Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Braves Are Ready to Make Their Run Now!!!!

Yes indeed! The Atlanta Braves are ready to make their run at a playoff spot now that they've ridded themselves of the awesomeness of Mark Teixeira!!

His .283/.390/.512 with 20 homers and 78 RBI was absolutely crushing their chances.

But now that they've dumped that bum, and replaced him with gritty, awesome Casey Kotchman and his much more average .287/.327/.448 (with 12 homers and 54 RBI), they can get back to their winning ways!! Although, just to be clear, Kotchman is no Scott Thorman!!

I point this out only because of yesterday's article, where it was pointed out that since the acquisition of Teixeira, the Braves winning percentage had actually dropped from like .521 to .482 as though that was Texy's fault.

I just want to say though, if there are any aspiring GMs out there, always know that the best way to improve your team and build a winner is to get rid of anybody with an EqA above .300. In Tex's case, he's at .305 right now, and that's terrible. It's not a team-first number.

Casey Kotchman's 2008 EqA of .260 is a much more team-first number. It builds a sense of unity in your clubhouse when guys are of the understanding that everybody on their baseball team is equally average. It forces them to all depend on one-another, because nobody is good enough to single-handedly carry the team.

When you have talent on your team... guys like Pujols, A-Rod, Teixeira, Utley, etc., the prevailing wisdom in the clubhouse is that it's okay to just clog up the basepaths and wait for the 3-run homer. Many believe that this is the fault of A's GM, Billy Beane. Ever since he wrote MoneyBall, people seem to want talented players on their team.

But not the Braves. Nope!! They're building on guys who can be replaced by Miguel Cairo. That's why they were so fucking awesome for so long.

Or maybe it had something to do with Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine. Shit, I don't know now.

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