Had a rough year by his standards, but that was basically because some singles didn’t drop. He’s one of the more effective bench players in baseball, a four-corners guy with an average bat, most of his offensive value coming in secondary skills (power and walks) rather than batting average. Hinske has had 584 plate appearances in his two years with the Braves, which is more than I thought or would have expected. In that slightly-less-than-a-full-season of work, he’s had 21 homers, 31 doubles, and 78 RBI, with most of his work coming as an outfielder or pinch-hitter. Some of Hinske’s value has usually come from his ability to play third base (not well, but not a lot worse than Chipper) but he has played the position only once with the Braves, off the bench in 2010. If Prado is traded, that might change… Actually used to run pretty well, is now really slow, and has attempted only one stolen base and hit one triple with the Braves.

Brought back in a dumpster-diving trade at the eligibility deadline, Matt hit .286 in 37 PA in September. That’s nice, but it’s a small sample size and also he had just one walk and just one extra-base hit, a double. I love the guy, but he turns 34 in March and his overall line last year was .263/.302/.323. He didn’t hit a single home run in 268 PA. Maybe he will bounce back, and I certainly hope so, but I never did expect him to age well, and he has to add a lot — like 40 points of batting average and 100 points or so of isolated power — to be a useful player. The Braves could eat his contract, but I don’t expect them to.

Well, that could have gone better.

Heyward’s sophomore season began with an injury that took him out of most of spring training, followed by a season-long slump. His batting average fell by fifty points from his rookie season and his walk rate fell slightly as well. Pitchers, especially lefties, were able to tie him up inside, leading to a seemingly interminable succession of GB4s, usually very slow ones. He continued to have nagging injuries, and missed three weeks in May and June on the DL.

Picked up in what was generally considered a heist on the Braves’ part, Bourn was… okay in 52 games with the Braves. He hit .278/.321/.352 (actually pretty close to his career line), played good defense, and stole 22 bases in 29 attempts. (He led the league in SB… and in CS.) What he mostly did was fill a gaping hole that the Braves’ centerfield situation had been since Andruw Jones departed.

As I write, it seems likely that he will be traded, which I think would be a mistake unless the return is unexpectedly spectacular. The Braves, like most teams, have a habit of selling low; Prado’s value is pretty low right now, because he had a bad season. But there were good reasons for the bad season, and the Braves should know that.

Some people seem to have decided that Chipper is a problem. This is dumb; he’s one of the best players on the team. He’s not what he once was, but here you’ve got a third baseman putting up a .275/.344/.470 line. The team would not be better off if he retired. Yeah, you think they could get more by moving Prado to third and getting another left fielder. I doubt it.

On the Fourth of July, Uggla was hitting .173/.241/.327. Over the remainder of the season, he hit .301/.386/.596. Uggla’s massive hot streak, highlighted by a 33-game hitting streak, helped keep the Braves afloat while some other guys were struggling, and brought his season numbers up to a respectable level (.233/.311/.453), even though it was still the worst year of his career and not really what the Braves expected.

That went better than expected. Freeman was considered something of a risk going into the season; most expected him to show raw power but there were a lot of concerns about holes in his swing and pitch recognition problems. These turned out to not be so much of a problem, and he hit just about average for a first baseman — which is pretty darned good for a 21-year-old rookie. The future looks pretty bright. Freeman’s 32 doubles and 21 homers are a good start, and so is his .282 batting average; just normal improvement should make him a real offensive plus. The biggest problem is that Heyward’s difficulties and then the McCann injury/ineffectiveness put too much of the burden on Freeman to drive the offense, and he wasn’t that good, not to mention it’s a bit of a stress on a 21-year-old rookie to be a core offensive contributor in the middle of a playoff race. Freeman hit only .143/.263/.286 in his last 14 games. He was probably tired, as rookies often are at the end of the season, finishing second on the team (to Uggla) in games played (157) and plate appearances (635).

