Will Alberto Callaspo Still Be A Brave This Weekend?
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Braves offense is drastically improved over last year’s quagmire. Nearly every position player is hitting well this season under new hitting coach Kevin Seitzer’s watch. Unfortunately, contact-hitting switch hitter Alberto Callaspo has not been one of those Braves. Even though Callaspo has only struck out ten times this season in 123 plate appearances, his .206 batting average and .293 on-base percentage are alarming. With 3B Chris Johnson set to return from a broken wrist Thursday versus the San Francisco Giants, is the writing on the wall for utility man Alberto Callaspo?
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Something does seem fishy with the Alberto Callaspo situation. He was last night’s slated starter at 3B in Los Angeles but Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez scratched him from the lineup fifteen minutes before game time in favor of Pedro Ciriaco. Pedro played well last night with two hits and an RBI in his impromptu start at third. During the entire telecast, Braves Country was not made aware of why Callaspo wasn’t starting.
According to David O’Brien of the AJC, the Atlanta Braves are looking to trade Callaspo some time this week. I believe this is John Hart’s way of attempting to get something for Alberto Callaspo before he is likely DFA’d when Johnson rejoins to the big league ball club in the Bay Area. It’s looking like Hart isn’t going to put up with sub-.300 OBPs this year. After watching Dan Uggla and Melvin Upton, Jr. these lat few years, I really couldn’t blame him.
While so much of the Callaspo situation is contingent on CJ’s return from the DL, you can sense that Atlanta’s improved roster has made Callaspo look worse by comparison. He lost the starting second base job to rookie Jace Peterson in spring training. Alberto didn’t command playing time when he was in a platoon with Chris Johnson at third. Phil Gosselin got more playing time during the Johnson injury because he was swinging a hot bat until Phil got hurt playing third. Todd Cunningham shouldn’t get sent down to AAA with the way he is hitting from both sides of the plate. And though Ciriaco hasn’t been spectacular at the plate, he is coming back from a late spring injury and can play shortstop if Andrelton Simmons were to need back up there.
I do think that Callaspo’s days on the Atlanta 25-man roster are coming to an end. But even though he is struggling at the plate this season for the Braves, I do feel that Hart will find Callaspo a new big league ball club to play for this weekend. Perhaps a change of scenery will do wonders for the switch-hitting infielder that doesn’t strike out. He has major league value and I fully expect Hart to come away with either a mid-level prospect or another arm for the Atlanta ‘pen to use.
Though nothing is official, I really like how John Hart makes adjustments to his roster out of lack of production versus out of fear of eating money. At the end of the day, it’s all about winning ball games and Braves are in good hands with Hart running the front office for the time being until Assistant Braves GM John Coppolella is ready to take over in the not-so distant future.