Infante Up, Pena to the DL
With Omar Infante ready to come of the disabled list and take over the utility infielder role, it was looking like Frank Wren would have to make a tough decision on just who to drop to make room. Pinch-hitter Brayan Pena made the decision very easy as a mid-back strain will force him onto the 15-day DL right in time for Infante to be activated, according to Dave O’Brien of the AJC.
Infante was acquired from the Cubs this off-season along with Will Ohman, however he’s been out since suffering a broken hand in winter ball. I said once the injury occurred, that by the time he was back, Martin Prado could possibly displace him as the main utility infielder, however his injury as well as some shaky defense really made that impossible. Infante can play second, third, short, and in the outfield, and will pretty much take over Prado’s duties. While he probably won’t hit at the level Prado was, the added versatility of being able to play shortstop and the outfield means that he’ll probably stay the main utility infielder as long as he hit at a reasonable level.
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18 Responses to “Infante Up, Pena to the DL”
May 8th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Could it be that Pena’s back has been bothering him for longer than we knew? Is this a reason why Pena has not caught a single pitch behind the plate so far in 2008?
I ask this question because the Braves have several roster moves coming up in May and June. Their recent acquisition of Greg Norton has made the roster a little bit more crowded. When Pena and Martin Prado come off the DL over the next 6 weeks, what happens? Although Prado has clearly proven he is a major league hitter, he still has an option remaining. So Prado could go to Richmond in a pinvh. However, Pena is out of options. Pena had some trade value as recently as March, but he hasn’t been used as a catcher so far in 2008.
The Braves have stockplied three switch-hitting pinch hitters in Norton, Gotay, and Pena. This gives Bobby a great deal of PH flexibility, but all three guys are defensive liabilities. Omar Infante plays seven defensive positions, which helps. But they are still stuck with Corky Miller in one reserve role unless Pena can catch. From the roster management point of view, the next six weeks could get interesting.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Anything’s possible, but the timing of Pena’s DL stint and the fact that we hadn’t heard anything whatsoever about the injury before this lead me to suspect that it’s a completely phantom injury. (And I assure you I’m not the only person who thinks so.)
May 8th, 2008 at 9:36 am
How bout them Bravos?2 games over 500.for the first time at 17-15,a five-game winning streak,those Padres gave a scare when they tied the game at 2 apiece,but we held em off 5-2.We have a serious world series contender in the NL East,Let’s roll BravesNation.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
It may have been a nagging injury that he just played through so far but if that was the case, with Infante comes back it would make sense to just put him on the DL and let him get better.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
What just happened to JoJo Reyes?! Can any of the Braves stay healthy?
May 8th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Reyes got a blister. But Infante, in for Johnson, just got a single this inning.
May 8th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
A come from behind, one-run win. I can’t believe it!
Great to get a win and everything. But when two pitchers leave due to an injury before the 5th inning do you really need to have multiple pitchers only pitch one or two outs? Everyone of those pitchers is going to be dead by the All-Star break.
May 8th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Good to see the Braves win a game they shouldn’t have won. Situational hitting by recent acquisition Greg Norton was a key to the victory. Good to see this. Heretofore, situational hitting has not been this team’s forte.
But in the bigger picture, a poor outing by Jo Jo Reyes is an important footnote to this victory. Young starters are notoriously inconsistent, and Reyes seems to fit that stereotype. The Braves will need better work from him in his next outing.
May 8th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Until someone shows me otherwise I still refuse to believe situational hitting exists. Oh I don’t doubt that you can track things that are viewed as situational hitting such as runners in scoring position and what not. I, like many others, just doubt it is a skill you can be good. Good hitters are good hitters. You can’t be a good hitter and a bad situational hitter or vice versa. It is one of the biggest myths and baseball and just keeps getting propagated over and over again by players and sportswriters alike.
