"Wait 'til next year" again for the Braves | Archito's Blog

With the elimination of the Braves by Colorado last night the Braves have only next year to look forward to, again. Don't get me wrong, they had a good year but they fell short of their goal of making the playoffs. Some might say that 2010 is their last chance at making the playoffs for a long time to come because the Skipper will retire after next season. I personally don't buy into all that but we will see.

I think that the biggest thing determining their fate next season is addressing obivious short comings in their lineup.

At initial look at their lineup one might say , "What else do they want?" The lowest average of the starters is McLouth in the .250 range and then it is Chipper with his lowest in years in the .267 range. So what is the problem? One of two things; either pick up some speed or a big bat. The Braves are next to last in all of MLB in stolen bases. The Major League team average in stolen bases is currently 91 for the season. The Braves have 54. Only Fifty four stolen bases through 150+ games is ridiculous. The leading team has 190 SBs. In fact the top 13 teams in the category have over 100. That is double the chances of scoring or having a runner in scoring position.

The Braves new ball park is not the launching pad that Fulton County Stadium was and the Braves need to address ways of generating more runs. Turning singles into doubles by way of swiping bases is one way to get it done. I know the Braves have never been known for possessing speed freaks on the pads. The occasional speedster rotates thru but in the end they are left with average speed runners at best. When they traded for McLouth this year, I for one was hoping that he could get the SB column fired up. What did he do: he has 19 so far. And that leads the team. That is 19 total and 12 of those was with Pittsburgh. Matt Diaz ended up with 12 and no other Brave had double digits.

The Phillies with all their power had three guys with 20 plus steals and one with 30. All but the Central division winners , AL and NL, are in the top third of teams leading in steals. Bobby Cox has never been big on sending runners. He will let the speedsters go on their own in certain situations until of course they show their judgement does not meet their abilities. The Braves have not had anyone break the 20 SB for a season since Furcal did it in 2004.

What do the Braves need to do? Well, I think they need to feel the need for speed. Just my thougts. I welcome yours.