SB Nation - Manny Acosta

Braves 2009 Season in Review: Middle Relief

gondeee — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:48:31 -0000

Atlanta Braves reliever Peter Moylan was one of the most valuable members of any team's bullpen last year.

Middle relief is never a sure thing in baseball. The Atlanta Braves have been lucky in the past to have cobbled together good middle relief corps. They haven't been so lucky the last few years, but last year they did a decent job of assembling good middle relievers while working around some injuries.

The most striking thing about the 2009 middle relief crew was how fast the team was to make a change early in the year. The Braves hadn't broke camp a week when they released Blaine Boyer after two (out of three) disastrous outings. Blaine bounced around the rest of the season, ultimately finding some success (or luck) in Arizona. The Braves were also quick to cut ties with Jeff Bennett after he went kung-fu on the clubhouse wall.

Peter Moylan

Perhaps the rock of the 2009 bullpen, Peter Moylan appeared in 87 games only a year removed from Tommy John surgery. He got off to a rough start, but continued to battle, and posted a 1.00 ERA in the second half of the season. He gave Bobby Cox the luxury of having a second setup man, and his 25 holds led the team and ranked 6th in the NL.

Going back to the 87 games he appeared in, that should raise some alarms, but Moylan insists he likes to pitch that much and many say that his arm angle puts less strain on the elbow than an overhand motion. Those 87 games ranked one game behind the NL leader in appearances for a pitcher, and the Braves had 4 relievers in the top-10 in appearances.

Eric O'Flaherty / Boone Logan

One of those relievers who was in the top-10 in appearances was Eric O'Flaherty. The lefty specialist appeared in 77 games (56.1 innings pitched) and put in his best work as a major leaguer. The Braves got him off the waiver wire from Seattle last off-season, and he beat out Boone Logan in spring training for the LOOGY role. A minor pick up at the time, his good season makes that move look genius -- getting a reliever like that without having to give up anything.

Boone Logan came over as part of the Javier Vazquez trade. He was called up several times in 2009, but had spotty success while being used rather sparingly by Cox.

Here is a breakdown of all the lefty relievers on the Braves in 2009, and how they did versus left and right-handed batters:

Pitcher	BA vs. RH	BA vs. LH
Mike Gonzalez	.218	.194
Eric O'Flaherty	.282	.215
Boone Logan	.364	.231

O'Flaherty was pretty close to Gonzalez in handling lefties, but Logan wasn't that far away either. The big difference between O'Flaherty and Logan comes when they're facing right-handed hitters, with Eric having the clear advantage in that department. The Braves will probably want to keep all the depth they can, but Logan is out of options and arbitration eligible this year, so a non-tender might be in his future.

Kris Medlen

While Medlen posted a respectable 4.26 ERA for a rookie, his ERA as a reliever was even better at 3.47. He struck out more than a batter per inning in relief and gave up less than a hit per inning while keeping his walks in check. He was used inconsistently at times, getting long rests only to pitch on consecutive days. This unfamiliarity with the major league bullpen role caused Medlen to admittedly undergo some growing pains, but his work ethic kept his spirits up and his mind ready for any situation.

He could certainly move into a setup role next year, and may become one of the more indispensable members of the Atlanta pen. With the Atlanta rotation at 120% capacity, there's little chance that he would move back to a starting role, but his familiarity with starting may make him an ideal emergency swing man -- further increasing his value to the bullpen and the team.

Manny Acosta

Here are Acosta's ERAs the last three years:

2007 - 2.28
2008 - 3.57
2009 - 4.34

Meanwhile his FIP has hovered around 4.77, and has never been below 4.25, so that should tell us that Manny is either getting real lucky or he's getting bailed out by other Atlanta relievers -- either way it seems to be catching up to him. He is becoming more and more worthless, and that tells me his spot in the pen is in question.

Others

Jo-Jo Reyes and James Parr could find some time in the bullpen in 2010, though neither is ideal for the role. Luis Valdez is doing well in winter ball, and he could play a prominent role in the pen as well. I wondered why the Braves didn't use him more this year, especially towards the end, but maybe they wanted him to get work in winter ball and not the majors.

As always, there is a lot of work to be done this off-season to bolster the Atlanta bullpen.

Game 147 Recap: Phillies 9, Braves 4

gondeee — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:44:19 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

Atlanta Braves starter Tim Hudson works against the Philadelphia Phillies in the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 in Atlanta.

