JULY 29: Both d’Arnaud and Flowers are active and will be in uniform tonight. They’ll be joined by recently claimed outfielder Scott Schebler. To make active roster space, the Braves optioned backstops Alex Jackson and William Contreras along with righty Chad Sobotka.
JULY 28: The Braves have opened the season without first- and second-string catchers Travis d’Arnaud and Tyler Flowers, but it doesn’t seem as if either will be on the shelf for much longer. Manager Brian Snitker indicated Tuesday that the team could activate at least one of them before its game against the Rays on Wednesday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com writes.
Both d’Arnaud and Flowers have been shelved in the early stages of this season after exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, though neither player has tested positive for the illness. Their absences have left the Braves with Alex Jackson and William Contreras behind the plate.
D’Arnaud was a key offseason pickup for the Braves, who signed him to a two-year, $16MM contract after he enjoyed one of his best seasons as a member of the Rays in 2019. The 31-year-old, once a premium prospect, saw injuries weigh him down all too often as a Met during his first several seasons in the league.
Flowers, 34, has been a reliable producer for the Braves dating back to 2016, having hit .254/.350/.412 (104 wRC+) across 1,301 plate appearances in their uniform. He is also known as one of the game’s premier pitch-framing backstops.
Man, this team is continuing to prove me right every day.
No starting pitching.
Overrated fake stars.
Celebrate division titles. Minimalists at their finest.
You must be a hoot at the office water cooler.
NoBumgarnerequalsnoNLCS is that you? =D
Every team on MLBTR has a few of these guys.
I think their rotation problems already proves Bumgarner would have been a decent addition.
But I already give up on Bum. He is gone.
For now, I’ll gloat every time Acuna proves he is overrated.
He is still a 200Kpseudostar but likely a 100K+ in a short season. Lucky him!
Really? So all it takes for you is the first 19 AB’s of a season where nobody got the chance to prepare? You don’t want to give it just a little more time than that? How much you want to bet I will find plenty of players who are struggling after such a short sample size but otherwise are outstandingly productive?
If not than I can see why you are letting go of the Bumgarner issue because his start sucked hard too. I guess you think he is overrated right?
Cmon I’ve been anti-Acuna since last year. He has shown nothing to prove he is any better this year 19 at-bats or not. The home runs will come. The strikeouts will come with it. He is not a star. Period.
But at this point maybe its time for some of you to realize that this team is just not good. They did nothing in the offseason to fix their problems. The results show it.
But nevermind because I know the only argument you have is its early. Well, my argument is the results on the field prove they are not good. They were embarrassed in the postseason again. They fixed nothing. Thats the only proof you need.
Man, rooting for 22-year old kid to fail. You follow Braves chatter to either be a fan or a major troll, but either way, you’re a special kind of lowlife. Good luck to anyone that has to share anything with you.
Where did you get the idea I’m rooting for him to fail? Just because I have no reason to be optimistic over somebody who strikeouts so much doesn’t mean I don’t want him to succeed or improve. But again, when you have no argument, that’s the response you get.
Three guys on the team (nonrelief) have star talent.
Soroka
Freeman
Albies
That is it.
Acuña hit 41 homers and stole 37 bases last year, which only 4 other people have ever done in the history of the game…and it was his first full season at age 22. He’s literally one of the faces of MLB as a young superstar. I think it’s pretty clear why you don’t like him – the same reason you love Bumgarner, the current MLB enforcer of playing the game the “right way.” Disgusting.
I don’t like him because he strikes out too much. I’m not sold yet.
I don’t think I can be any more clear nor less ambiguous. He strikes out too much. Way too much. He is pitchable. Pitchers will learn to stop throwing fastballs down the middle. You will see. Actually, we saw it last year. We are seeing it again this year.
I dont care about his average or homeruns. I can’t call someone a top player in the game when they strikeout 200 times a season or have potential to do so.
But I do want to make it clear, Acuna is not their problem.
Their rotation is. That’s what they get for going after Hamels and Felix H.
