately, though I had planned to update PrOPS for The Hardball Times during my trip, I forgot something important: the formulas. So I updated PrOPS this morning, and they should be updated for all players shortly. Here are the PrOPS numbers for the Braves prospects:
Name PrOPS OPS McCann 1.533 1.357 Marte 0.748 0.378 Johnson 0.619 0.228 Pena 0.566 0.297
What the Braves really need is bullpen help. These guys can’t hold a lead.