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Every bad break that could happen for the Braves seemed to happen in this game. Every bad call by an umpire, every bad play of infield defense, lackadasical baserunning, it seems like nothing broke the Braves way. Bobby Cox removed Yunel Escobar from the game after he failed to run hard on a grounder that he may have been able to reached base on due to a wide throw. Matt Diaz was called out on a play at the plate, where it looked like he may have been safe. Omar Infante was out at first on the tail end of a double-play when he was clearly safe. Nothing seemed to go our way.

The Braves saw the Phillies starter leave after three innings for precautionary injury reasons, but they couldn't get any runs off of his replacement.

The Phillies early offense was mainly a product of Ryan Howard, who slugged two homeruns off of Tim Hudson. Huddy started real good, retiring the first 10 batters in a row, and was staked to a 1-run lead, but Howard didn't make the lead last long with a 2-run shot in the fourth. He followed that up with a solo shot in the sixth.

With the bases loaded and only one out eighth inning, that's when Bobby Cox called on Manny Acosta, which is Cox essentially saying that the season is over. He allowed two runs to score, and those ended up being big runs since Brian McCann hit a 2-run homerun the next half-inning.

It's the Phillies bullpen that's known for late inning collapses, but tonight it was the Braves pen, as they gave up 6 key late-inning runs -- made even bigger because we scored 3 late-inning runs of our own against the Phils pen.

Final - 9.18.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
Philadelphia Phillies	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	2	4	9
Atlanta Braves	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	4

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Atlanta Braves August Aftermath: MVPs and LVPs

gondeee — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:58:18 -0000

After going 16-and-11 in July, the Braves improved to 17-and-11 in August. So far since the All-Star break the team is 26-and-18 (after last night's loss) -- that's not inspired baseball, but it's better than anything we've seen for the past two (maybe three) years.

Hitting MVP: The hottest bat in the entire National League is Matt Diaz, so he is surely our August hitting MVP. For the month, Diaz hit .404/.467/.681. He was second on the team with 6 homeruns and third with 18 RBI -- hitting usually from unfavorable run-producing spots in the order. He also led the team in runs scored and stolen bases (as well as caught stealing) -- perhaps he took his lead-off duties too seriously. Another guy who should get a good mention here is Adam LaRoche. If it weren't for the inhuman month that Diaz had, LaRoche would be the MVP. He hit .365/.446/.646 and led the team with 8 homeruns. Yunel Escobar and Ryan Church also deserve an honorable mention here.

Matt Diaz

#23 / Right Field / Atlanta Braves

Height: 6-1

Weight: 215

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Mar 03, 1978

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Matt Diaz	101	290	49	95	16	4	10	44	24	64	9	5	.328	.393	.514

Hitting LVP: There were a couple of not-so-great performances. Kelly Johnson had an awful month, hitting just .133, but in very limited duty. Of course Greg Norton was less-than-mediocre with just 2 hits in 14 August at-bats. Brian McCann, despite 5 homeruns and a team-high 20 RBI, hit only .228 for the month -- perhaps he needs to be protected a bit more and given more days off, especially in the heat of summer. But the guy who I'm picking here is a guy I never would have expected to put in the LVP category -- Larry Wayne Jones. Yep, Chipper Jones hit only .247 and collected only 10 RBIs. He did get walked a team-high 19 times, and maybe he's just not getting anything to hit, but he hasn't gotten anything to hit in two years, so why the decline now. People will point to his age, but the word is that his swing is all messed up from both sides of the plate. This is apparently something Chipper has struggled with most of the year. Keep in mind too, that Chipper is on pace to play more games this year than he has since 2003. All that extra wear and tear could be adding up. Regardless, Chipper is here to drive in runs and be "the man" in the Braves lineup, and last month he was not.

Chipper Jones

#10 / Third Base / Atlanta Braves

Height: 6-4

Weight: 210

Bats: B

Throws: R

Born: Apr 24, 1972

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Chipper Jones	117	402	68	111	19	2	16	59	85	69	4	1	.276	.399	.453

Pitching MVP: Lots and lots and lots of good performances on the pitching side in August. Our bullpen featured some great work by Kris Medlen (2.35 ERA, 12.91 K/9), Peter Moylan (0.73 ERA, 3 Wins), and Mike Gonzalez (0.00 ERA, 0.82 WHIP). The starters were also mostly good. Kenshin Kawakami cranked out a 2.87 ERA in 6 starts. Jair Jurrjens had a 3.65 ERA, and Javier Vazquez had a 3.03 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. But I'm giving the August pitching MVP to Tommy Hanson. He was 4-and-1 in 5 starts with a 2.93 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, and an impressive 10.41 K/9 rate. Hanson got it done. Heck, he's been getting it done since he came up.

