The Bench Is Costing Us Wins!

Everyone knows that the Braves go only four deep in the rotation and that, before the acquisition of Mark Teixeira, they had a black hole (at least as far as offensive production is concerned) at 1B, but the weakness of the bench is often overlooked. That said, it is no small drain on the team.

Failed starters and full-time bench-warmers alike, Atlanta has been seriously hurt by those hitters that have not carried their own wait in the line-up. While some might temper that with solid defense, must simply weigh the team down. Players that are no longer with the organization such as Ryan Langerhans and Craig Wilson, as well as some who have been sent down to the minors (Pete Orr, Brayan Pena and Julio Franco among those) cost the Braves 20 runs, i.e. 2 wins, before they were cast aside. Others that are still with the team, such as Scott Thorman, Chris Woodward and Martin Prado, carry a negative value of 14.4 runs due to their bat. All of these scores are from Baseball Prospectus in terms of VORP. That means that the weak hitting bench is responsible for the difference between Atlanta and first place in the NL East.

Moving forward, it's hard to see any minor leaguers having an immediate impact at the major league level, but perhaps simply using the bench less would be a reasonable alternative. Instead of essentially platooning Johnson and Escobar at 2B, why not use Yunel to give the other infielders regular rest? With him and whichever LF they're not using that day (either Matt Diaz or Willie Harris) the bench seems to be solid enough at the top so as not to dip to deep into it. I see the problem, but don't really see an obvious solution. I feel as though the expansion of the roster might allow for outstanding prospects such as Brent Lillibridge and especially Brandon Jones to correct this problem down the stretch and possibly into the playoffs. Something needs to be done about this, I'm just not sure what exactly.