-> The only thing McGriff has been consistant at lately is hitting weak
-> grounders to 2nd with guys on base, leading to inning-ending double
-> plays.  Oh, and consistantly playing terrible defense.  And lest I
-> forget, watching his fly balls from home plate, and then realizing
-> they're not going out of the park and then start running.
->
-> But I agree that the Galarraga signing was stupid.
True, wasn't McGriff amongst the 1997 league leaders in GIDP (grounding into 
double plays)?? I believe Piazza was first, and McGriff was somewhere in the 
top 3 or 4... What has happened with his power in recent years, I dunno. His 
average has usually been surprisingly good in the last couple seasons (ie. 
during the time of his power outage), but he hits a few in bunches, then 
seems to go dead for weeks...
Defense, well, McGriff has always been consistant at defense.. Consistatly 
terrible!! Yet, like his former Tononto teammate George Bell, refuses to 
accept a position as a DH. Toronto drafted John Olerud in 1990 with the 
intention of making Olerud the first baseman and DH'ing McGriff, but he 
pitched such a fit over it they felt more inclined to ship him to San Diego.. 
He's been terrible at first base in 1997, terrible defensively with the 
Braves, and in fact, terrible defensively since he came into the league in 
1987. That hasn't changed and likely never will, and if the Braves only 
dumped McGriff to get Galarraga because of defense, they've made a poor 
decision.
-> The Braves are still very strong, despite John Schuerholz's best
-> efforts to destroy them.  However, their future does not look bright.
I've felt Schurholtz has been trying to destroy the Braves for a few seasons 
now, with bright moves like: Justice and Grissom for Lofton and Embry.. Had 
Lofton not have an injury-plagued season in 1997 where he struggled to get 
used to NL pitching (and particularly NL catchers and pitchers' moves to 
first), he likely would've been demanding $12-13 million a year (Remember his 
response before being traded when Cleveland offered $47 million over 5 
years?? "You guys aren't even in the same ballpark!"... True, it's possibly 
that Justice's big 1997 was because he needed a change of scenary, but still, 
not a good trade.. They pretty much let Blauser walk away (and as I've asked 
before, who's playing SS in 1998?? BELLIARD?!?), losing Steve Avery (who may 
be a dead duck, but it's hard to write him off just yet, considering he's, 
what, 28?? Just entering his prime, supposedly...) And why they don't get a 
new left fielder to replace Ryan Klekso, who reminds me of Rob Deer, I 
dunno.. Perhaps the Braves are tired of winning, perhaps Turner doesn't want 
to pay a massive luxury tax, but that team is declining in talent every 
year... I guess they really DO wanna follow in the footsteps of the Florida 
Marlins.. The WRONG ones!
--- DB 1.39/003705
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