Faulty is now gone and you were the same people who kept trying to convince me he will be good. Well, it took the Braves 2 extra years to realize he sucks.
You don’t like him because he strikes out too much….awesome rationale.
There’s this player, Mike Trout, that struck out 184 times (led the league) in 705 plate appearances in his age 22 season while adding 36 home runs. He’s probably tough to like too.
Amazing that in his age 21 season Acuna struck out 188 times in 715 plate appearances. He hit 41 home runs.
Enjoy your 19 at bat run of Acuna’s now…..you’ve been waiting for this “slump” for a while and now you can flex your nice capitalized name with pride for four days.
Yeah, we definitely saw that last year when he was finishing 5th in the MVP vote and flirting with history…again, in his first full season at age 22. BTW, you lose a lot of credibility – or I guess you would, if you had any to begin with – when you say things like “I don’t care about his average or home runs”. You know Mike Trout had a season with 184 strike outs, exactly 4 less than Acuña last year. Is he “not a star” in your mind too?
Sorry, mistyped – he’s 22 now, he was 21 last year, as Mike mentioned above.
Trout struck out 184 in his third or fourth season. Before that, he struck out far less. Acuna struck out 188 times in his first full year. He is already striking out in bunches now.
I promise you I have no doubt he will continue this trend. PROMISE YOU! I have no doubt about it. I will enjoy the nice capitalized name with pride for the remainder of the season.
And please stop comparing him to Trout. It is laughable!
Guy who hates Acuna, how do you feel about Pete Alonso?
“Where did you get the idea I’m rooting for him to fail?”
“For now, I’ll gloat every time Acuna proves he is overrated. ”
Troll.
A power hitter who does what they expect him to do.
Nobody is labeling him as the next big star in the Mike Trout realm tho.
It takes a really specific type of person to be this proud about being about trashing a 22 year old kid, particularly when you are clearly, objectively, laughably wrong. But again, you’ve made no secret here of exactly the kind of person you are.
And with that response you are officially a troll who doesn’t warrant a response from anyone anymore.
Trust me I couldn’t care less.
Results on the field prove me right. I don’t need skewed opinions from sheep people who listen to everything the “experts” on MLB network say.
Besides people been disagreeing with what I say and I’m still right. So, have your opinion.
By the way, I didn’t compare Acuna to Trout…..I compared Trout to Acuna. You are talking about Acuna so I found the most comparable season at the most comparable age to that “strikeout machine” Acuna.
When the search completed….the player that came up was……..Mike Trout. Imagine that.
That is a nice hopeful, but delusional view of Acuna’s potential. But I’ve heard the same before.
We will see how his career goes.
Acuna struck out 28 more times than what the average MLB hitter would’ve done with the same amount of at bat’s as Acuna in 2019.
Every single team in the majors would take 28 more strikeouts than the average hitter to get 41 hrs, 37 sbs, an 883 ops, 101 rbis, and 127 runs.
Don’t act like he’s striking out at a record setting pace, he’s 0.05 k/at bat above league average. And no, a four game sample size doesn’t mean anything.
No Trout wasn’t man enough to play but Acura was!
First off my up vote for you was a total accident so don’t let that go to your head. Was meant for the reply under yours. Second the whole team is striking out at record levels right now.
You should find a Major League team that needs a GM and apply. You seem to know the game better than every GM out there that say he is a top tier player.
Yelich is 1-22 (9 K), Freeman is 2-14 (5 K) — and these are some of the best hitters in MLB. Acuña is not alone in trying to adjust to many weird variables.
Acura’s WAR in his rookie season was 4.8, which is better than Jackie Robinson’s rookie season. Last year, his WAR was 5.7, good enough for 9th place among NL position players, better than Josh Donaldson, Pete Alonso, Kris Bryant, Jeff McNeil, and many, many others.
Doesn’t sound overrated to me.
Not listening to experts is a brilliant strategy in life.
How does one even go about getting the title of an expert to join the network team?
Pass a baseball history test?
You people watch MLB Network and don’t laugh at all the predictable cliches they say?
