Quote:
Originally Posted by Jordan
The offense under-performed part of the year? Everyone knew it'd be a streaky offense. But they're second in the league in runs and OPS. I say they're doing fine.
As far as not having a shutdown starter, I disagree. Mike Minor has been fantastic. He may not be in the Kershaw, Felix, Harvey tier of dominance, but he's in that next group. He's our #1 come playoff time. 2.76 era, 1.04 WHIP, 8.2k/9. He's an ace at this point, and has been since the middle of last year (though that was overshadowed by Medlen). And Tehran might even be better. If you take away his first couple of starts this year, he was a 2.38 era with a 1.09 WHIP. Then, you need to figure out the next two. Medlen, Beachy, and Maholm are all capable of being very good, and even dominant at times. Hopefully they find it in the next two months. And Wood has been pretty good the last two times out.
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I'm not denying that the Braves haven't been playing well offensively, but they have still been underperforming (in my opinion) until recently. Actually, its basically gone as Justin Upton has gone, for the most part. Uggla and BJ are huge holes in the lineup (even with Uggla's HRs and walks, which are the only things that make him passable), and Simmons wasn't doing amazingly well offensively until recently. Even Gattis' power has disappeared. But having Heyward and Justin playing well means the Braves are scary. If Heyward can stay healthy for more than a week, that is.
Minor has been great, but I say the Braves lose on paper to a ton of other playoff teams if he's the best we can put up in Game 1. And I'm not putting any stock in Teheran in the playoffs, considering how untested he is.