May 8th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I also doubt my ability to work and write at the same time. Man do I need to proofread more on forums.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
TMac…you really cant see that situational hitting exists? I would agree if we were dealing with robots, but last time I checked even the professionals are real people. You can see real professionals who loose their confidence and loose their ability to play the game at all. Examples in braves history would include John Rocker and Mark Wohlers (pitchers) and Marcus Giles and the Boone brothers (only one was a brave). Some people thrive in stressful situations while others crumble. Some people thrive with the game on the line and others cant get it done. Think about basketball, you wouldnt give the ball to just any shooter at the end of the game to hit the game winner, you want the one who has the guts (and not just ability) to make the shot. The same happens to these humans in baseball. Sure they can hit the ball in any general situation, but some guys have the mental ability to do it when the game is on the line and it has to be done. Not everyone who has the ability also has the same mental make up. This is the difference in players who have the ability to do situational hitting. I m sure my comments wont convince you of this as you already have your mind made up, but that is my perspective.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I’m not at all shocked regarding the Braves coming up with a one-run win,because it has always been totally tough to surprise me.I have always kept a totally straight face when people have told me something totally shocking,so the Braves coming from down 3 runs is no shocker at all either.The Braves winning by a run and coming from three runs down and winning,so what else is new?????the Braves have always been the Braves,keep rollin BravesNation.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
By the way,all these injuries have turned out to good for us,because it is forcing us to play our farmhands temporarily and it is also enabling us to find out which farmhands are our future stars,when they end up on our roster permanently in the near future.Bring in youthful future stars in the rotation and in the bullpen if you are the Braves and see who you have in the farm and in the minor leagues.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I’m not going to argue the a professional anything can’t step in a pressure situation and succeed better than another professional. I deal with it in my job and I’m sure others have in theirs. That isn’t my argument. My argument is that in baseball there are enough at bats and situations that it normalizes everything back to normal skill level. I’ll go through your examples and then add a few of my own.
I can’t defend John Rocker because well the numbers a little silly. Granted he only pitched 20.2 innings and was the benefit of an incredible defensive play by Walt Weiss. Rocker was also the benefit of the grand slam single ruling with Robin Ventura. But he does has 20.2 innings in the playoffs and zero earned runs which is remarkable. Cliff Lee is also 6-0 with a 0.81 ERA in 44 2/3 innings or twice as much as Rocker. In a whopping 44 2/3 innings, out of probably 180 to 230 he’ll pitch this year are we ready to declare Cliff Lee the best pitcher ever? Are we ready to declare him the best April pitcher ever? No because just like Rocker the sample size isn’t large enough.
I assume you’re talking about Giles as a clutch player. Marcus Giles hit .277/.353/.429 for his career. In his career with RISP he hit .294/.388/.450, in late game and close situations he hit .276/.345/.436, and with two out and RISP he hit .261/.356/.423.
David Ortiz (The Current Mr. Clutch) has hit .288/.382/.555 for his career and .304/.408/.522 with RISP and .288/.387/.587 in late and close situations.
Alex Rodriguez (The Current Mr Non-Clutch) has hit .306/.388/.577 for his career and .304/.402/.557 with RISP and .279/.375/.534 in late and close situations.
Chipper Jones this year is hitting .429/.481/.739 and .370/.500/.667 and .211/.286/.263 in late and close situations. Does this mean Chipper isn’t clutch anymore? He’s hitting over 200 points lower in clutch situations.
In all of those examples the hitter in almost any ’situational’ setting is very close to their normal batting numbers. You can keep grabbing different clutch or un-clutch players and they almost all line up the same. Smarter people than have run the numbers and found that people aren’t clutch or un-clutch. At least to the point that game in and game out it doesn’t make any difference.
Still with the tying run on second I’d feel better with Chipper Jones or David Ortiz up there than Alex Rodriguez. They just feel right and that is part of baseball as well. But I also feel that if I curse the Football Gods that the Steelers won’t win the Super Bowl, it just doesn’t make it true.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
We have actually got a good bench this year. Last year we probably had the worst bench in the game but it is good this year. We have Norton, Infante, Gotay, Blanco or Diaz when one is starting. That is a good bench. I would like us to keep Prado up when he gets healthy and then maybe keep Pena also and do something with Corky. I would rather keep Gotay on this team than Corky.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Does anybody know how long Rafael Soriano will be out?
May 8th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
good question I dont know, but also when will Anthony Larew be healthy enough to pitch from Tommy John Surgery last season?
May 8th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I think Lerew is suppose to comeback sometime near the allstar break.
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