Tommy Hanson

#48 / Pitcher / Atlanta Braves

Height: 6-6

Weight: 220

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Aug 28, 1986

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Tommy Hanson	9-3	15	15	0	0	0	0	88.2	79	32	31	9	32	73	3.15	1.25

Pitching LVP: It would be easy to give this to Derek Lowe -- 5.08 ERA and 48 hits allowed in 33.2 innings -- but most of that ugliness was due to one bad inning in New York. He did rack up 3 wins against just that 1 bad loss, so "least" is a bit much. I'm going to give this month's award to Manny Acosta. He just seemed to stink it up whenever he was in the game. He had a 6.48 ERA and a 2.16 WHIP in his 7 games of work. Also deserving might be Boone Logan and his 9.45 ERA, but LOOGY's get a pass since they're not in the game as much.

Manny Acosta

#46 / Pitcher / Atlanta Braves

Height: 6-4

Weight: 170

Bats: B

Throws: R

Born: May 01, 1981

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Manny Acosta	1-0	31	0	0	0	0	0	33.1	39	17	16	3	16	28	4.32	1.65

Game 91 Recap: Mets 5, Braves 1

gondeee — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:40:25 -0000

With the lineup the Mets put on the field tonight, the Braves should have had an easy afternoon of it. But you have to take into account the pitcher who was on the mound for the Mets -- Johan Santana. And it's not that the Mets really scored any runs on their own in the early part of the game -- Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami walked in a run and then gave up a second run on a force out.

I was going to talk about more of what went wrong today, be it Yunel Escobar once again missing a sign, or making a funny pun on Manny Acosta's name (Manny it'll cost ya!), but the game can be summed up thusly -- we didn't get any key hits. We loaded the bases in the seventh and eighth innings and got nothing to show for it -- that was the game right there.

Yuck.

Final - 7.18.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
New York Mets	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	5
Atlanta Braves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1

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Game 88 Recap: Braves 7, Rockies 8

gondeee — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:51:06 -0000

And here's another one we let get away. Instead of the Braves ending the first half at .500, they end the first half with a disappointing loss that they likely should have won -- a fitting end considering how their first half has gone so far.

Kris Medlen struggled with the walks and ended up getting yanked in the 5th inning. Boone Logan came on and restored order for a couple of innings. He got the first out in the seventh and then Bobby Cox pulls him for Manny Acosta?!? Here's a guy, Logan, who is the most rested of any of Atlanta's relievers, he had only thrown 31 pitches -- very economical for his third inning of work -- he was showing no signs of having trouble, and Cox takes him out of the game with no runners on. Not surprisingly that's where it all started to go wrong for Atlanta.

The sometimes-combustible Manny Acosta came into a game for the third consecutive day and promptly got shelled. Taking out the rested Logan for the worn out Acosta was a silly, silly decision, and it may have cost us the game because it allowed the Rockies to pull within one run. Eric O'Flaherty, working in his fourth consecutive game, came in for the last out in the seventh.

Then, with still a fresh and rested Luis Valdez in the bullpen, Cox calls on Peter Moylan in the eighth inning, because he hasn't been in a game in almost 15 hours. And what does he do? He gives up the tying run. Of course, Valdez comes in for the ninth and gives up the winning run, but that was a pressure packed situation to put the rookie making his major league debut in, and he may have responded differently if he was put into the game earlier when the lead was greater.

Ron Gant on the postgame said the Braves let this game get away because of sloppy defense. Okay, the play by Garret Anderson and Manny Acosta where each guy threw the ball away was some bad defense. But there ain't no defense to defend against the homerun that Acosta gave up to the next batter. Ron Gant is too much of a homer to tell us why the Braves really lost this game. In my book Bobby Cox gets a D- for the way he managed his relievers in this game.

Get used to more games like this where the bullpen blows the lead, BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN OVERUSED!!!

The offense did good work early, with Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, and Brooks Conrad leading the way.

Ugh! We f-ing had this game won. Our defense turned four double plays. We should have won this game.

Final - 7.12.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Atlanta Braves	3	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	7	11	2
Colorado Rockies	0	1	1	1	0	0	3	1	1	8	12	0
WP: Huston Street (3 - 1) LP: Luis Valdez (0 - 1)

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Game 77 Recap: Philles 1, Braves 11

gondeee — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:04:51 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

Atlanta Braves starter Jair Jurrjens works in the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies in Atlanta, Wednesday July 1, 2009.

