SB Nation User Blog: cbwilk

Gwinnett @ Norfolk 7/2 & 7/3

cbwilk — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:45:39 -0000

Whenever the distance is managable and I'm available to, I love to travel and see the Braves' Minor League teams play. But, nothing beats having one of them show up in your backyard, so last week I was very pleased to be able to make the arduous seven minute journey from my house to Harbor Park to watch the Gwinnett Braves take on the Norfolk Tides.

The prospect laiden Gwinnett rotation that was present the last time the team rolled through has been decimated by trade (Charlie Morton), promotion (Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen), and injury (JoJo Reyes and James Parr), meaning that the starters for this two game set were 37 year old John Halama and 31 year old Tony Armas (not Jr., he will get pissed):

Halama was very effective, stifling the Norfolk offense for just 2 runs over the course of 7 innings. I found it interesting that he pitched from the stretch even from the start of the game, showing that he knows that if he does get the call to Atlanata, it won't be as a starter. While I think Halama could be effective given some Major League innings, I can't say the same for Armas. After a horrible first inning, he settled down, allowing 3 runs in 6 innings, but his stuff was so mediocre that I just can't see it being successful in the Majors.

Now, my feelings about the two as people are the exact opposite. I'd never met Armas before, and he struck me as a very quiet, very polite guy, who was gracious about signing a few autographs for people, which is pretty much what I'd heard about him. Halama, on the other hand, is exactly as I remember, a lanky grouch who's never smiled and, even though he will sign an autograph, he won't do so without giving a bit of crap to the people who ask. I have to say, I've met him several times, and I really don't care for the guy.

Opposing the well-traveled Gwinnett starters for Norfolk were a pair of future aces, 23 year old Jake Arrieta (number 67 on Baseball America's Top 100 prospects entering the season) and 21 year old Chris Tillman (number 23 on the same list):

Arrieta pitched well, allowing just 1 run over 7 innings, but he found trouble stopping the run game. For some inexplicable reason, with Wes Timmons on first, he threw over about 10 times in a row. As soon as Arrieta made a move to the plate, Timmons walked to second. He had figured out Arrieta's move and the team used that knowledge to steal 5 bases off him throughout the game. Tillman was much more dominant in his start, shutting out the G-Braves for 7 2/3 innings. I've gotten to see Tillman a bunch this season and I'm as impressed with him as any young pitcher I've seen. It won't be long before the Orioles actually have an ace.

Getting back to the guys we care about, I was excited to see another one of our new AAA players, a guy the Braves were burned by before, Chris Burke:

I've seen a few people on TC, and heard a few people in person, say "I hate Chris Burke" because of his walk-off grand slam against Joey Devine. Well, I really like Chris Burke. He's a Braves kind of player; he's smart, professional, and very fan friendly. He looks like he's committed to playing and playing well and I think he can be an asset to the Major league team in the second half.

Aside from getting to meet some of the new players, i got to meet some fellow Braves fans. As Rhyno18 mentioned in his fanpost, we met up on the concourse and had a nice little talk. I have yet to meet a TCer who isn't a pretty great person; it's nice to get to meet other Braves fans who are passionate, and intelligent, about the team. A couple of the other fans I met were pretty interesting too; you guys might remember royhobbs' fanpost from a few weeks ago, where he mentioned scaring off a couple of lovely young Braves fans by mentioning Failcouer, only to see, as they walked away, that one of them was wearing a Francoeur t-shirt. Even if you don't remember, here's his picture of them:

Well, I guess I'm just more suave and debonaire than royhobbs, cause they like me better; at least his Failcouer girl does anyway:

Yeah, she's super pretty.Like really pretty. We bonded over our love of the Braves and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I proposed and we've having a Braves themed wedding, in November of course, after the season.

Getting back to the game on the field, another new-ish Brave who I've met before, but a lot of you might not have gotten a look at, is the other guy we got for Tex, Steve Marek:

He isn't exactly having a dominating season, but he seems to be doing well lately, and he looks like he can handle AAA hitters. I'm a fan; he grew up a Braves fan, he loves playing baseball, and he's got very good stuff.

