Is Brian Snitker Playing With a Full Deck?

By the generally accepted definition, “playing with a full deck” refers to one’s mental status. Although some may think I’m applying this usage to Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker, there is an alternate definition that applies.

Wiktionary gives an alternate definition for this term: “(team sports) to play a game with the availability of a team’s full roster of players”.

Brian Snitker’s Bench

For much of the first two-thirds of the season, Snitker has had to ride the starting position players hard: Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis have played in every game this season, Ender Inciarte and Ozzie Albies have missed a total of seven games and catcher Kurt Suzuki is only a handful of games and plate appearances from matching his workload from last year. The reason for much of this workload is due to the lack of bench options. While Charlie Culberson has been a pleasant surprise at filling in at a number of positions and the Suzuki/Tyler Flowers tandem has worked well at catcher, the rest of the bench has ben lacking, to say the least.

Preston Tucker started out strong as a placeholder for Ronald Acuña in left field, but only managed a .231 batting average, .655 OPS and 77 wRC+ with one home run and four RBI in 70 plate appearances since April 20. Ryan Flaherty got off to a quick start at third base, even leading the National League in hitting early on, but came back down to earth and then some soon after, batting .096 and a wRC+ of -47 (yes, that says negative) with just three RBI in 55 plate appearances since May 12 but remains on the roster for now. The Braves have also rotated pieces such as Danny Santana, Peter Bourjos and Jose Bautista to little success. Finally, on July 30, the Braves traded Tucker and pitchers Lucas Sims and Matt Wisler to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Adam Duvall. Playing every day for Cincinnati exposed Duvall as a role player, playing well on defense but only hitting .199/.269/.386 versus right-handed pitching. However, he fared better against left-handers, to the tune of a .769 OPS and a 101 wRC+. While not ideal, it’s a significant improvement over Ender Inciarte’s .207/.282/.234 and 46 wRC+ numbers against lefties. Playing Duvall in a platoon strengthens the bench as the third of four possible pieces.

Brian Snitker’s Bullpen

On the pitching front, Snitker leaned on the same relievers repeatedly due to the lack of options. Sam Freeman has a 5.45 ERA and is walking 6.13 per nine innings for the season, but still managed 49 appearances before he was mercifully placed on the disabled list. Peter Moylan somehow managed to get into 39 games even though he’s had two trips to the disabled list and was generally ineffective when he wasn’t on it, compiling a 4.45 ERA, 5.27 walks per nine innings and even worse peripherals. The middle-relief/long-man slot has been a nightmare with the likes of Matt Wisler, Lucas Sims and Miguel Socolovich being mercilessly pummeled by opponents, until the recent emergence of Luke Jackson in that role. Jackson now has a 4.29 ERA for the season with a 12.4 per nine innings strikeout rate, with peripherals that suggest his numbers should be even better. The Braves have a solid core of closer AJ Minter and setup men Shane Carle, Dan Winkler and Jesse Biddle in the bullpen, along with long-man Jackson. The recent additions of Jonny Venters and Brad Brach and the possible return of Arodys Vizcaino give Snitker more options to use a better-rounded and more dependable relief unit. The likes of Max Fried, Touki Toussaint and Wes Parsons will also most likely fill relief roles between now and the end of the season to give Brian Snitker even more options going forward.

What About Now?

Going back to my original point, Brian Snitker has essentially been managing with a 20-man roster for most of the season. With the recent additions and changes, one can argue that the number is up to 24 now. I’ve advocated for the signing of someone like Adam Lind, who was recently released by the Boston Red Sox after languishing at their AAA club for much of the season. Lind had a .303/.364/.534 line with a 127 wRC+ against right-handers last season for the Washington Nationals. He only plays first base and left field and isn’t particularly good at either one, but would only be needed as a left-handed, late-innings pinch-hitting option for the Braves. This kind of addition would fill out the roster and give Snitker a full deck going into the last two months of the season, creating a situation where the team has a better chance to make the playoffs and allaying concerns that he isn’t playing with a full deck by the original definition.