What happens when Acuna arrives?

Post by Mike

We all know the .429 avg, and .455 OBP won't hold up through May, but the kid can obviously hit. What happens when Acuna arrives next week? Can Tucker catch? Play third? A Markakis trade doesn't seem realistic. Who would take that salary and how does it benefit the Braves to pay big money to move him? So we may have a crowded roster of bats.

Did I just type that?

What RDIFF, at this point, does it make?

Post by Mike

*** Updated *** After Wednesday's 7-1 romp over the Nats and Scherzer the RDIFF has increased to +22. Impressive. ***

To answer the question... none. We haven't even been playing a full week, and it was a week that included nutty pitching management by the Phillies and beat down of the Nats 5th starter. However, as I posted in February... my optimism is renewed because the Braves are focusing on RDIFF... run differential.

Last season the team finished with a -89 RDIFF.

Last season the top five NL finishers had RDIFF that looked like this:

Division winners -
Dodgers +190
Nationals +147
Cubs +127

Wild cards -
Diamondbacks +153
Rockies +67

The Brewers (+35) and Cardinals (+56) were the only other NL teams to have a plus side RDIFF.

So this early sample is encouraging:

Notice runs scored -

Then compare to runs allowed -

Now I'm no rocket surgeon, but a +16 RDIFF after 5 games seems like a good thing to me.

We are a freaking JUGGERNAUT!

Post by Mike

I'll just leave this here.