A guy we're all a little more familiar with is Jordan Schafer. Jordan had a tough series, going 0 for 6, getting ejected in the first game and having to leave the second game early as his wrist continues to give him trouble. Now, I can't deny that Jordan argued with the umpire a little in the first game, heck, you can clearly see it here:

But the guy is not a good umpire. His name is Al Porter and every time he comes through Norfolk he does this same nonsense with somebody. He has the least consistent strike zone of any ump I've ever seen and he chooses the first guy who says something about it to pick on. Jordan complained his first at bat after striking out, didn't say anything after striking out his second one, and then, after cursing at himself for lining out in his third one, was run by the guy. There really was no call for ejecting him other than that this guy has an inferiority complex and always has to throw somebody out. This picture of Jordan sort of sums things up:

Well, I got attacked by a puma, I got ejected from the game, my wrist, hurts, and I ruined my Crystal Gale shirt, but other than that it was a great day.

And I always read and hear stuff where people want to say Jordan is this arrogant, cocky kid and it always kind of baffles me. Really, he's a great kid, who loves the game. He's got a good attitude; he wants to learn and be the best.

Before the second game he was cutting up and laughing about the night before, saying, "My goal is to not get thrown out tonight." He even had a laugh when a couple of junior cleat chasers asked him to get Johnny Venters, the resident cutie on the team.

Speaking of great guys, Todd Redmond is a fun dude. He always looks like he's having a blast during the game. Sometimes you see starting pitchers on their day off and they look bored and tired, but Todd is just entertaining himself and enjoying the game.

Another guy who deserves a mention is JC Holt:

I have to admit, from seeing him way back in A ball, I never thought JC would make it, not even to AAA, but he's put in a ton of work and made himself into a fine player. He's probably never going to be a starter in the Majors, but with the versatility to play second base and the outfield in addition to his speed and superior ability to bunt, he could have an impact off the bench for a team.

It's easy to forget that being in AAA can be frustrating for some guys, and Brandon Jones had that look:

We all know about his power outage this season, and I'm sure he finds himself wondering when, if ever, he's going to get another shot at the major leagues. This is where having veteran players like Alvin Colina is a huge plus:

Colina is in his 10th professional season and he's only played in 2 Major League games. He's a guy who's been around a little, and typically as a backup catcher, so he's no stranger to the grind of a Minor League season. During a pitching change in the 7th inning of the first game, Jones was standing out in left field with his hands on his knees, looking down at the grass. On his way to the bullpen, Colina ran by and buzzed a completely unsuspecting Jones, both scaring him and breaking him out of his funk. Veteran leadership is hugely important on a Minor League team.

Since I've run out of neat stuff to type about, here's a bunch of the Gwinnett hitters:

(From left to right: Brian Barton, Chris Burke, Reid Gorecki, Van Pope, JC Holt, Brandon Jones, Greg Norton, and Jordan Schafer.)

And I know it's not related to the Braves, but I figure as baseball fans you guys could appreciate this; the next night, the 4th of July, I was able to get Hall Of Famer Ryne Sandberg's autograph at a game in Zebulon, NC:

Come on, that's just cool. So that's all I've got for now, but remember, no matter what, you can't salt Reid Gorecki's game:

Braves Sign SS Chris Burke

cbwilk — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:04:00 -0000

The Braves have signed SS Chris Burke to a minor league contract and assigned him to AAA Gwinnett. Burke has played parts of six seasons in the Major Leagues with Houston, Arizona, and most recently with San Diego, playing 32 games for the Padres this season, hitting .207. His most recent team was Tacoma , AAA for Seattle, where he hit .237 in just 10 games. Burke has utility player written all over him, having played every position but catcher and pitcher in his career, and the Braves will place him at AAA as a possible Major League backup. He could be a better option than Diory Hernandez, at least for the present.

Here is a link to his career stats.

TC Meetup In Baltimore

cbwilk — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:48:07 -0000

I'm sure royhobbs, shown above rocking his awesome Failcouer shirt, will have a writeup of his own, and I in no way mean to steal any of his thunder with my post. Personally, I love reading his writeups and have no doubt his take on thing will be completely different from my own.

