No way Yordan sits with as hot as he’s been. Brantley will sit. I don’t think they’ll play Tucker in CF in the WS. They’ll just sit Brantley who didn’t hit in the ALCS and isn’t that great of a defender anyway.
I think it’ll be really hard to extend Tucker or Alvarez. Both players received big bonuses as amateurs, both seem highly intelligent, and Alvarez is an injury risk. Also neither plays a premium defensive position so their value is very tied to their bat. Garcia, Valdez, Urquidy, and Javier seem to be the biggest extension candidates to me. Wouldn’t shock me to see them extend Gurriel a year or two. Depending on the new CBA I could see Jeremy Pena signing an extension before he even comes up.
Luckily, we have them in fold till end of 2025 so we could wait to see how next year goes. Having two top 15 players in baseball at such a young age is pretty phenomenal. We are lucky fans.
Didn’t hit? We’re we watching the same games? bases clearing double game 4? Didn’t he have like a 10+ game hitting streak going at one point?
He had a 17 game post season batting streak that was broken during the Red Sox series. And while the bases clearing double was incredibly important, he did only post a .577 OPS. The NL park options are to sit Yordan, Brantley or Tucker OR move Tucker to CF and Brantley to RF. If you don't sit the regular CFers, who would you choose to sit at this moment?
All I can say is that if Yordan still has the potential to get even better, we best lock him up this off-season before he discovers his true worth. Ditto for Tucker.
None of these options sound good honestly. The greedy part of me wants them all at the plate but an outfield of Alvarez at left, tucker at cf, and Brantley at right would be poor defensively. To answer your question, yeah I’d sit Brantley if I don’t sit McCormick/siri/Meyers Go braves, let’s get an extra game in the AL park lol.
Including the ALDS, he is at .292 with an OPS of .726. None of this is to denigrate or downplay Brantley at all. Just the conversational question as to, right now, what is your OF?
My OF in Atlanta/LA would be RF Tucker, CF McCormick, LF Alvarez. Brantley would be my primary pinch hitter (for McCormick or Maldonado) in any close game where we are behind after 4 innings. Siri would be my pinch runner and backup CF.
Altuve I think is going to go down as the best 2nd baseball over biggios. Can Alvarez go down as the biggest trade steal we ever got over bagwell?
Bagwell has advantage with the Gold Gloves. I don't think Yordan will ever be that level as a fielder.
Hopefully, we only play 2 games at the NL park. That would mean a sweep for us. But, more likely we play 3, possibly 4 if the Dodgers. I think you have to start Alvarez, Tucker, Brantley unless possibly vs Urias (LH) and/or Morton (Brantley has not hit him well), but I would have to study the splits a little more. If we are up 2-0 going to ATL and Fried is starting, then perhaps go with Chas or Siri. A lot to consider.
