ATL Sports: Braves now have both Upton brothers

[AUTiger7222]

(01-28-2013 02:53 AM)Beef Wrote:  Our 2-8 batters are all capable of hitting 20+ homeruns. Even the platoon at third base.

That's never happened before and we have a very solid shot at it. I'll take 7 guys with 250 BA's, 20-25 homeruns, 350 OBP's, and 65-85 RBI's all day long and twice on Sunday.

Uggla won't see shit for pitches batting 8th and he still will probably hit 20 homeruns. The Francisco & Johnson platoon would have put up 24 homers last year. And we know McCann, BJ Upton, Freeman, and Heyward are all good for 20-25. Justin can certainly do it too. That kid looks damn good and isn't even close to being in his prime. Each one of these guys can put up 60+ RBI's as well. Several should get close to 100 even.

If our pitching staff can stay healthy and keep around a 3.0 ERA team average (last year we had 3.42 team average), this is going to be a crazy awesome year.

I completely agree. Also we have a chance to have 4 guys (Uptons, Heyward and Simmons all with 20 steals this season).

(01-28-2013 11:54 AM)USAF HART Wrote:  Or you could watch it on a stream site for free lol.

I think Uggs will be batting 7th with the platoon at 3rd hitting in the 8 hole.

1. Simmons, SS
2. BJ Upton, CF
3. Justin Upton, LF
4. Heyward, RF
5. Freeman, 1B
6. McCann, C
7. Uggla, 2B
8. Road Runner/Johnson 3B
9. Pitcher

We're going to do the lefty, righty thing.

(01-28-2013 12:09 PM)keithbrooking56 Wrote:  I'm glad we have both Upton brothers. Our outfield loses some steals but makes up for it in power. I hope we can keep McCann past this year, he's my favorite non Chipper Brave once Smoltzie retired.

I wouldn't say we lost steals. Prado had a career high 17 stolen bases last season. He only had 13 career stolen bases going into last season. I don't expect a huge change in that. Bourn had 42 stolen bases last season. So Prado and Bourn combined for 59 stolen bases last season. B.J. Upton had 31 stolen bases last season and has 5 straight years of 30 or more steals with 3 seasons with over 40. Justin Upton had 18 stolen bases last season. So the Uptons combined for 49 stolen bases last season. So 10 less than Prado and Bourn. Not enough to change the complexity of the team. Also Simmons will have 20 stolen bases.

(01-28-2013 12:56 PM)Beef Wrote:  Doing your lineup would mean we lose the righty-lefty-righty-lefty situation and I don't see that happening. I heard Wren on 790 yesterday specifically say we can finally do a R-L-R-L throughout the lineup all the way to 8th batter and that this was a big deal for them.

Yep. That's why I really believe this will be the lineup.

1. Andrelton Simmons - SS ®
2. Jason Heyward - RF (L)
3. Justin Upton - LF ®
4. Freddie Freeman - 1B (L)
5. B.J. Upton - CF ®
6. Brian McCann - C (L)
7. Dan Uggla - 2B ®
8. Juan Francisco - 3B (L)

And it's been proven that the guy batting 2nd actually comes up with more RBI chances than the guy batting 3rd. I remember being shown this article a come years ago talking about how 2nd and 4th are the 2 most rbi chances spots in the lineup.