Atlanta Braves

Power Rankings

Date	Ranking	Previous
01/26/2012	11	11
Good business: They didn't make a single move of even mild consequence. Given some of the rumored 70-cents-on-the-dollar trades involving Jair Jurrjens, that counts as a positive. Bad business: Judging by the Alex Gonzalez/Jack Wilson do-si-do, the Braves value different qualities in a shortstop than the rest of us do. Prognosis as of 11:14 a.m. GMT on Jan. 26, 2012: The terms of my probation prevent me from mocking, criticizing or otherwise commenting about Fredi Gonzalez. The best I can do? As a manager, he's ... a manager.
10/31/2011	11	11
2011 eulogy: I know it was you, Fredi. You broke my heart. Offseason to-do list: Give the super-utility cape back to Martin Prado and prime him for spot duty at 3B, LF and RF. He's best cast as a positional nomad ... Toughen up Jason Heyward. Since conventional means haven't worked, find some goons to ambush him on a random Tuesday night and beat him about the torso with a Pillo Polo mallet ... Lube Chipper's arthritic right knee by injecting it with grape jam. Odds of achieving Cardinals-like glory in 2012: We know the pitching will be strong. If they cut back on the self-sabotage by even 10 percent, they'll win the NL East.
09/28/2011	11	11
What went right: All sorts of stuff went right before September. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of it now. I'm pretty sure there was something in there about Jose Constanza playing capably for six or seven days, and I have this image in my head of a "Peachy Beachy!" headline that makes me want to punch the offending editorbot in its metallic uvula. But the details remain hazy. What went wrong: Fredi abused Kimbrel/Venters/O'Flaherty early in the season ... Fredi proved physically incapable of writing anything other than "Prado" in the lineup's second spot ... Fredi, Fredi, Fredi. Regular-season epilogue: It's fun to talk about choke jobs and an inability to withstand the heat in the pennant-race kitchen and the like, but the bottom line is this: Had Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens healed a little bit faster, we'd be having a different conversation this afternoon.
09/20/2011	11	11
And now the bullpen looks shaky. The Braves were my preseason NL World Series pick, but I don't see how this ends well, not unless Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens come riding in on majestic steeds and pull the heroine (that'd be Chipper) off the tracks right before the train comes rumbling through. ... Trivia time: Guess which team has the most relievers in the top five of games pitched this season? I'll give you a hint: Guhhhhhh the game is close what should I do what should I do oooh I bet Scotty Linebrink is out there and oh boy is that pie? ... Fredi called a team meeting last week to, you know, just get on the same page and rap and really get into what's really real. After trying to summarize it here, I instead turned my imagining of the locker-room klatch into a movie script. Tarantino rejected the treatment as "too violent." ... Last week's monster dinger notwithstanding, Brian McCann is either hurt or laboring under threat of blackmail. I ask Power Rankings readers to join with me in praying for the safe return of his Nana and/or beloved stuffed animal Jilly Giraffe. Amen.
09/13/2011	11	6
4.5 games is a substantial lead with only 14 left to play. After the non-Met-related events of the last fortnight it might not seem like much, but math is on the Braves' side. ... Everyone seems to be fretting about the health of Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens, which is clearly a legit concern. But if you take away the doubleheader against the Metsies, the Braves haven't scored more than four runs since Sept. 2. ... I'm trying to envision a scenario in which Fredi would use Craig Kimbrel in a tie game on the road. It would have to be in the 26th inning of a game, after he ran through every other bench option and pitcher, including the next and previous night's starters. Even then, he'd probably try to keep Kimbrel "fresh" by sending Scott Linebrink out there in his uniform. Fredi is tricky that way.
09/06/2011	6	5
I spent way too much time debating the Rangers/Braves Power Rankings placement vis-a-vis one another before arriving at a horrible truth: We'll never know for sure -- unless they match up against one another in the World Series, which Fox would deem to be such ratings poison that they'd preempt it for a Glee empowerment marathon ("Be who you are! Don't be anyone else! You're special!"). That's a shame, as Braves/Rangers would prove less ploddy than just about any other potential combination ... Especially now that Atlanta management has removed Julio Lugo from Fredi Gonzalez's tool shed. Frank Wren has basically idiot-proofed the roster, depriving Fredi of the chance to make decisions like "hmm, Julio hasn't played in a while. Let's start him and bat him second in game four of the NLCS" ... Along those lines, I dig the way the playoff bench is shaping up: Ross, Wilson, Conrad, Hinske, Diaz and Constanza. Them's is versatile! Now, on to the twin tasks of rebuilding Jair Jurrjens' knee and Tommy Hanson's shoulder.
08/30/2011	5	6
Wow. Outside of batting Jason Heyward behind Alex Gonzalez on two separate occasions, Fredi didn't make all that many spirit-deflatingly stupid decisions last week. Of course, that may have been because the Braves only played four games ... I wonder how the unplanned three-day siesta will affect the team. On one hand, rest is a prized commodity at this late juncture of the season. On the other, they had been flattening all comers and don't want to surrender any of that ever-quantifiable momentum. Ultimately, it's a good thing Chipper and the bullpen boys got to nap, but keep an eye on that narrative as the games pile back up over the next few weeks.
08/23/2011	6	6
There I was, all ready to say nice things about the Braves and their pitching pipeline and their brains/brawn combo, and then Fredi Gonzalez goes and attempts yet another sense-defying squeeze play. Most nights, this team would fare far better if the players managed themselves, sandlot-style. ... Are we finished with the Jose Constanza fascination yet, or does Fredi plan to follow the Sam Fuld blueprint (e.g., weigh two weeks of solid hitting more heavily than the totality of his minor-league stats, then keep playing him six weeks after he returns to sea level)? Knowing Fredi, we're going to have to pry Constanza out of the starting lineup with a crowbar. ... I might be a little obsessed with chronicling Fredi's managerial "quirks." I'll get treatment as soon as this thing posts, promise.
08/16/2011	6	7
We've got quite the logjam atop the Power Rankings this week. The good teams are all playing well, which makes reshuffling them a logistical nuisance ... I just hope Bobby Cox took Fredi Gonzalez aside after the ceremony on Friday night and set him straight. "Enough with the bunts," "Don't fall in love with your trusty veterans" -- that kind of stuff ... Dan Uggla certainly deserves props for his season-reviving hitting streak. But contrary to published reports, he was very clearly not the same guy he was at its outset. After extending the streak on Saturday, Uggla eschewed his Gatorade squeeze bottle for a giant bejeweled pimp cup and was caught on camera scoffing at the notion of "taking things one day at a time." Success changed him, man.
08/09/2011	7	4
They've got the pitching depth to weather Jair Jurrjens' knee issue, but it'd sure help if Tommy Hanson started pitching like the mythical Tommy Hanson of preseason Cy-Young-sleeper-candidate columns ... How ridiculous would it be if Dan Uggla, holder of a 29-game hitting streak, breaks Joe DiMaggio's record? Sublimely so, that's how ridiculous. Somehow, I don't see the modern-day equivalent of Paul Simon -- is there a modern-day equivalent of Paul Simon? The melodically diminished circa-2011 Paul Simon comes closest, I suppose -- including Uggla in his next ode to national disillusionment ... In a Player Rankings thingie a few weeks back, I looked at the top rookies and, somehow, concluded that Craig Kimbrel was only the sixth or seventh best pitcher in the newbie crop. While I still hold that average 200-inning starters are more valuable than supertronic 70-inning relievers -- 200 is more than 70 -- I was probably five or six spots off on my Kimbrel assessment. He's quite awesome. My bad.