The Atlanta Braves’ Best Potential Lineup http://bit.ly/a599aH

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/346260-the-braves-best-potential-lineup

Johnny Damon has seemingly been priced out of the Braves’ range and the players expected to make the Opening Day roster are likely already in the organization. With that said, I am going to preview their most logical and likely lineup.

As I said, it will be a combination of the most logical and likely options, not just how I feel the lineup should be shaped. There are plenty of statistics that show putting your best hitter second with your pitcher batting eighth will score a team more runs than a conventional lineup. But we all know Bobby Cox would never do this, so predicting a lineup like that would be useless.

There are plenty of players throughout the lineup that can hit in multiple spots. Nate McLouth, Yunel Escobar, Martin Prado, and Matt Diaz have batted throughout the lineup, and picking a sensible 1-through-9 for the upcoming year is considerably difficult considering the skill-sets of the aforementioned players.

The biggest debate across the Braves’ nation is whether or not Nate McLouth will, or should, lead off. He has the power to be a middle of the lineup hitter as he was in Pittsburgh. But also has the speed to be a leadoff man.

Yunel Escobar is in a similar situation. He has the tools to be a perfect no. 2 hitter but has performed exceptionally well in RBI opportunities in the fifth and sixth spots of the lineup throughout his career.

In this article I will pick the best lineup for the Braves. Atlanta will need to score more runs in 2010 than they did in 2009 in order to be a playoff team rather than just a playoff contender.

Comparing Rosters

Spring Training will unveil a vastly different roster compared to that of the previous Spring Training’s and even compared to the roster to close out 2009. In this article I will compare and contrast the new players to the old.

Start of 2009

The lineup going into 2009 consisted of Casey Kotchman at first, Kelly Johnson at second, Garret Anderson in left, Jordan Schafer in center, and Jeff Francoeur in right. None of these players were very productive last season. The most Kotchman ever helped was in his trade for Adam LaRoche. Johnson had a down year and suffered from tendinitis in his wrist. Schafer started off hot and also succumbed to an injured wrist. Francoeur was exactly what everyone should have projected going into last season, bad. Anderson was the only player of the bunch that finished out the season with the Braves. He managed to hit 13 home runs but his OBP was barely above .300.

The only difference at the start of 2009 and the end of 2009 in the rotation was JoJo Reyes. JoJo started so that Tommy Hanson could get some more work in the minors and avoid becoming a “super two.” JoJo again proved that he is the epitome of a AAAA player.

The End of 2009

The lineup by seasons end had Kotchman replaced with LaRoche, Francoeur with Ryan Church, Schafer with McLouth, and Johnson with Prado. LaRoche was the best hitter the Braves had after the acquired him and was solid defensively. Church was decent as a Brave as his production was close to what his career numbers are aside from a dip in his power numbers. McLouth also performed similar to his career numbers but the Braves expected a little bit more out of him. Prado had an amazing year last year after taking the job from Johnson and he made Johnson expendable. As a Johnson supporter even I agreed with this move and second base is now Prado’s for the foreseeable future. The bench also consisted of Greg Norton and Reid Gorecki during the final days of August(Last days before roster expands.)

The rotation remained similar but added Tommy Hanson and Tim Hudson. Hudson proved that he can still be a good pitcher despite his Tommy John surgery and Hanson was one of the top rookies and will be the future ace of the Atlanta Braves for many years.

The bullpen was headlined by Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano the entire season and both took turns as closer. Both relievers turned in very good seasons earning them type A classifications as free agents.

Start of 2010

The newest additions to the lineup going into Spring Training are Troy Glaus, Jason Heyward, Melky Cabrera, and Eric Hinske. Hinske and Cabrera are not expected to be regular starters but both have experience starting at multiple positions and in pressure scenarios. Glaus has been injury prone during the latter half of the decade and was an inexpensive signing. He will move to 1B this season and if healthy has potential to slug over .500 and hit 30 home runs. Jason Heyward is the Braves top prospect and BaseballAmerica.com’s #2 overall prospect. His minor league career showed that he has the athletic ability, maturity, and patience to become a great major league hitter. It is reasonable to expect a Tommy Hanson like performance out of Heyward in 2010.

