Andruw Jones for MVP?

There has been a lot of clamoring about Andruw for MVP lately, and with due reason. Andy's season has been spectacular. He had the breakout season that everyone was projecting for this year (and many years in the past for that matter). He is producing at right about the level that was expected of him in the minors. He is playing above average defense (although I don't know if its still as top notch as a couple years ago) with an average that fits right in with his minor league numbers (although i do think he can hit for higher average) and exceptional power and RBI numbers. He has become a true force in the middle of the order and maybe the top power hitter in all of baseball. But is he the MVP. He's got a good case, but Pujols has had another spectacular year. He is almost a shoe in every year for .330/40/120 and he is going to pull that again this year. The only problem against Andruw really is his low BA at .274 he is significantly lower than the other three candidates (Pujols - .338, Lee .345, Cabrera - .333) who all incidentally rank 1-2-3 in the league. If Andruw Jones eventually leads the league in RBI and Homers with, say, a 53/140 line does that make him a sure fire MVP? Not really. Because he will lead two of the triple crown categories (which are important, no matter what some people say) but will be outdone by the other three in all other categories save maybe Slugging. And that is gonna be close because of Andruws odd lack of Doubles. (Although A-Rod doesn't hit many double either). What could win Andruw is his close and late numbers. His poor avg w/RISP has been documented @ .222 for the season. But his close and late numbers are .295 with 9 HR and 17 RBI. He also has something like 19-20 game winning RBI, which can be misleading since if he hits a solo homer in the first and that is the only run of the game that is considered a GW RBI. But he has been clutch, which is decidedly anti-Andruw from most other years. I know how valuable he has been to the Braves this year in the absence of Chipper and any other real threat in the line-up, but not being a Cardinals, Cubs, or Marlins fan i can't tell you how valuable the other guys have been to the other teams. I know the Cards have been depleted this year but they have a huge lead in their division. Cabrera has been amazing at 22 years old but his team has floundered. Lee, has a good shot still but the Cubs are out of it. I think Andruw will probably win the award in the end because of some huge moments he had, almost like the Heisman moments they always say a Heisman winner should have. But Pujols probably deserves it for a more consistent and overall body of work. I don't think this will be either one of their last chances though.

Final Standings

Well the minor league seasons have all come to an end save for the playoffs but unfortunately Braves fans in all cities don't have to worry about that now.

Richmond 56-88

The R-Braves finished the season with the worst record in the league. Throughout the season they had Andy Marte, Scott Thorman, Anthony Lerew, Kyle Davies, Brayan Pena, Carlos Duran, James Jurries, Chuck James, Joey Devine and Josh Burrus. If that had been the team all year they may have had the best record in the league, but with the big club relying so heavily on the minors this year only Jurries spent the entire year at the AAA level. It will interesting to see which of these returns here next year. (Crosses fingers against Marte).

Mississippi 36-34 (First Half) 28-34 (Second Half)

The M-Braves had to cancel the last 2 weeks of the season in their first year in Pearl in the wake of the Katrina aftermath. This team was hit hard by promotions also seeing the entire middle of the order (Francoeur, McCann, Thorman) get the call up and also seeing some of the better pitchers get promoted out (Lerew, Boyer, James). Some good things came from this club though. Martin Prado established himself as one of the better hitting 2B in the minors and maybe a future incumbent of Marcus Giles. Luis Hernandez started slow and was streaky for the rest of the year but wasn't completely horrible as a hitter in AA and actually did well when put in the #2 hole. Brian O'Connor was also among the league leaders in ERA for most of the year. Carlos Duran was hurt again this year but spent most of it here not doing too poorly.

Myrtle Beach 33-37 (First Half) 28-42 (Second Half)

The Beach had several of the players with the best all around seasons in its confines at one point or another this season. Chuck James started here dominating and left after only 8 starts. Jarrod Salty Dog (not typing that name if i don't have to) was the best catcher in the minors in the worst hitters park hitting .314/.394/.519 on the season with 19 bombs and 81 RBIs and rave reviews on his improved defense. Now the question is does he surpass McCann in a couple years or does someone switch positions. Tough call for the Braves. Brandon Jones also finished here on the season and I love him. I think he is the best OF we have in the minors right now and could end up being a very solid LF. He'll push Kelly Johnson in a couple years. Also Carl Loadenthal, Steve Doetsch, and Matt Esquevil all bear watching in the outfield as they move up to a more hitter friendly eviron next season. Diory Hernandez could go big too. More on the pitchers later.

