Atlanta Braves Analysis: Q&A with GiraffeNeckMarc

MLB Restart: Who’s got the upper hand with this?

Question: Will there be any advantages or disadvantages toward certain teams with this new setup?

Marc: So I think if you did this setup you would definitely have to go all DH. I don’t think you can have the pitcher hit because if you’re gonna mix the two together, you put the American League teams at such a disadvantage because they put some of their money towards signing DHs or trading for these guys, so that’s just a disadvantage right there.

So give everyone a DH. I think, for the Mets, of course this will be huge, this will be great because you could have [Yoenis] Céspedes be a DH. You could have Dom Smith. You give a lot of guys a day off. They have a deep bench this year so a DH would be super beneficial to them.

But the way that I am seeing the divisions right now… the Braves are in a weird one because they’re in the Central, but I think besides them, the Indians, and the Reds, I believe they would be the only team in the Eastern Time Zone. Everyone else would be at least an hour behind.

This would be a little weird… an hour’s not anything crazy, so that’s not the biggest thing. But I think the travel for the Braves seems like it would also be a big thing just because there is nowhere that is relatively close to them [in the Central division].

Everywhere is a good bit of travel so that’s gonna be tough for them. Honestly, out of all of the teams, I think that the Braves have the biggest disadvantage just based on travel alone.

Question: If the season were to start right now, how do you see the Braves performing?

Marc: I think the Braves are in a really good spot. I still think they’re the best team in the NL East. Even though the Nationals won the World Series last year, I still thought the Braves were the best team.

I really like what they did at the end of the season with the deadline picking up [Mark] Melancon, Shane Greene, Chris Martin coming back too… those are three legitimate bullpen arms that are gonna be a huge addition.

I really like the pickup of Cole Hamels, I think that’s just another consistent arm… people were going crazy about the price tag but it’s one year. He is a good starter. His numbers in Chicago went back to normal after pitching in Texas and not looking great. I think he is definitely more of a National League pitcher.

And, I think Marcell Ozuna is a really good pickup because they have guys that can play third base that can put out pretty good offensive numbers with Johan Camargo and I think Austin Riley is gonna have a nice little season.

So, you strengthen your outfield for the one year because, obviously, you have Pache and Waters coming up, so [those guys] are the future. You have Ozuna to be that stop-gap, and now you can get Austin Riley back onto third base which is really more of his position.

The Braves scare me, man. They’re so scary.

Will Smith’s Stuff

Question: You’ve recently been very high on Will Smith. Why do you see him as a good acquisition and why do you think he will do well?

Marc: What I love about Will Smith is [the fact that] he is a left-handed pitcher who can get righties out. Now he’s not as good against righties as he is against lefties. He’s definitely better lefty-lefty.

But the thing that sticks out to me big time is his strikeouts. He strikes out a ton of guys. The last two years, he’s had career highs in K/9, which I think is definitely a big step forward for him.

And he has cut down on the walks, too. He was normally a 4 BB/9 kind of guy and now he’s hovering right around that 2.5 range… I just love his stuff.

I think he’s one of the better left-handed relievers in the game, and I feel like people leave him out of the top ten a lot which is insane. He’s played for the Giants and the Brewers and the Royals, so he goes under the radar, but now, playing in high-leverage games for the Braves, I fully expect everyone to realize “oh, this guy’s really good.”

Question: Will you take the over or under on 97 wins (their win total last year in the regular season) for the Braves in a 162-game season?

Marc: Ooo… that’s a really good number. 97… I think… gosh. Over-under. I’m gonna say under, but not a big under. I’m gonna say it will be 95-98 [wins]. So I will take the under just because there’s more numbers under than over for that range.

But 97 is probably right where I would peg them. I don’t think anyone in the East is gonna win 100.

Question: Who do you see being the starting third baseman for the Braves by the end of the season, should they not acquire someone before the trade deadline? Johan Camargo or Austin Riley?

Marc: I like Austin Riley more just because he is a little younger… that power he has, it’s pretty raw.

And I think, while he’s probably not a great defensive third baseman, I think that’s something that you could learn to just be good enough, and if he hits how they expect him to hit, that’s another bat in that lineup that just makes it so deep and so dangerous…

You would have Acuña, Albies, Freeman, you now throw Austin Riley into the mix… that’s a deep lineup right there.

Atlanta Braves: Christian Pache and Drew Waters

Question: You discussed Pache and Waters earlier… How likely do you think it is that these guys will be called up this year?

Marc: I think you’re definitely going to see both of them at some point, obviously, if baseball is played. I don’t necessarily think you’ll see them both up at the same time, that’s probably not going to happen…

They’re good enough to play at the Major League level, so it really come down to health and what’s going on with the season. But it is safe to say that one of the outfielders will probably hit the IL, even for a little 10-game stint.

I think [Pache or Waters] will probably be the guy to be called up. I don’t necessarily know what the Braves’ depth is outfield-wise with veterans…

I know they still have Markakis, but I think you would probably want to run one of the young guys out there, even if it’s just for a little breath of fresh air.