So, this past Saturday night, the Braves played the O's in Baltimore, Kenshin Kawakami vs. Rich Hill, but, more importantly, it was Talking Chop Meetup Day. As you've probably already seen from royhobb's fanshot, those in attendance included myself, the infamous bigjoe, the incourrigable Smoltz's Beard, the indefensible royhobbs, and the iglooish mvandonsel.

The night got off to a fun start as bigjoe, Smoltz's Beard, and I did a little pregaming at the hotel before heading over to O'Shea's Irish Pub and drinking more. The boys gave me a hard time for the fact that I dont' drink, but gave it to me a little worse after I got into an involved conversation with the bartender about books. "Are you talking about Twilight?" a happily buzzed Beard shouted at me. Whatever, if Baltimore wasn't such a pisshole I'd move there and marry that bartender. She was super cute, reheaded, and appreciated Chuck Palahniuk.

During our mile long walk to Camden Yards, an incredibly well educated Orioles fan noticed Smoltz's Beard's Chipper Jones shirt and said, quite intelligently, "Chipper Jones? What, is he playing from a retirement home? How old is he?" I have, of course, cleared up his stuttering and stammering to make his remarks easier to read. The Beard quickly replied that Chipper only won the batting title last season and was 2nd in OPS in all of baseball to the Almight Pujols. I went a step further and added that Chipper is already better than Cal Ripken Jr. ever was. I know, it's sacriligious to suggest that in Baltimore, but screw 'em, check the numbers.

Cal Ripken Jr.: 20+ seasons, .276 AVG, .340 OBP, .447 SLG, .787 OPS, 431 HR, 1695 RBI, 1647 R, 3001 games played.

Chipper Jones: 14+ seasons, .310 AVG, .408 OPB, .547 SLG, .955 OPS, 416 HR, 1405 RBI, 1406 R, 2076 games played.

Sorry Cal, Chipper's not going to play as long, but his counting stats will probably be better and his percentage stats are so much better it's ridiculous. Of course, the big dummy countered that Cal was The Iron Man, causing me to reply, "It's easy to play every day when you're on steroids." Even Chipper asked me to pump the brakes on that one:

I also added that it was easy to look good when you were playing next to guy like Chris Hoiles. So, ironically enough, after about five minutes inside the park, this guy walked by:

What the hell? Members of Chris Hoiles' family don't have a jersey with his name on it!

The game was going great; we met up with royhobbs and his friends and hung out behind the right field wall, even though I was really the only one tall enough to see over it. The boys took great joy in yelling obsenities and scathing commentaries over the wall at #7, the barbs ranging from the hilarious to the inappropriate. But trust me, you don't really know the proper way to say "Fuck You Francoeur" until you hear Smotlz's Beard yell it.

Of course, Monseiur Franz ended up getting the better of us, finishing with three hits, including a two run double off the base of the centerfield wall. Nobody really minded though; in fact, we all agreed that if it takes harrassing FYF to get him to play well, then so be it.

Through the first three innings an increasingly happy bigjoe kept screaming "Where's my Eskimo?" in anticipation of mvandonsel's arrival. I told him to be patient; it takes a while to hook the dogs up to the sled and it's hard to navigate the streets of Baltimore on skis. mvandonsel did finally show up, wearing a pullover jacket off all things. He quickly discovered that he was overdressed, asking, "Is it always this humid on the East Coast?" as he took off the pullover.

Not long after our erstwhile Eskimo's arrival, we were joined by another, less welcome fan, a man who we either referred to as Lt. Dan, or, my personal preference, Sgt. Leopard. Think of Shipwreck from G.I. Joe mashed with the gay sailor from The Village People, mixed with a leopard. And he says "cocksucker" a lot. The guy was brutal; he's the dude at the party who doesn't get the hint that you don't want to talk to him, even though you walk away every time he comes near you.

