Add new comment

1

But unless every one of your guys is an OBP whiz, I can't imagine getting close to 100 OPS+ unless your SLG at least approaches .400.
It's not about 30-HR guys, it's about having a few guys SLG in the .400s and somebody approaching .500.
I didn't go back and look, but I can't imagine the Braves didn't have several regulars with .400 SLG and the occasional .500 during their success years.
I suppose my argument is different from what you are characterizing, and maybe different from Doc's.
But they knew that it was almost certain that C & SS wouldn't SLG .400 or probably anywhere close.  They know that Ichiro maxes out in the mid .400 range.  They knew that Guti wasn't likely to go much over .400.  They knew that they would need a good year from Lopez to get much over .400.  They knew that Figgins would need another banner year to even get to .400.  Their .500 guy from 09 they didn't bring back.
That left them hoping that Kotchman, Bradley, Sweeney and Griffey could generate SLG from 1b, DH & LF and also stay healthy.  Or, it left them hoping that they could hang in and get another bat (one with both OBP and SLG -- not just an empty 30 HR "thumper") at the deadline.
Those all turned out to be bad bets, and I think it's a legit criticism.  But I don't think it's because they made all their decisions based on "glove-first" philosophy.  It was a combination of philosophies that didn't work out.

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><p><br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

shout_filter

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.