Who goes down?

According to AJC, MLB.com, and a host of other news sites, the Atlanta Braves are to prepare for the return of Soriano, Smoltz, and Gonzalez.

This creates a logjam. We have 3 to send down. The way the bullpen has been throwing lately, it isn't going to be an easy decision. Let's speculate.

1. Jorge Campillo came up for Soriano.

2. Jo Jo Reyes came up for Smoltz (technically, it was Chuck James, but through a series of events it Reyes ended up being the replacement).

3. Gonzo wasn't on the 25 man roster at the start of the season.

It's interesting, because Jo Jo Reyes won't go back down when Smoltz returns. You don't send down a starter when a reliever returns (of course, when a Starter goes down and returns as a reliever, everything gets out of whack. With Smoltz and Soriano in the pen, we'll have a Closer being paid Starter money, and a setup being paid closer money. Perfect).

All we can do is speculate. Here are some things to consider:

1. We know one of our LOOGYs will go. There's no way we'll have Ring, Ohman, and Gonzo. It's a shame, because I like Ohman and Ring. Even if they aren't that bad at getting righties out, Bobby is too old school to go with three southpaws in the pen.

2. Even though Campillo was originally up to replace Soriano, I doubt Bobby sends him down. He's done a decent job. He was magnificent in his spot start, although I'm not a fan of putting him on the pedastal that many commentors on the blogs have been doing. (It was one start - 78 pitches, people). Let's determine his value after 3-4 of those. I'm not trying to downplay what he did though. It'd be foolish to ask for anything more than that from a spot starter in a situation like that. He threw 78 pitches and about 70 of them were beauties!

3. There's always the possibility that Bobby will take someone who is out of options (Chris Resop, for example) and do one of those not really hurt DL stints to keep him from having to go to waivers. He did this with Pena just over a week ago. The thing is though, if Resop were DFA'd I would be shocked if another team claimed him. I mean, if you spell his name backwards it's "Poser" which is what he is when he's throwing those 97 mph fastballs right at the barrel of the battter's bats. They don't stay on the barrell long though. Quite often the ball then goes to the outfield, if we're lucky.

4. Some have suggested that we send down one of our many backup infielders. It's not a bad suggestion, but I don't think it will happen. We won't go with 13 pitchers. We did this last year for a stretch and the lack of bench drove me crazy (and Bobby Cox, I'm sure). Just seems like a bad idea. Plus, I like our bench this year. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like this year we have a better group of reserves than we've had in quite awhile (ignoring the fact that none of them play SS adequately). I'm not necessarily a fan of have so many bench players that have the same role (backup infielders that don't play SS that have the same (in general) hitting style. Anyways...

OK, so I'm gonna take my shot at it. 3 pitchers are coming up. Three are going down. Who would I send down? Well, I'll answer the question...but just know it won't happen:

Stockman
Acosta
Resop

That's who I'd send down. I know, I know, I didn't cut any of the Loogy's. Again, this isn't what will happen. Bobby is too old school to go with three lefties in the pen. I like Ohman and Ring as the Loogy's and I'd use Mike Gonzalez to get the Lefties AND the Righties out. What, relievers can do that?

So that's who I'd send down. As for who will actually go down? My guess is:

Stockman
Ring
Acosta

Note: Buddy Carlyle made the decision pretty tough as well. Remember, he is also on the DL. If he was healthy, Bobby would probably cut Carlyle before Acosta. If it was me, As soon as he got healthy I'd just send him back down. Just thought I'd mention that he makes it kind of tough because you can't replace Carlyle's spot if he's DLed.

That's my thoughts. What about you? Who would you send down?

Ryan Perrilloux might be on campus...

I have a bad taste in my mouth regarding Ryan Perrilloux. I watched him lead LSU past the Vols in the 4th quarter of the 2007 SEC Championship game, only to watch Ainge choke in response.

Now there is a possibility of watching him beat my alma mater, Harding University this fall.

Perilloux was recently kicked off of LSU's team after failing a drug test. Says he is considering Valdosta State.

If he finishes his semester at LSU, he will keep his eligibility for next season. Coincidently, Valdosta State plays Harding University at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium this October.

There is a possibility that, for the second time in a 1 year span, I will watch Ryan Perrilloux dismantle the defense of a team I favor.

I'll be sitting in the visitors section, probably one of 10 people.

Story Here.

Stadium Rankings

This is kind of fun. SI.com has an interesting chart ranking the baseball parks using a number of different factors (affordability, food, parking, etc).

The Braves Stadium is #19 overall. We rank #11 in hospitality. Oh, and we didn't come in dead last in food rankings...so apparently some people actually like that Aramark stuff, or whatever it is.

The good news (I guess) is that there is only 1 NL East team (Phillies) ahead of us in the rankings.

It's pretty interesting. Click on the link above and play around with it.

Looking at the splits...

Say what you want about the Braves. They have been quite frustrating to watch. After another one-run loss last night, things aren't looking too good.

Side note: Are the one run losses really that bad? Think about it...we've lost 15 games, 9 of them have been by one run. I'm not a stat junkie, but is it that horrible to discover that we when we lose, we only lose by a little bit? That might not be the most intelligent way to view it, but it sure seems like this one run stuff has been blown way out of proportion. Sure, it'd be great to have had a bullpen that could hold onto some leads, or an offense that wouldn't strand so many runners, but we seem to be hanging in there and not getting blown away. Isn't that hopeful? Again, perhaps 1 run games mean more than I think they do, but a loss is still a loss.

End Side Note.

I want to reveal some splits to unmask these Braves and see if we can discover what is going on. I'm going to post some of these splits, and I'm not going to comment on them. Just look at them. Some of them are fascinating.

Batting Splits:

Home: .308/.373/.471
Away: .252/.314/.410

High Leverage Situations: .231/.292/.313
Medium Leverage Situations: .257/.329/.415
Low Leverage Situations: .322/.379/.524

NL OPS Rankings:
23rd in OPS with Runners in Scoring Position
27th in OPS in "Close and Late Situations"
Yet...3rd in OPS overall

We probably need someone in the clubhouse who is experienced in performing the Heimlich maneuver because we have a lot of chokers (oops, I said I wouldn't comment, my bad).