The results on the field? You mean the .285/.365/.532 line, 67 home runs, 130 OPS+, 133 wRC+, 53 stolen bases 9.9 bWAR and 9.3 fWAR the last two years? Is that Mike Trout numbers? No, but that’s easily top 15 league level production. Sure he strikes out a lot, but so did Reggie Jackson, Jim Thome, Dave Kingman, Jose Canseco, Sammy Sosa and Jay Buhner, and so does Mike Trout. Striking out a lot=/=bad player. He walks at a decent enough rate too offset it as well. I’ll easily take a 5-tool player who strikes out a bit if it means I get elite-level base running, fielding, a cannon of an arm, 30+ long balls a year, and a .280+ average.
Can they pitch?
So you think Acuna hasn’t done anything better than his first 19 AB’s? I don’t really have to post is OPS and stolen bases from last year, do I? I don’t have to say anything about THAT being early. So no, my argument isn’t that. Would you like to prove he isn’t all that good with actual stats? Oh right..your argument is fictional outside of those 19 AB’s.
As for the total team, well, ya, I guess I’m not ready to say they stink based on 5 games because their history of production is on my side, not yours.
If you pointed to every prospect and said they would be terrible, you would be right most of the time. I spoke of giving Faulty time but then the only way you can make your point is to say we were all just certain he was going to be Roger Clemens reborn.
I would be very interested in you actually using stats to prove your point though. That’s kind of ironic, however, as stats didn’t effect your opinion of Bumgarner at all. So which stats are you pointing to? Or are you just going to use this year so far? If the Braves had started 5-0 would you just wait until they were on a skid?
That is not the point. Their record has nothing to do with anything. 0-5 or 5-0, their rotation is bad. I’m looking beyond the 60 games. They have nothing other than Soroka to go far in the postseason.
Acuna is overrated? Trade you Acuna for Rowdy Tellez, Billy McKinney and Brandon Drury!
Philly will give you VV and Pivetta for him. take it or leave it.
Glad these guys are back!!
Wish Flowers wouldn’t come back and Contreras stayed up there
Yeah I like Contreras a lot. He’s definitely major league defensively ready. Good bat also.
Best wishes to all of these guys who are contending with extremely difficult situations.
I had really mixed feelings when they brought on d’Arnuad and that hasn’t changed. The idea of actually counting on him to stay healthy is terrifying, especially if it means Flowers becomes the regular in his place. At the end of his contract are we going to have Mets fans asking why the Braves FO didn’t learn from them when they had all those years waiting for d’Arnuad to have a break out year?
I’m not a talent evaluator for the Braves so I have to trust that they saw and know something I don’t. I just don’t come by faith easily.
I agree, but the good news is it looks like we’ve found out Contreras is ready if d’Arnaud does get injured. Catcher is an extremely thin position at the higher levels, so most teams have someone with some warts as their primary backstop. Just hoping d’Arnaud/Contreras with some Flowers sprinkled in can hold us over the next couple years until Langeliers is ready.
dArnoud is at least decent defensively. Flowers tries to frame every pitch and ends up dropping fastballs right down the middle. Plus he has like the slowest arm in the game for throwing out baserunners
Flowers looked really slow and lazy behind the plate last season.
I am not really concerned what the Braves do in this 60 game shootout, with Hernandez choosing not to play, and Hamels hurt, I can’t see any post season hopes ahead. Freddie is probably still recovering from his severe illness. A 60 game season is definitely not a true test of anything. Whilst i’ll watch it still doesn’t have the authenticity of 162 games.
***’World Series Champions’.
Understand what you’re saying, but unless you have another Marlins-size outbreak, any team winning this should be commended for their persistence. With the expanded roster sizes and almost daily transactions, the front offices are more involved than ever trying to field a team. In that respect, franchises with depth at the upper levels should be most set-up, but ATL is one of those, and even their holes are starting to show already. Who would have thought for a team that’s been drafting/developing pitching as a priority for years is still starving for it – while having too many OFs. Almost comical. And no, adding a mediocre $85M SP wouldn’t help all that much.
Safely quarantined, just in case. Well done.