The best backup catcher in baseball (and, by at least one measure, one of the best reserve players of all time) actually had his worst season in a Braves uniform, and still was an above-average hitter in a position where most teams will settle for “won’t kill you”. How much is this worth? Two games a year? Maybe not that much, but maybe so, and two games a year is a lot. Anyway, the variance in Ross’ productivity is largely in batting average, and he has very strong secondary skills. Ross’ career batting average is just .236, but it’s .274 with the Braves, .263 last year. This is his age 35 season coming up, but for a backup catcher that isn’t necessarily old.

Brian, the best catcher in baseball, was finally starting to get some recognition of that status and was seemingly on his way to his best season when he suffered the ever-popular strained oblique muscle in late July. He returned after missing just a couple of weeks, but wasn’t nearly the same hitter as usual, hitting just .180/.292/.346 after his return. A lot of that looks, statistically, like bad luck, but observation indicates that he really was messed up, though whether it was lingering injury or mechanics — or both — is beyond my ken.

Instead, the Braves are doing this:

Pixars Brave Snarled In Trademark Battle With Atlanta Braves – CinemaBlend.com.

I’ve got another Kindle collection I’ve put together. I’ve updated a few entries (but left the rankings in place) and added a couple of new ones as bonuses.

I wish Wren would do something already! I need to complain!

Fun times. Every day is a gift — remember that.

Wren: Must be sure trades strengthen Braves | Atlanta Braves.

BBWAA.com: Official site of the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America..

Home team in italics:

Alabama 31 Miss St 7
Georgia 21 Auburn 18
South Carolina 20 Florida 10
Vandy 23 Kentucky 14
LSU 41 W Kentucky 0
Ole Miss 20 La Tech 7
Arkansas 45 Tennessee 0

Marco Scutaro Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com.

What if the Braves had traded Martin Prado before the season? I can’t recall any discussion of it, but the thought should have at least crossed their minds. What quality of prospect would he have brought? A pretty good one, I bet.

Home teams in Crimson.

Alabama 27, LSU 18
Vandy 23, Florida 20 (yeah, I said it)
Georgia 51, New Mexico St 10
Kentucky 24, Ole Miss 21
MSU 24, UT-Martin 6
Arkansas 34, USC 12
Middle Tennessee 8, Tennessee 7

Atlanta Braves trade Derek Lowe to Cleveland Indians, sources say – ESPN.

The Keltner List was developed by Bill James as a device to evaluate a player’s Hall of Fame candidacy. In The Politics of Glory James says that it is probably his favorite tool to do that. (You can read about the background in that book, or do a Google search, for further information.) I’m going to run it for Joe Torre, even though he is going to go into the Hall, as a manager, as soon as they get around to voting on him. While there are several Hall of Famers who are in as players who probably got a boost from their managing career, Torre will probably be the only man voted in as a manager who has a legitimate claim to go in as a player.

Like I would skip Tennessee week. Road teams in disgusting orange.

And I wish there was an easier way to say it. The surgeons were unable to operate on Tuesday, because scans showed the regrowth of tumors that had been removed in July. From all appearances, the remaining cancer has entered a virulent stage. It is not likely to kill me directly; instead it will decrease the effectiveness of my organs by taking away the space they need to operate. The time frame is unclear, but basically I was told that the best measure if they don’t find a treatment is months rather than years.

I am posting at this ungodly hour as part of a psychological ploy. In case you have never had surgery, the doctors make you come in ridiculously early, after which you wait for several hours in which you are denied food and drink, even water. This is to soften you up so you’ll let them do anything to you as long as they give you drugs.

I am going to go into the hospital on Monday for a minor but invasive procedure. On Tuesday, I am scheduled to have major surgery. It’s not without risk but I have some of the best doctors there are working on me, led by the surgeon who worked on me in early 2009. Hopefully, this will be the last surgery for a good long time and will clear up some issues I have had with my health that I won’t go into right now.

We need a hitting coach. Who shall it be? TP? Don Baylor? Chris Chambliss? Chipper? Chipper’s dad? Lance Parrish?