On this night, Brave new world has old look
The Mets arrived as a team superior to the Braves, finally. Then, perhaps for old times’ sake, they morphed into the old Metsies again. A makeshift Braves lineup played pinball with Jon Niese’s pitches for five innings. Wilmer Flores, whose strong spring has turned into a shaky first week of real games, made two errors, and began to sow concern that he was overthinking his throwing. That is officially something to watch (and, oh yeah, he’s not hitting yet, either).
And in a goofy eighth inning, David Wright missed an ill-advised tag attempt, and a second baseman named Phil Gosselin — a Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum? — knocked in the deciding runs of a 5-3 loss a few minutes later.
Maybe it was the mere sight of Chipper Jones that spooked that Mets. Their longtime nemesis dashed from the home dugout to the familiar riff of “Crazy Train,” during a pregame home opener ceremony for the Braves that also featured Hank Aaron, Bobby Cox, Fred McGriff and other luminaries.
Or maybe it was just too weird a feeling, showing up to play a Braves team that nearly everyone agrees is inferior. With veteran GM John Hart in charge of a long-term plan, the team traded outfielders Justin Upton, Jason Heyward and Evan Gattis during the offseason, then shocked baseball by bundling star closer Craig Kimbrel with the strikeout artist formerly known as B.J. Upton in an Opening Day Eve trade with San Diego.
Having finally ascended to a respectable place (at least on paper), the Mets expect to wrestle with Washington and Miami for supremacy in the National League East, while the perennially solid Braves are the patsy team that they need to beat. Yes, Atlanta is 4-0, but few outside the organization consider its early success sustainable.
We asked Terry Collins if it was weird to arrive in Atlanta with such low expectations of the Braves.
“Yeah,” the manager acknowledged. “They’ve done such a good job over here for so many years, especially with the pitching it just seems like all the time they’ve got pitching for you. And certainly with Kimbrel gone — and I know (new closer Jason) Grilli has done a nice job, but we’re not disappointed that (Kimbrel) is not here.”
Over the winter, Braves officials remained adamant that the team was not rebuilding, in the aftermath of previous GM Frank Wren’s dismissal, and Hart’s arrival. They pushed back against the assumption that they would be non-competitive while reloading for 2017 and the new ballpark that will open that year.
Even while working to move Heyward and Justin Upton, the team privately framed those moves as a function of both players’ impending free agencies. But surely last week’s Kimbrel trade signified an acknowledgement that the Braves were conceding to a rebuild?
Not so, says assistant GM — and likely heir to Hart — John Coppolella.
“No,” Coppolella said, in a friendly but firm tone. “It was just a value move. It was one where we felt like it was too good of a trade for us to pass up.”
The phrase “value move” can be interpreted as a polite way to say, “We convinced someone to pay .198-hitting Melvin Upton Jr. more than $46 million, and all we had to do was part with a closer who we won’t really need this year, anyway.”
The Braves still have Grilli and Jim Johnson, experienced closers, though nowhere nearly as fearsome as Kimbrel. The front of the rotation, with Shelby Miller, Julio Teheran and Alex Wood, is strong, and team officials are excited about new acquisition Trevor Cahill, pointing to the 3.85 xFIP last year to suggest that his 5.61 ERA with Arizona last year was flukey.
And as Collins notes, they have Freddie Freeman, a Met killer who has a .323 lifetime average against them, and 13 home runs.
“That stinkin’ first baseman is dangerous,” Collins says. “We haven’t got him out in four years.”
Coppolella made clear that the Braves still believe in their own chances, even if the world disagrees. “With the 25 guys we have up here right now, we feel like they can keep on winning,” he said. “It’s hard when you lose Craig Kimbrel, but there’s still 25 guys here.” Listening to that before the game, one couldn’t help but be reminded a bit of Sandy Alderson, circa 2011-2014, trying to explain a long-term plan without being able to admit that the near future could be ugly. Then the Braves played a dynamic nine innings, while remaining a threat in future seasons. Hart, and the emerging Coppolella, are highly regarded inside the game.
But this year, the Mets find themselves in an unfamiliar position of strength relative to a team that has tormented them for so long, despite how it appeared on Friday night.
Can they handle it?