Question: Now we are gonna turn a little bit towards the Mets. How do you like their chances if they were to play in this new Eastern division with teams like Boston, Tampa Bay, Washington, and New York?

Marc: I think with the new divisions, it is definitely going to be tougher [for the Mets]. The NL East, normally, would have four competitive teams, because no one is considering the Marlins, and the Phillies are the fourth-place team in my mind.

But in this new division setup, the Yankees are one of the best teams in baseball. The Nationals are defending World Series champions. They got worse, but they’re still a very good team.

Tampa Bay – super underrated, super under-the-radar. I don’t want to have play them if I don’t want to just because they’re going to out-coach you, they’re going to out-manage you, they’re going to out-play you – that’s just how the Rays roll.

And even then, the Marlins are improved, the Blue Jays are improved… the Red Sox are still… they got worse, but that’s not a team that you’re going to just roll over.

So I think it’s going to be harder to play in that division than it would be to normally play in the NL East, and losing Syndergaard [to Tommy John’s surgery] is just an absolute killer.

MLB Restart: Who’s hot and who’s not

Question: You talked about some possible breakout teams earlier. Who is your one TRUE breakout team this year that you are confident will be better than they were last year and outperform expectations?

Marc: I’m gonna go between that Diamondbacks and the White Sox. The biggest thing that is going to hold back Arizona is “how good are the Dodgers going to be?”

I think the Diamondbacks are one of the better teams in the National League, but the fact that they’re gonna have to play the Dodgers so often is definitely gonna hurt them because I just don’t think they have a good matchup against the Dodgers.

I think the White Sox are a bit of a safer pick because they weren’t great last year, and they did make a ton of improvements to their team, so I think they’re probably the “Safe Pick,” but my hot pick would be the Diamondbacks.

Question: Who is your underachieving team for this year?

Marc: I’m gonna go to the conventional NL Central, and I’ve got two picks – it’s gonna be the Cubs and the Cardinals.

Now, I don’t think that their record will necessarily be that bad, just because I think the Brewers are not very good, and I think the Pirates are pretty horrible…

But my saying always goes: “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” And I just don’t see improvements in the Cubs’ or Cardinals’ rosters going into this season where I go “that’s a better team than they had last year.”

And, especially with the Cardinals, Jack Flaherty is great… are you gonna get another Cy Young performance out of him again, cause he kinda carried their pitching staff the second half [of last season], and really took them to the next level. I’m just not confident with their pitching.

And the Cubs… they have the players, and there’s a very, very good chance that they’re gonna come out and play great again. Kris Bryant is a great player, [Javier] Báez, [Anthony Rizzo], [Wilson] Contreras, all those guys.

But their pitching, again, scares the hell outta me. Especially their bullpen – just not a lot of quality arms there, lot of aging guys. They have that young core, which is not really young anymore… I think David Ross is going to be really important to the team.

Like more so than most managers just because I think they were starting to lose faith in Joe Madden’s system a little bit. So I’m interested to see if David Ross comes in and is able to get them back to playing where they should be, or if it’s almost like the Mickey Calloway or Gabe Kapler Effect where [Ross] is just not ready to be that guy yet.

Question: What is your favorite Mets vs. Braves memory of all time?

Marc: Ooo, favorite memory… man, a lot of my Mets vs. Braves memories aren’t good ones.

The first ten years of my life, the Braves won the division every single year, so I just constantly remember Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Andrés Galarraga is always a name that I’ll never forget, even though he’s not really a Brave, I will always remember him as a Brave.

Those guys were, like, nightmare fuel for me. And I will never forget the Luis Ayala, pitcher for the Mets, the “Balk-Off,” where he balks in the winning run… there’s not a lot of great memories with the Mets, so it makes sense for me that my favorite memory would be one that’s not a good one.

Question: Who is your favorite Braves player of all time?

Marc: All-time is Andrés Galarraga.

I appreciate Chipper Jones and I respect him as a player. That’s a guy that you love to hate, almost because it’s like, “man, he’s so good, but also, he’s the reason why the Mets weren’t successful for so long.”

I mean, he owned the Mets so much that he named his kid “Shea” after Shea Stadium. That’s awesome. And I think, in his last game against the Mets, the Mets fans cheered for him, that that’s a respectful kind of thing.

But Andrés Galarraga is definitely my all-time guy, just because I think I described him [in one of my previous videos] as being Bowser, almost. He was like this big, old dude who would just crush home runs.

And he had a great name, Galarraga. Everything about him intimidated me and when he would step up to the plate, I was like “alright, he’s hitting a home run, that’s it.

He’s just that good.” For right now [currently], I gotta go Ronald [Acuña]. The dude is just an electric factor. He’s so much fun to watch. I love the bat flips.

I know some fans don’t like that he watched a couple of balls and didn’t run them out and stuff, but you look at his numbers and think, “he can do whatever he wants.” Dude’s an MVP candidate for the next ten years. Let him play.

Go and follow Mark Luino on YouTube here and on Twitter @GiraffeNeckMarc.