The 2011 Atlanta Braves season went pretty well for five months, as they were the consensus second best team in the National League, behind only their division rivals in Philadelphia. And then, the calendar turned to September. The team had an eight and a half game lead on the Cardinals in the wild card race on September first. The Braves would then proceed to go 8-18 over the season’s final month, and would be eliminated from the playoff race on the season’s final day. For fans of the team, such as myself, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
WHAT WENT RIGHT
Honestly, there really wasn’t a ton that went right for the team offensively. Dan Uggla, expected to be the big bat in the heart of the team’s lineup, had a horrendous first half of the season before turning it on in the second half and finishing with a career high 36 homers, but only a .764 OPS. Brian McCann had a season that was the inverse of Uggla’s, as he was hot for the season’s first three months until landing on the DL with an oblique strain. Upon returning, he was barely worth anything offensively. Few expected Chipper Jones to be able to bounce back after tearing his ACL in the summer of 2010, but he had a solid year, with an .814 OPS that actually nearly led the team. Rookie Freddie Freeman had an impressive rookie year, and mid-season acquistion Michael Bourn was the center fielder and leadoff hitter that the team desparately desired. Before tiring late in the season, the back-end of the bullpen was fantastic, as Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty all had ERAs under 2.00 for a good majority of the year, with O’Flaherty actually finishing at 0.98. Brandon Beachy had a solid first full season in the majors, striking out a batter per inning as a starter, and old man Tim Hudson continued to produce with a 3.22 ERA.
WHAT WENT WRONG
Oh, where to begin. I’ve already mentioned the half seasons of offensive impotence by McCann and Uggla. Jason Heyward didn’t have a great sophomore year at all, struggling under the tutelage of Larry Parrish and dealing with a shoulder injury all season. He finished with just a .708 OPS. Over in left field, Martin Prado’s season ended up as a disaster after a battle with a staph infection, finishing with a .687 OPS while eating at bats in the two hole of the lineup for a majority of the season. Alex Gonzalez was unplayable at short going based solely on his bat, but played great defense to continue to earn playing time. On the mound, Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrens each missed ten starts and finished the year on the DL. Derek Lowe, in the third year of a four year, $60 miillion deal, was an absolute mess on the mound and didn’t look like an eight figure pitcher. The team wasted nearly 85 innings on Scott Linebrink and Scott Proctor in the bullpen, both of whom had results ranging from “average” to “horrendous”.
SURPRISES
No one really knew what to expect out of Beachy in his first full season in the majors, after a breakout campaign in the minors in 2010 that featured him splitting the year between starting and relieving. Beachy struck out 169 in 141 2/3 innings, and was a solid cog in the team’s rotation for a good bit of the year, though he did miss a few starts with an oblique strain. Another player no one knew what to expect from was closer Craig Kimbrel, who was handed the ninth inning job after the retirement of Billy Wagner in the offseason. Kimbrel wasn’t just a domiant closer, he was THE dominant closer, posting eye-popping numbers that solidified him as the best reliever in the game for 2011. He struck out 127 in 77 innings, and saved a rookie record 46 games. I’m not sure if you can call Freeman’s 2011 a surprise, as he was a highly touted prospect coming into the year, but his .794 OPS showed some impressive power that some didn’t think he could possess in the majors. He’d end up homering 21 times in 2011, after having a career high of 18 over his entire career in the minors.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
Heyward was the big one here. Many expected him to possibly contend for the National League MVP award. Instead, he looked like just another overhyped prospect, but a lot of that was due to his .260 BABIP, 75 points lower than his 2010 mark. Prado was another huge disappointment, because all the spark he provided in 2010 vanished. He didn’t walk, and hit for minimal power, looking like a bench bat at the end of the day. Hanson’s season was also a huge disappointment. He looked like a possible low-end Cy Young candidate after his first half of the year, striking out more than a batter per inning and keeping the ball in the park, but that fell apart in the second half, and he only threw 130 innings, dealing with shoulder problems for a majority of the second half.
2012 CHANGES
The Braves do not want Lowe in their starting rotation for the 2012 season, no matter how much he’s making. The rotation looks set with Hudson, Hanson, Jurrjens, Beachy and Mike Minor, but if Hanson’s shoulder injury is serious, a spot could open up for one of the Braves young arms. Julio Teheran is the highly touted, more talented prospect, but Randall Delgado is the one who got the starts down the stretch (despite just 18 strikeouts in 35 innings). Another possible battle lies in the outfield, with Prado and Heyward seemingly on the hot seat after their poor campaigns in 2012. It would be ludicrous to not start Heyward every day, but nothing would surprise me with this team. Shortstop is another question, as Gonzalez is a free agent this offseason, and the team may not be willing to give the job to Tyler Pastornicky, who has minimal playing time at AAA.
POSITION BATTLES
The corner outfield spots are up in the air, but there really isn’t an internal option for either slot. The team would need to look outside of the system for a free agent, which seems like a pretty big patch for a hole that may not be huge. The battle for a rotation spot between Teheran and Delgado could be interesting, with Teheran having a dominant AAA season and Delgado scuffling along for most of the year in the minors and majors.