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A lot of good stuff going on tonight. The Braves finally scored some runs for starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens. The Phillies only got 1 hit off of Jurrjens through 7 innings, and that hit didn't happen until the last out of the seventh when former Braves catcher Paul Bako laced a legit single into left center. While the Braves did score 11 runs, Jurrjens was really the story of the night. He walked four batters, but kept the Phillies hitters off balance and used the wind blowing in to get them out in the air (4 groundouts vs. 11 flyouts). He also recorded 6 stikeouts

The scoring got started by the same guy who was the hitting star last night, Martin Prado. After Jurrjens got a hit to left field, Blanco followed with a hit, before Prado laced a double to score two runs and get the Braves on the board. Chipper Jones drove in Prado to give the Braves a 3-run lead. Two innings later, the Braves chased the Phillies starter Cole Hamels, who couldn't get an out in the fifth.

In that fifth inning, the Phillies reliever didn't fare any better, giving up an opposite field homerun to Matt Diaz that drove in the last of Hamels' baserunners. Diory Hernandez added his first major league homerun later in the inning, and received the silent treatment as he entered the dugout -- a sure sign that this Braves team was having fun playing baseball tonight.

Brian McCann broke an 0-for-13 streak (I believe) with 2 hits. Yunel Escobar came off the bench for an RBI hit -- his specialty. Reliever Manny Acosta, slowed last week by the flu bug, pitched the ninth and was dealing, running the ball up to 95 mph. It would be a big boost to our bullpen to get Acosta going -- he could take the place of Jeff Bennett while Bennett is on the DL (and beyond).

Fantastic game! Let's get that sweep tomorrow.

Final - 7.1.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia Phillies	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	1
Atlanta Braves	0	0	3	0	6	0	0	2	X	11	14	2
WP: Jair Jurrjens (6 - 6) LP: Cole Hamels (4 - 5)

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Manny Acosta: Atlanta Braves 2009 Player Preview

gondeee — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:19:35 -0000

This player preview was writtin by Victor Wei, who posts here as VictorW.

Manny Acosta spent eight seasons in the minor leagues between the Yankees and Braves before becoming a September call up in 2007. Acosta impressed the Braves by putting up a 2.28 ERA while showing off his 96 MPH fastball, solid slider, and good changeup. This performance was above his head, as his ERA masked an unsustainably low BABIP and alarming walk rate. Acosta's fastball and strikeout rates, however, were very real and it appeared that the Braves had found a solid reliever with plenty of upside.

In 2008, Acosta's walk rate improved, but his strikeout rate plummeted from 8.37 to 5.26 Ks per 9. Fireballers like Jamie Moyer and Jorge Campillo fanned batters at a higher rate than that. Despite these struggles, Acosta still outperform his peripherals and produced a 3.57 ERA in 2008. It was rather surprising that Acosta managed to pull that off because his K/BB ratio was an atrocious 1.19 in 2008. To put this in perspective, that ratio is worse than the career numbers of Mark Redman (1.84), Dan Kolb (1.32), and Danys Baez (1.82) [Editors note: after hearing those names I vomited a little in my mouth.]

Acosta's sudden decline may be explained by his loss in velocity. Between 2007 and 2008, his fastball dropped to 94.5 MPH while losing some movement. Additionally, his slider lost about a MPH of speed as well. Combine this with Acosta's always-questionable control, and it makes sense that Acosta's production fell.

The Braves' bullpen usage didn't help Acosta either. As injuries decimated the pitching staff, Acosta simultaneously inherited the setup man and closer role. I know I wasn't the only one scratching my head when watching Acosta trot out for multi-inning saves where he needed to go through six batters to get through the first inning. Bullpen misuse and overuse was a common theme among Braves relievers in 2008 and made the unit look much worse than they actually were.

With the bullpen healthy, slotting Acosta down the relief depth chart along with shorter outings should improve his performance in 2009. Acosta, however, may not get a chance to perform in Atlanta. The Braves' bullpen logjam includes Soriano, Gonzalez, Carlyle, Bennett, Campillo, Moylan, Boyer, and a LOOGY or two. Moves will definitely have to be made, and Acosta may find himself in Gwinnett or on another club.

Acosta will probably approach his 2007 performance and give whatever team he's on a cheap, solid low leverage reliever with some upside from his fastball velocity. For Acosta to take the next step, he'll need to improve his command. Walks have always been a problem for him, spanning all the way back to his 18 year old season in Rookie ball. If Acosta can ever figure out how to locate his pitches, then he will become a very good or even dominant reliever because his fastball is as good as anyone's.

Another fantastic preview by Victor!

Braves Closer: The Now and The Future

gondeee — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:56:32 -0000

At the major league level…
… After a big contract extension and bigger expectations, our hopes that we found a dominant closer in Rafael Soriano are still up in the air. It’s not because of ineffectiveness; it’s because of some "mysterious" injury – the attached version of phantom limb pain. Soriano complained and complained about pain in his pitching elbow, but no MRI and none of the Dr. James Andrews of the world found anything wrong with the relievers elbow. Perhaps rest and time will fix the "damage."