Rome Braves 39-29 (First Half) 33-36 (Second Half)

Matt Harrison emerged as the next lefty tradebait for the Braves. I don't think all the Braves lefty's serve as trade bait, I think Chuck James is the real deal, but Harrison doesn't seem all that exciting to me. James Parr Does. At 19 he posted a sub 3.5 ERA and he sports a good mid 90s fastball. We'll see. Yunel Escobar is good enough to maybe make the leap to the majors next year. They like him that much. Matt Young, i don't even know who he is, but he hit .312 with excellent plate disc. Jurich didn't do as well as I had hoped but he did take a ball to the face to start the season. JC Holt was horrible for 4 months, but was brilliant the last month to reestablish himself as a great 2B prospect. I still like him a lot.

Danville 47-20 (lost to Elizabethtown in a three game series for the Championship)

The only minor league affiliate to make the postseason and oddly enough against the Twins. Why is that Odd? The Braves and twins are the two clubs who focus the most on drafting HS players. Also both teams are opposed to MLB eliminating some of the low minors like the Appy League because it would hinder their draft philosophy. Anyways, Eric Campbell made this league his bitch. He led the league in Homers, RBI, slugging, and everything you can think of. Max Ramirez wasn't far behind leading the league in AVG as a catcher. Jon Owings (Brother of Micah from Gat Tech/Tulane fame) was an above average hitter with Ovandy suero providing speed and AVG at the top of the order. Jairo Cuevas was dominant in the rotation posting 69/55 K/IP ratio and a 1.95 ERA.

GCL Braves 24-28

I don't know much about most of these guys cause they all got drafted this year. The most notable was Elvis Andrus. He is a 16 year old SS, 16...years....old. He hit in the .350 range for much of the season and then tailed off near the end to hit .295. He didn't hit for much power, but that is to be expected of a 16 year old. He had very good plate disc, again especially considering his age. Most people considered him the best prospect in the GCL and the Braves have been raving about him since spring training. It'll be interesting to see where he goes next year.

Future Schedule

In the next couple of weeks I will be doing a prospect list of the top 30-50 braves in the system. I haven't decided quite how many yet. I also considered doing one for all organizations and maybe a minor league depth chart or all prospect team. I don't know yet. Anyways if anyone is reading this let me know what you think and if there is anything that you would like to see.

Lerew

Anthony Lerew got the promotion to the majors yesterday. Not a huge surprise here as the more prospects they call up the more insurance they have in the bullpen for the stretch run. None of them called up after Sept. 1 are eligible for the postseason though unless someone on the 25 man roster gets injured and then you can replace them in the postseason with anyone in your system. Its a dirty little trick the Angels used to win the World Series (see Frankie Rodriguez). Lerew is one of my personal favorite pitchers in the organization. A year and half ago he was good pitcher who could top out as a #3 starter in the majors. Then midseason of 2004 he got a 5 mph boost in his fastball apparently due to mechanical changes and he lost a little control. If you had been following him based purely on his stats you would have seen him dominate the first half of the season with an ERA in the 2s somewhere and then start to lose it in the second half. Strange indeed. But he came back this year, learning to harness his newfound velocity that puts him up in the 97 mph range This year at Mississippi he wass 6-2, 3.93 in 75 inn with 64/32 K/bb and at Richmond he was 4-4 3.48, 73 inn. and 53/29. His walk rates are high but they will decrease as he learns his velocity better and his K rates will get better with his better control and improved off speed stuff. He made his pro debut today with .2 inn and a K. He now has slight potential as a #1 if he figures stuff out a little more. Delmon Young said he was the best of the three between him, Davies, and James. We'll see.

September Call Ups

Well nothing too exciting to report on this front. Kyle Davies, Jim Brower, Brayan Pena, Brian Jordan (off the DL), and Andy Marte the only real surprise call up. The Braves were apparently fulfilling their promise to Brower about bringing him back. Never promise anything to a bad pitcher. He proved them dumb tonight by giving up the game tying runs and blowing a big lead. Kyle Davies however looked great out of the pen for the Big Club. He pitched three scoreless innings but still had a pitch count around 50. Once he gets his pitch counts down he will be an effective no. 2 starter i think. Marte got the call presumably because A. they already got his major league clock ticking by calling him up earlier this season and figured why not let him keep hitting in the pros and B. as insurance for Chipper down the stretch. Marte will be real good, just needs to get that first major league homer. Joey Devine didn't get called back up. He got rocked last night in Richmond which continues a trend for him since his last couple of outings at AA up to the majors and now at richmond. Maybe he is tired. I think he'll be back with the big club before the season is out.