So with all our TCers, and even a straggling weirdo, we settled in to watch some Braves baseball, and, in true TC fashion, we were rowdy enough that several completely ineffective ushers were forced to ask us to settle down. But, all was not well in the TC nation, as the Braves managed to work together as a team to blow the lead and get drubbed by the third worst team in baseball. One Talking Chop member was so disgusted with this turn of events that he decided to vomit in several sections of Camden Yards as a form of passive protest:

The game on Sunday was certainly bad enough to make us want to vomit, as only Cody Ross seemed to have shown up to play that day. Fortunately for royhobbs (driving back home) and Smoltz's Beard (beer coma), they didn't have to witness it, but bigjoe, mavandonsel, and I did. Since the game was a stinker, I just tried to focus on getting some nice pictures of the players, and I think I got some decent ones:

Since we were just hanging out and having some fun (and since Major League games are the suck for autographs) I didn't really make a point of trying to get any autographs or talk to any of the guys, but I did get to catch up with Tommy Hanson for a minute:

When I turned back to bigjoe, he was just kind of staring at me. Finally, he asked, "Did you just have a conversation with Tommy Hanson?" Sure, why not? Remember, we might love them for what they can do on a ballfield, but they're just folks. The first time I met Tommy, he was just another player on the Danville team, and still a couple of years from really even being thought of as a prospect. Always take a chance to go see one of our Minor League affiliates play, and if you do, make sure to talk with some of the guys. They're all good dudes, and it's an amazing feeling to see them in a Big League stadium.

Another guy I met for the first time that same day in Danville was Kris Medlen. He didn't pitch that great on Sunday, but nobody did, and it was still awesome to see him pitching in the bigs:

One of our hopes for the weekend was to see Barbaro Canizares hit his first ML homer. It didn't happen, but I did get this sweet picture of him rosining up his bat:

Another picture I really loved was this one of Diory Hernandez:

Not only is it cool cause he pretty much put himself in a perfect position for me to take the picture while he was running in to the dugout, but check out the name on the glove: Eric Campbell! I guess he did make it to the majors.

I had a blast this weekend and if you can ever make it to a Talking Chip Meetup, I'd suggest you do. What's not to love about Braves baseball and good people? And sure, we lost both games, but it's not about how you perform, it's about how professional you are doing it:

Game 49 Recap: Diamondbacks 3, Braves 2

cbwilk — Sun, 31 May 2009 06:49:39 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

about 1 month ago: Umpire Jerry Crawford, center, separates Atlanta Braves' David Ross, left, and Arizona Diamondbacks' Justin Upton after the two exchanged words following Upton's flipping his bat away and earning a walk in the sixth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, May 30, 2009, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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The Braves got on the board first, plating runs on RBI doubles by Kelly Johnson and Garret Anderson, but, unfortunately, they were unable to put any other runs across. Javier Vazquez, after pitching six scoreless innings, finally gave up the lead in the 7th on an RBI double by the overly tatooed Ryan Roberts and pinch hit RBI single off the bat of Chris Young. After taking things into extra frames, the Diamondbacks came out victorious, putting the winning run across on an Eric Byrnes dribbler up the middle. Jeff Bennett took the loss for Atlanta, his second of the season.

David Ross and Justin Upton won't be sharing a beer any time soon, as Ross took exception to the way Upton flipped his bat after talking a walk, leading to a toothless bench clearing incident. Frankly, Ross has been outstanding for the Braves this season as Brian McCann's backup, so if he occasionally feels the need to teach a young player the right way to play the game, I'm all for it.

Despite the loss, it's worth noting that this was another quality start for Vazquez, and the bullpen, with the exception of Bennett, pitched spectacularly again, with Eric O'Flaherty pitching a scoreless 2/3 of an inning (seriously, who thought he'd be this good?), Rafael Soriano adding a scoreless inning, and Mike Gonzalez adding two more scoreless innings.

Yet, despite the positives, the Braves have lost 5 of 6 at the hands of a pair of less than stellar National League West teams, immediately after sweeping one of the better teams in the American League. The helter-skelter nature of the current Atlanta team is enough to drive a fan mad.

Final - 5.30.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Atlanta Braves	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	0
Arizona Diamondbacks	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	3	10	0
WP: Tony Pena (5 - 2) LP: Jeff Bennett (2 - 2)

Complete Coverage >

Open Thread 5/30: Braves @ Diamondbacks

cbwilk — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:46:36 -0000

More photos » by Gregory Smith - AP

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After winning last night, despite Jair Jurrjens' worst start of the season, the Braves will look to continue their winning streak (currently at 1 game) with Javier Vazquez on the mound. Vazquez lost his last start, but he did pitch very effectively against these same Diamondbacks on the 15th, allowing just 2 earned runs in 7 innings, en route to a no decision.