As one closer feigned an arm injury, another closer came back from one better than most everyone thought he would. Mike Gonzalez rocked himself back into the closer’s role a mere week after returning from the disabled list and Tommy John surgery. He should most likely be considered the closer of choice going into spring training next season.

Manny Acosta is considered by some to have some future closer ability, but with Acosta it’s always been the amount of walks he issues which seemed to have doomed him. Blaine Boyer is another guy who some considered to one day be closer material, but Boyer gave up too many hits, including the gopher ball, and that combined with flagrant overuse may have set Boyer back. But relievers are fickle creatures and just as bad as some of these guys were this year they could come back next year and dominate.

The future Braves closer…
… Though he has found his best success this year as a starter, right-hander Kris Medlen profiles to make the majors as a reliever. Moving him to the rotation was supposed to help Medlen work on his changeup, and while that has improved, and while he has become an accomplished starter, the end result is that when Medlen moves back into the bullpen he goes from being projected as a setup reliever to being considered a future closer.

As much as we need starters in the majors, Medlen is behind several guys on the starting depth chart, and the odds are that his ability will mature to major league ready before the Braves have a major league starting job ready for him. I’m sure that many people will disagree with me about moving Medlen back to the bullpen, but as much as we need starters we also need talented relievers, and with all the injuries that have plagued our staff the last few years, we may need a closer in waiting who is ready to step in.

More for future consideration…
2. Craig Kimbrel – If anyone was upset about the Braves trading Joey Devine, then they needn’t get down on that trade for too long. We went out and drafted Kimbrel this year and all the young fireball reliever did was strikeout 56 batters in 35.1 innings pitched while only giving up 16 hits and two earned runs. He had success at every level, beginning at Danville, then Rome, and the Beach. Batters managed to hit just .131 off of Kimbrel. In a small sample size in Myrtle Beach he showed a few signs of vulnerability, so he will likely begin next season there, but he should move up to Mississippi mid-year.

3. Stephen Marek – The "other" part of the Kotchman trade might begin to pay dividends as early as next year as he competes for a spot in the bullpen during spring training. The jury is out on whether or not he has closer stuff, but another couple of years of development could change some minds.

3. Kevin Gunderson – He shined as a closer at Oregon State when they won the College World Series, so we know he can close and close effectively. He’s been given that opportunity several times in the minors and will likely continue to be given that opportunity. His future in the majors is probably that of a LOOGY, but there’s a chance he could sneak into a closer’s role at some point.

4. Cory Gearrin – Another college closer who has had mixed results in pro ball. The Braves have moved him quickly and for the most part he’s responded well. His ERA’s have not always been pretty, but his average against shows that he’s still able to get batters out when he challenges them.

5. Benino Pruneda – Reportedly a guy who can throw up to 100mph, Pruneda had a sensational year at Rome in his first full pro season. He struck out 73 in 57.1 innings and had an almost 2-to-1 ground outs to fly outs ratio – spectacular for a power pitcher. Pruneda is a JuCo guy and should see Myrtle Beach next year and possibly some time at Mississippi late in the season. While he didn’t do much closing at Rome, 100mph is certainly capable of closing one day.

6. Nick Fellman – The Braves chose to have Fellman skip Rome and go from Danville last year right to Myrtle Beach this year. He responded admirably, though he predictably struggled in the first half of the year with an ERA over 5.00 and eight homeruns allowed, but he adjusted to the league and found his form in the second half to put up a 1.59 ERA with no homeruns allowed.

Others Relievers (not necessarily closer-types): Lee Hyde (college reliver is rebounding from injury earlier this year, the Braves showed in 2007 that they think he can move fast through the system); Rico Reid (a real competative reliver with a good fastball/curveball mix, but needs time to refine his game); Brett Butts (big reliver from Auburn didn't have a good year ERA-wise, but he threw a lot of innings, kept his walks down, and held opposing batters to a low .220 average); Michael Nix (bigger Aubern reliever who has shown some good improvement each of the last two years; he should be in the spring training bullpen mix); Tyler Wilson (big reliever had a better season than it looks like he had after several tough early outings; he still needs to control the walks); Luis Valdez (older reliever may have turned a corner this year; it's hard to argue with 28 saves and a 2.76 ERA; if he's still around next year he might get a shot in spring training); Sung Ki Jung (after a great year in 2007 he was far too hittable this year as batters hit almost 100 points higher off of him in 2008)