The shock is wearing off, and reality setting in.
Gone is Prado with his hustle. It is a little easier to
swallow when you realize that J Upton is younger, and matched Prado’s best numbers
in his worst season (2010 with Arizona - .273, OB .356, HR 17, RBI 69). Plus
Martin was demanding more than Wren deemed fair for his game.
He is apparently as gritty a negotiator as he is a ball
player. The parties were only a few hundred thousand dollars apart in an
attempt to avoid arbitration and, much like a twelve pitch at bat, Prado would
not relent. So Wren walked him.
Prado was the ONLY major leaguer I have ever seen that
routinely ran from second or short to back up the catcher’s throw back to the
mound. That style of play will be missed.Enough of the whining, but I will make a few more points.
1 – This better work out better than that Uggla deal.
2 – Win the NL East, and all will be forgiven. Short of
that, we’ll talk in August.
So once the sting is gone and you scan the possible lineup,
it is easy to get excited. Here is my prediction for opening day in Atlanta followed
by their 2012 totals:
SS - Simmons - .289, OBP - .335, SB – 1. Played 49 games in
the bigs, and that OBP will need to go up.
LF - J. Upton - .280, OBP - .355, SB – 18, HR – 17, RBI –
67, SO – 121
RF – Heyward - .269, OBP- .335, SB – 41, HR – 27, RBI – 82,
SO – 152. You think he'll see better pitches notched between these two?
CF - B. Upton - .246, OBP - .298, SB - 31, HR – 28, RBI –
78, SO – 169 – Keep swinging, you might hit something.
1B – Freeman - .259, OBP - .340, HR – 23, RBI – 94 – No threat
to steal, so get some runners on in front of him and let the kid do his work.
2B – Uggla - .220, OBP - .348, HR – 19, RBI – 78, SO – 168. ($13-mill
for that?) Maybe he’ll return to his 2010 form - .287, HR – 31, RBI – 105.3B – Johnson - .281, OBP - .326, HR – 15, RBI – 76.
C – Bethancourt - .243, OBP - .275, HR – 2, RBI – 26 in AA.
While we run the bases he’ll shut the opponents down until Big Mac is back.
P – Medlen - .208 – Take your three pitches and sit down. We’ve
got enough fire power to get you the lead.
In the 2 to 7 spots there were 129 dingers in 2012. With
this much power strung out on the card, those numbers will certainly go up.
Plus 2, 3 and 4 swiped 90 bags last year. Run Forrest run!