The Snakes will counter with well traveled lefty Doug Davis, who has lost his last 3 decisions. All things being equal, Davis really hasn't pitched that poorly this season, but he's never been a guy who's been much better than a .500 pitcher. I'm starting to see why the Diamondbacks have been so bad this season though; two weeks ago I saw Arizona's AA Mobile team, and three of the players who appeared in last night's contest, Gerardo Parra, Daniel Schlereth, and Clay Zavada, where all there. That's a lot of players coming right up from AA. Of course, having a manager who's never manged, at any level of baseball, and who wasn't that great of a player himself, probably doesn't help either.

Next Game

Atlanta Braves
@ Arizona Diamondbacks

Saturday, May 30, 2009, 4:10 PM EDT
Chase Field

Javier Vazquez vs Doug Davis

Partly cloudy. Game time temperature around 100.

Complete Coverage >

Braves Release Lefty Rivas, 3 Others

cbwilk — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:36:57 -0000

Carlos Rivas throws a bullpen session for Myrtle Beach. (CB Wilkins)

View full size photo uploaded May 28, 2009

According to Baseball America, the Braves have released left handed pitchers Carlos Rivas and Tyler Wilson, as well as right hander Manuel Vega and outfielder Quentin Davis.

I feel like I've seen Rivas for about 15 years in Spring Training, but he was actually signed by the Braves out of Venezuela in 2001. He made his American debut in 04 with the GCL team and followed up a solid performance there with another good year for Danville in 05. After 5 games with Rome in 06, he needed Tommy John surgery and missed all of the 07 season. He came back in 08, pitching masterfully in 9 relief appearances for Rome, but less than masterfully in 25 games (7 starts) for Myrtle Beach. His struggles continued this season, as he racked up a 7.52 ERA in 8 games (5 starts) in a return to Myrtle Beach. These are the kind of transactions I hate to see, cause I know what a great guy Carlos is and how hard he's worked to return from his injury. But, you have to produce.

On the other hand, I've never heard of Vega. In fact, I couldn't even find any kind of stats or information on him. There was a Manuel Vega who played for the Cuban National Team, so this could be him. Either way, he ever made it into a game for a Braves affiliate, so it's hard to say that this is any great loss for the organization.

Tyler Wilson, who the article erroneously has listed as Travis, was also playing for Myrtle Beach. He was signed in 2005 as a draft and follow after being drafted in the 21st round in 04. He was pretty effective at every level for the Braves, playing for the GCL team, Danville, Rome, and parts of 3 years for Myrtle Beach, compiling a 3.34 ERA in 105 relief appearances. But, his ERa was higher this year, checking in at 4.58 in 15 games, and he was always looked at as an organizational filler.

The speedy Davis was never quite able to put his potential into production. Signed in 05 as a 13th round draft pick, Davis' best season was in 2007 for Myrtle Beach, as he hit .261 with 37 stolen bases and 11 triples. but, he struggled mightily for Mississippi in 08, hitting just .191 and missing half the season with various injuries. He didn't rebound this season in a return to the Beach, drawing his release after just 70 plate appearances.

"Salt and Pepper" Get The Job Done For Myrtle Beach

cbwilk — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:15:11 -0000

"Salt and Pepper" Get The Job Done For Myrtle Beach

Nice little article by Baseball America about Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman, with a little about Cody Johnson thrown in for good measure. How can you not be excited about the Braves' future?

Game 44 Recap: Giants 8, Braves 2

cbwilk — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:20:33 -0000

More photos » by Dino Vournas - AP

about 1 month ago: San Francisco Giants' Travis Ishikawa, left, is safe on a steal at second base as Atlanta Braves' Kelly Johnson complains to the umpire during the fifth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Monday, May 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Dino Vournas)

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The Atlanta offense went back to their fallow ways, as Brian McCann collected half of the team's 6 hits. Without standouts Yunel Escobar and Chipper Jones in the lineup again, the Braves were only able to collect 2 extra base hits, a Kelly Johnson triple and a Javy Vazquez double. Making matters worse, Jordan Schafer's struggles continue, as he collected the Golden Sombero, striking out in each of his 4 plate appearances.

