Teixeira is a very good player just sort-of piles up stats at the beginning of the year. I saw him take way too many called third strikes this year. While he’s phenomenal after the all-star break, he’s basically dead weight at the beginning of the season.

Like Random Braves Fan said, you look at his numbers and are really surprised they’re as good as they are.
That said, his defense is second to none.

Your observation of the numbers not equaling the product on the field was exactly how I felt about Casey Kotchman’s time with the Angels. He was a nice player, but I never saw a player who lived up to the hype that accompanies all the years atop the Baseball America prospect list. The power never really developed… and the .330 minor league average translated to a .300 (at best) big league average. And fragile….to my recollection the only professional athlete to miss an entire season to mono!?

I wish Kotchman the best, but he was worth 2 months of Teixeira (and/or the 2 compensation picks he’ll bring if he signs elsewhere).

To paraphrase, most of the comments were, “I can’t believe we traded Casey Kotchman. He has really turned into such a good player. We traded away a Gold Glove 1B. He’s the best defensive 1B in the league!”

I tried to assure them that they were not only getting a very good hitter, but that Mark Teixeira was also a Gold Glove 1B who would make some very nice defensive plays for the Halos.

I’m afraid most of them were still depressed. Looking back, I think that it was a good trade for both teams. As most of you folks already knew, Casey Kotchman is a fine 1B in his own right and obviously, you have seen that Tex is a highly-skilled defensive player who also swings a very productive bat.

As to the previous comments about ARod, both he & Tex are cut from the same mold in my book. Statistically both are elite players, but not necessarily guys that based on intangibles you’d look to build a team around.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Tex and hope he does well - but I think given the likely $$ and years it will take to lock him up this winter, the Braves were wise to get a guy like Kotchman in return and say farewell.

Before I start my long-winded post, I want to point out that when the Braves traded for Teixeira last season, he mashed down the stretch just like he did for you guys. We still didn’t make the playoffs, but I want to make clear that this isn’t what I’m referring to. Down the stretch in 2007 the Braves pitching, aside from Smoltz and Hudson, was atrocious. It was city-league softball if Smoltz and Huddy weren’t out there. Teixeira’s play in that stretch was the definition of elite.

Watching Teixeira in 2008, however, has set what I see being played out on the field against my value of statistics/production against each other to some extent.

To explain what I mean, watching Jeff Francoeur this year, I would’ve told you without looking at any stats (besides what they display on the TV) that he was awful. And the numbers back this up. The opposite would be true for players like Chipper & McCann…they looked good to the fan’s eye, and put up great numbers.

But there is something about Teixeira that makes what I watched, mostly this season, not quite match up with the numbers he had when he was traded. I just checked his slash stats from his time with Atlanta this season (.283/.390/.512) and yet again I was surprised they were that good. I can’t explain it, and to say he’s simply “very good” instead of “elite” doesn’t really explain it, but I suppose it’s a basic way to say what I want to say.

The fan’s eye vs. production confusion I experienced is entirely from this season, so maybe I just had a bad taste in my mouth after his usual mundane April & May, or from the fact that the Braves were stagnant at the best of times this season.

By the way, although some Braves fans aren’t thrilled with Kotchman’s play with us this season, I’m excited to have him. His defense is solid and I think he’ll bounce back at the plate next season.

Anyway, thanks for reading & good luck next season!