Whenever 'A' attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon 'B', 'A' is most likely a scoundrel. -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic
(1880-1956)
Yeah, I was watching the game Thursday night. Didn't think you'd be too happy with Kolb after that one. I thought they were using Reitsma as their closer now, anyway. What happened with that?
Just goes to show that saving games in Milwaukee and saving games in Atlanta are two wildly different experiences.
What do the Braves do? It's not like they can stick Smoltz back in the closer role, because they don't have anyone to fill his spot in the rotation.
Probably should use Kolb as a set-up guy (it's not like they can trade him, not with his current numbers) and go with Reitsma as closer for now, see if he's up to the challenge for an extended period of time.
Officially, it's "closer by committee." Remember, Kolb came in and screwed the pooch in the 8th. It was merely a middle relief job, no pressure to get the save, just get your three outs and be done for the night. No, Mr. "I don't mind walking the lead off batter" went and - duh - walked the lead off batter. Talk about making enemies in the clubhouse. The Braves are renowned for their professionalism and the idea that they treat what they do as a business rather than a chance to show off, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some dirty looks thrown.
I've read some complaints about Cox mismanaging, that he should have pulled Kolb after the first run scored. Problem was, no one was warming up in the bullpen when Kolb went in. Unfortunately, that's how you're supposed to work middle relief (or at least how Cox/Mazzone tend to) - each guy gets an inning to work and we tend towards not playing the lefty-lefty/righty-righty game. So when Kolb gets in and gets in immediate trouble, Mazzone starts warming up Gryboski and Foster. By the time they're ready to go, Kolb's given up two and still has two men on.
What to do with him? Well, we pretty much ate Wohlers' back in 98-99, which was about $9M total. Albie Lopez was signed as a starter for $4M in '02 and was relegated to mop up work/position player pitching by May. There is a precendent.
Um, should have said "ate Wohlers' contract." Though it sounds pretty menacing to bad/washed up picthers to think they might be masticated it they screw up.
3 comments:
Yeah, I was watching the game Thursday night. Didn't think you'd be too happy with Kolb after that one. I thought they were using Reitsma as their closer now, anyway. What happened with that?
Just goes to show that saving games in Milwaukee and saving games in Atlanta are two wildly different experiences.
What do the Braves do? It's not like they can stick Smoltz back in the closer role, because they don't have anyone to fill his spot in the rotation.
Probably should use Kolb as a set-up guy (it's not like they can trade him, not with his current numbers) and go with Reitsma as closer for now, see if he's up to the challenge for an extended period of time.
Officially, it's "closer by committee." Remember, Kolb came in and screwed the pooch in the 8th. It was merely a middle relief job, no pressure to get the save, just get your three outs and be done for the night. No, Mr. "I don't mind walking the lead off batter" went and - duh - walked the lead off batter. Talk about making enemies in the clubhouse. The Braves are renowned for their professionalism and the idea that they treat what they do as a business rather than a chance to show off, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some dirty looks thrown.
I've read some complaints about Cox mismanaging, that he should have pulled Kolb after the first run scored. Problem was, no one was warming up in the bullpen when Kolb went in. Unfortunately, that's how you're supposed to work middle relief (or at least how Cox/Mazzone tend to) - each guy gets an inning to work and we tend towards not playing the lefty-lefty/righty-righty game. So when Kolb gets in and gets in immediate trouble, Mazzone starts warming up Gryboski and Foster. By the time they're ready to go, Kolb's given up two and still has two men on.
What to do with him? Well, we pretty much ate Wohlers' back in 98-99, which was about $9M total. Albie Lopez was signed as a starter for $4M in '02 and was relegated to mop up work/position player pitching by May. There is a precendent.
Um, should have said "ate Wohlers' contract." Though it sounds pretty menacing to bad/washed up picthers to think they might be masticated it they screw up.
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