Former St. Louis Cardinals infielder/outfielder Joe Mather discusses his move to the Atlanta Braves
On Friday, January 21, former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Joe Mather was interviewed by Bill Shanks on The Braves Show Talk Show. Bill is my Scout.com counterpart covering Mather’s new team, the Atlanta Braves. Shanks also writes for the Macon Telegraph and FOX Sports South.
Mather reports to his first Braves camp next month competing for a reserve outfield spot after having been claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals on November 3. His first conversation, 15 minutes after having been informed of the move, was from Braves assistant general manager Bruce Manno, the former Cardinals farm director.
“He told me they like my versatility,” Mather said. “They also like that I can hit right-handed. In fact, there are quite a few lefties on the team right now. That can only help someone like me…”
Mather explained 2010 was his first injury-free year in the last three and expressed a bit of frustration over that affect on his play. He was very complimentary of the Cardinals and his decade in their system.
“I feel great. I had been rehabbing for two years and feel as healthy now as I have been in the last four years,” the man known in Springfield for his power as ‘Joey Bombs’ said.
Mather outlined his high school history as a shortstop, noting he can play second or short “in a pinch” and feels he can play defense at a “major league level” at first base, third base and all three outfield positions. He considers right field his most comfortable and best position with centerfield his favorite.
“Like I told Bruce, I am coming in ready to play seven positions if they need that,” Mather explained. “I am ready to play wherever they can put me.”
Mather will be coming to camp with an eye toward replacing departed Matt Diaz as the Braves primary right-handed hitting outfielder off the bench. Like every player, he’s always looking for an opportunity to start as well.
“I feel like I am a big league player and an everyday player and I hope for that opportunity,” he admitted.
Among the items Mather disclosed during the Q&A is that he grew up as a Boston Red Sox fan, but he is undergoing a crash course in the Atlanta Braves culture and roster, as he doesn’t yet know anyone on the team’s depth charts personally.
Mather acknowledged he had heard past rumors that he might have been discussed in conjunction with potential trades for relievers Mike Gonzalez or Rafael Soriano. (I knew that could not be true since I have read from reputable sources that there is only one prospect in the entire Cardinals system that has trade value!)
In closing, Mather asked if he could bring ex-Braves farmhand Adam Wainwright back to Atlanta with him.
“Oh man, I wish I could… I think that sometime down the road, I don’t think he would mind being an Atlanta Brave again,” Mather said about Wainwright.
With that remark, Mather has officially joined the ranks of the enemy!
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I close with a classic photo I shot late one afternoon in spring training a few years back in better times as Mather (right) and roommate Brendan Ryan were horsing around.
I really like Joe and definitely am pulling for him to make the 25 man roster and hopefully get to watch him start on opening day as I will be in the stands.
He’s a good looking kid………just needs to temper/scale his swing/contact expectations in negative counts………………….. bet they make him a player…………..
Always thought ‘Bombs’ was a dual-edged nickname… Good luck to him, except for when the Cards play the Bravos…
Just for you Tex
http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201101/sabermetrician-exile
After reading that, it’s starting to make sense… nerdy Chicago kid, picked on at school, son of a cop, worked with lawyers
, bipolar, depressed, lonely, unemployed college drop-out, punk-rocker, soccer-watching, spreadsheet-obsessed, Bill James wanna-be.. creates new meaning in baseball sitting in his PJ’s at midnight, trolling the internet.. 
Still ain’t buying it… The day pitchers take the field without a defense, then FIP will have more meaning than ERA. Until then… it’s an interesting way of looking at things but isn’t the great truth or shining path some make it out to be, IMO.
It’s long been known that walks are bad, that HRs result from pitching mistakes.. the hanging curve, fastballs in the happy zone, lack of movement and velocity. Looking at the success of a guy like Dave Duncan, who preaches keeping the ball down and pitching to contact, one can see that a pitcher can be very effective without strike outs… so long as he doesn’t give up the walks and HRs.
A pitcher has a defense behind him and a high percentage of balls put in play will find one of them. Even the best hitters make outs at a 70% clip… That’s one for the actuarial tables.
I’m sure no one here is surprised that:
a) Tex’s first reaction is to try to denigrate the individuals involved rather than talk about the issue and challenge the findings; and
b) deny the math that has been reviewed by 100′s of mathematician’s and found to be sound and correct. The math that has been widely accepted by nearly al teams in baseball. He simply dismisses it because it doesn’t fir with his world view (or his arguments); and
c) then tries to change the subject and the argument to something that does nothing to discredit the findings.
I know I’m not!
CC — You miss arguing with me, don’t you?
Denigrate? No, I just summarized points made in the story. If you review, you’ll find it’s an accurate summary.
As an engineer, I’m not afraid of math… nor awed by it. I fully understand that math is a tool, which depends on the assumptions it’s fed. And I’m quite familiar with the concept of GIGO.
I’m not arguing about math, but about a concept that walks, strike outs and HR are the ONLY or even the BEST way to evaluate pitching performance. And surely, given our discussions, you didn’t expect that article was going to induce an amazing conversion, did you?
P.S. Must be cold in Batavia right now!!!
That’s a sad story. The guy is a genius. I managed to have a tiny bit of limited interaction with him, and he seemed like a really nice guy.
‘Nutla’ ?
Fixed.
Asperger’s Syndrome……………..a high functioning form of autism…………
The article is very revealing. The scope of it, or the resolution of its speculative side is also present in the application of its principles.
I could invalidate all of it………………….or………….I could validate all of it……….. making my self a fool for either act………………….however, this is not a zero sum equation.
The reason it’s called Money Ball is something you both should think about………. in reality, Dave’s book……..its usage and non usage………its application and probable absorption characteristics, to high school educated pitchers and a puertorican catcher may make any equations a bit “iffy” to invest in………………….but since those are also variables that can be assessed to some degree…………the question is…………is it cost efficient to translate any of this into the rude and primitive symbolism of the “playground”…..to feed back to the participants…….which again changes the variables in the equation……………….??????????
It probably has more value for intellectual investors to assess their “live stock”…………….. or a way for non players, obsessed with the games symbolism, to meter their emotional response to situational events beyond there control………………….
Day #3.
Great photo Brian. I will miss their videos. They were hilarious. Too bad they couldn’t have gone to the same team.
Four, but who’s counting? Four days without the sun rising in the east!!!
So Albert now has a Twitter account, a FB page and a website. What does this mean about the Pujols negotiations WC?
I kept looking for the “Contract Status” tab on the website, but couldn’t locate it.