Of course, not much went right on the pitching side of things either. The wheels fell off for Vazquez in the 5th and 6th innings, as he allowed all 5 of his runs between those two frames. And, after Jeff Bennett closed out the 6th, Buddy Carlyle came on and continued the Boyeresque streak he's been on. The time for Carlyle's exit from Atlanta has come; over his last 5 appearances, including today's game, he's allowed 12 earned runs in 7 innings.

And home plate umpire Jerry Meals deserves to get called out for his terrible performance today. He missed two interference calls when Juan Uribe obstructed Brian McCann, made a very questionable call when McCann seemed to tag out Fred Lewis at the plate, and generally had a strikezone that was wide and inconsistent.

Final - 5.25.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Atlanta Braves	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	6	0
San Francisco Giants	0	0	0	0	3	2	3	0	X	8	13	0
WP: Jonathan Sanchez (2 - 4) LP: Javier Vazquez (4 - 4)

Complete Coverage >

Open Thread 5/25: Braves @ Giants

cbwilk — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:05:01 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

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The Braves head out to San Fransisco to begin a 3 game set with the Giants, and, in an odd bit of scheduling, the opening game of the series is a day game. West coast teams have been accused of inconsiderate scheduling for a long time, and this is a perfect case. Sure, the Giants are coming home from a road trip, but traveling from Seattle to San Fransisco is much less taxing than the cross country journey from Atlanta to San Fransisco. Hopefully the Braves can fend off their jet lag until later this evening and start off the road trip on a positive note.

Javy Vazquez, winner of his last 2 decisions, takes the hill for te Braves. Vazquez has been very, very good for Atlanta this year, amassing quality starts in 6 of his 9 appearances, and striking out 73 batters in just 58.1 innings. That's 11.3 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched! It will be interesting to see if he can maintain that pace, as he's never come anywhere close to that number in his career. But, as long as he keeps his team in the game, a bit of a dropoff in strikeouts isn't going to bother anyone.

In an all Puerto Rican matchup, Jonathan Sanchez, who some posters here on Talking Chop suggested acquiring during the offseason, will oppose Vazquez for the Giants. Sanchez has not been anywhere near as sucessful as Vazquez this season, posting 4 losses and only turning in quality starts in 2 of his 7 starts. He's walked a ton of batters, 28 in 38 innings, so hopefully the Braves can work the count and take advantage of his wildness.

Next Game

Atlanta Braves
@ San Francisco Giants

Monday, May 25, 2009, 4:05 PM EDT
AT&T Park

Javier Vazquez vs Jonathan Sanchez

Partly cloudy. Game time temperature around 60.

Complete Coverage >

Acosta Recalled; Parr Demoted to Gwinnett

cbwilk — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:31:36 -0000

This was mentioned in the Open Thread the other night, but it's worth noting on the front page; the Braves have recalled right handed reliever Manny Acosta from Gwinnett and optioned fellow right handed pitcher James Parr to Gwinnett.

Parr had been lest than stellar in his first crack at full time releif pitching, posting a 5.79 ERA in 8 appearances, covering 14 innings. He allowed 17 hits, 5 walks, and a .293 average against, and in his final appearance Tuesday night, the wheels really fell off, as he allowed 4 earned runs in a Colorado drubbing of Atlanta.

Acosta has had his own rough times for the Braves, earning the nickname "Manny I'll-Cost-Ya", but the struggles of the 2009 Braves bullpen have had Talking Choppers calling for his promotion. Acosta was putting up very good numbers as Gwinnett's primary setup man, posting a 2.86 ERA in 15 appearances, though he did have losses in 3 of his 4 decisions.

It's clear that a move needed to be made in the bullpen, but whether or not this was the right one remains to be seen. The more logical choice for relief help would have been Luis Valdez, who has been outstanding as Gwinnett's closer, posting a 1.77 ERA in 16 games while collecting 8 saves. But, Acosta is on the 40-man roster and Valdez is not, and sometimes these decisions are based those reasons rather than purely performance ones. Hopefully Acosta has turned the corner in his time at Gwinnett and can be a productive part of the Atlanta bullpen.