The rotation lost its most productive starter of last season in Javier Vazquez, but the overall production from the starters should not suffer. Tim Hudson virtually replaces Vazquez and over the course of his career has been a better pitcher.

The bullpen lost its two most productive and prolific arms but replaced them with veterans Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner. Both are health risks and are well past their prime, however these are short term deals for experienced back end relievers.

What to expect

The lineup going into this season is better than the lineup going into last season. The rotation going into this season is better than the rotation going into last season solely based on Hanson starting for a full season. The bullpen should be similar to last and it is usually hard to project a bullpen because relievers are so sporadic on a year to year basis.

Overall the roster going into this season is better than the roster that started and ended the roster last season. If healthy, these facts state that it is reasonable to expect post season contention.

The ’09 Braves and Home Runs.

The ’09 Braves are definitely a team that lacks those pure power hitters that will get you 30 home runs. However, unlike most other teams every player in the lineup will hit 10 homers at minimum. Guys like Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, and Chipper Jones should all level off at around 25 home runs and Jordan Schafer, Matt Diaz/Garrett Anderson, Casey Kotchman, and Yunel Escobar should all hit about 15. This makes this lineup extremely tough to pitch against considering how many players have the ability to hit doubles and homers in any given at bat.

The Braves are currently second in doubles, home runs, extra base hits, slugging percentage, and on base plus slugging percentage. The Braves have been able to net ten home runs in the first five games this season. Of the 10 home runs that the Braves have hit, four have come against lefties. Kelly Johnson already has two against lefties (one last year), Schafer has one, and Chipper has one.

Coming into the season I was concerned of our lefty dominated lineup. We all know Kelly hits them well but he usually sacrifices his power numbers and becomes more of a singles hitter against lefties. If these guys can continue to hit lefties for power our offense will continue to surprise even the most avid Braves fans let alone the rest of the baseball community.

2008 Braves Lineup Projections

…posted by Ben Duronio

Here are my projections for the Braves lineup for the 2008 season. I can only make projections offensively for the lineup since the bench hasn’t yet been decided. Once the entire 25 man roster is set and the Braves announce the rotation and bullpen for the 2008 season my other projections will be up.

Now about the projections, I see Chipper finally getting to that enviable 150 game mark. His production when healthy has never been better over the course of the past two seasons. When he plays he is one of the best, the problem is keeping him on the field. Freak injuries the past few seasons kept him off the field, not his recurring feet or hamstring injuries he suffered in the past. If he can stay away from the freak accidents he can put up MVP numbers.

I see Matt Diaz getting the starting LF job out of Spring Training. Brandon Jones is going to do everything possible to make the roster but if he isn’t started out in a platoon then he will likely be in Richmond getting the at bats he needs to further his development. Of course as of now this is just speculation, but Braves beat writers’ are saying it points more and more to looking like Diaz will get the starting job out of camp.

The key elements of this lineup are Kelly Johnson’s and Yunel Escobar’s production at the top of the lineup. Both are interchangeable at the top two spots in the lineup and if they are able to get on base like they did last year then this lineup will once again be one of the top lineups in the NL. Kelly showed a lot of power last season belting 16 HR and having the fifth highest OPS of all second basemen in the majors. This makes Kelly one of the most under-rated players in the game today. He had an OPS higher than Orlando Hudson, Brandon Phillips, Dustin Pedroia, Brian Roberts, and Dan Uggla to name a few. Kelly and Yunel make for one of the most under-rated middle infields in all of the game, and having those two players before Chipper and Teixeira makes the Braves infield and first four batters in contention for best in the majors.

Well, thats all for today. Enjoy the projections and lets hope the Braves lineup can perform as expected and get the team to the playoffs once again.