The Braves have gone without their top outfielder, Ronald Acuna Jr., since he suffered a left wrist injury Aug. 11. Ten days later, it doesn’t appear a return is imminent, David O’Brien of The Athletic relays. While Acuna has progressed, manager Brian Snitker said he still hasn’t swung a bat yet (via O’Brien). The hope is that Acuna will resume that activity Saturday, but the Braves won’t know how much more time he’ll miss until he begins doing so.
Atlanta has been able to tread water since Acuna last played, having gone 3-3 without him. At 14-11 overall, the Braves lead the National League East by 1 1/2 games over the Marlins, but even the division’s last-place clubs (Philadelphia and Washington) are a manageable three back. That makes it all the more important for Acuna to heal quickly.
As the owner of a .258/.372/.515 line with four home runs in 78 plate appearances, the 22-year-old Acuna was amid yet another high-end season before he hit the shelf. And the Braves have seen a couple more notable changes to their outfield since then, as Nick Markakis went on the COVID-19 injured list Tuesday and the team promoted star prospect Cristian Pache. However, Pache hasn’t gotten a chance to debut yet because of a rainout Wednesday and an off day Thursday. He’ll make his first appearance as the Braves’ starting left fielder Friday.
Elsewhere in its lineup, Atlanta has had to make do without another of its exciting young talents, second baseman Ozzie Albies, who went to the IL on Aug. 5 with a bone contusion in his right wrist. Albies is closer to a comeback than Acuna, per O’Brien, though he’s also without a clear timetable at the moment.
Albies got off to an uncharacteristically poor start (.159/.196/.273 with one homer in 46 PA), but the 23-year-old was among the game’s best second basemen from 2017-19. Atlanta has deployed Johan Camargo and Adeiny Hechavarria at the keystone over the past couple weeks, but neither has performed well. Thanks to the struggles of Albies, Camargo and Hechavarria, Braves second basemen rank 29th in the majors in wRC+ (42) and are tied for last in fWAR (minus-0.6).
Not to mention, Gomes was a 24 year old rookie, Acuña was 20.
Troll? I think so.
My favorite arguemnt to “Well, rings” is Ralph Houk. Houk played a grand total of 91 career games, with 41 of those coming in his first big league season in 1947. He was essentially the Yankees’ 4th string catcher in the late-40’s, early-50’s. He still had two rings. Sure, nobody can take those away from him, but the point is that if you’re really going to use WS rings as a deciding factor of who’s good and who isn’t, you’re results are going to be very skewed.
Gomes is 100 times the player that Houk was and you know it. Did Houk ever hit a go ahead home run in the World Series?
I’m not saying rings don’t matter. I’m not saying go ahead home runs in the post season aren’t important either. I’m saying that one home run in a big moment doesn’t make you a clutch hitter. So is Travis Ishikawa one of the clutchest hitters of all time because of his home run to send the Giants to the WS?
Just let him have his bone for Gomes and move on..
Benny Agbayani he was clutch but would i have considered him anywhere near acuna or gomes?
Only reasonable explanation is that this guy is Johnny Gomes.
or his mom
Or Mrs. Gomes.
If you were GM in Atlanta, would you be interested in 2B Schoop from Detroit? He is hitting the ball well and on a one-year contract.
Gruß,
BSHH
If you were GM in Atlanta, would you be interested in 2B Schoop from Detroit? He is hitting the ball well and on a one-year contract.
Gruß,
BSHH
Atlanta is struggling at 2B, but I don’t think Schoop offers enough of an upgrade for them to give up anything meaningful. If Albies was out for the season maybe, but hopefully he’ll be back before too long.
Ask the Brewers how they felt after trading for Schoop. He’s too inconsistent to expect him to be an actually upgrade.
Pache & Ynoa to Cleveland for Clevinger & Naquin
Who says no ???
Braves
Two weeks ago I would have said Cleveland.
I’ve been staring at Jonny Gomes stats for like five minutes bruh!? I’m never going to be able to disassociate Jonny Gomes with this comment section.
Acuna is making a million this season and five million next season. Not sure where this “12 million less number came from” . He won’t make more than 17 million in base salary throughout his contract with Atlanta. The Braves might have one of the best contract historically for a player like Acuna.
Let’s compare the salaries of Acuna and Gomes across their first three full seasons, adjusted for inflation (05 to 18, 06 to 19, 07 to 20). Since I can’t find Gomes 2005 salary, I’ll go by the league minimum in 2005 of 316k.
Acuna:
18 545,000
19 560,000
20 1,000,000
Total: 2,105,000
Gomes:
05 316,000 (406,300)
06 355,800 (451,200)
07 407,800 (509,600)
Total: 1,079,600 (1,367,100)
So, over the first three years of their careers, Acuna has cost about 737,900 more than Gomes. Gomes had a 2.8 combined WAR between 05 and 07. Acuna has a 10.4 WAR, plus whatever else he does this season.
The Braves are paying about 202,400 per WAR for Acuna, whereas the Ray’s paid 488,200 per WAR for Gomes.
So, Acuna costs about 738k more than Gomes in their first three full seasons, but it’s obviously that Acuna is worth way more per dollar than Gomes, more than twice.
If this guy really isn’t a troll, he’s taken a horrible stance about the cost of Acuna compared to Gomes. Yes, Acuna has cost more than Gomes between their first three seasons, but the Braves have gotten so much more value per dollar than the Ray’s got from Gomes. Not to mention the difference in cost isn’t even close to what was led to believe.
Gomes didn’t win a WS until he was 32, so I guess Acuna has about ten years to match him.