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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > March > 21
Friday, March 21, 2008
One title still left in these Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s one more division title left in these Braves, one more to prove that consecutive third-place finishes weren’t quite the end of the road, one more to put a big fluffy bow on a era that has spanned nearly two decades.
They would have finished first last season if they’d had any starting pitching beyond Tim Hudson and John Smoltz, and now they do. The key to the offseason wasn’t so much Tom Glavine, who’ll help, but Jair Jurrjens, who should do more than help. He should galvanize a rotation that has been in recycle mode. He’s the Live Young Arm this franchise hasn’t had since … who? Kevin Millwood? Steve Avery? Smoltz himself?
Pitching is what long ago made the Braves the Braves, and pitching is what will make it 15 division titles over 17 completed seasons. The rest of the bunch doesn’t have long to run: Glavine will be 42 Tuesday; Smoltz is 40, Mike Hampton is 35, Hudson 32. Jurrjens, who’s 22, could be the link between the aging staff that will squeeze out one more first-place finish and the new group that will keep this team in contention beyond 2010.
The discrepancy in those ages is the reason these Braves have one more title left in them, one only. This could be Glavine’s last season, and surely Smoltz’s isn’t far behind, and how many different muscles can Hampton pull before he gives it up for good? Among the everyday eight, Chipper Jones turns 36 next month and Andruw Jones is gone and Mark Teixeira is probably going.
Teixeira is primed to have the best season of a stellar career. He’s obviously tickled to be a Brave, but throughout baseball Teixeira is regarded as the truest believer of all Scott Boras’ famous clients. Even if the Braves reach the World Series and he’s named MVP — both of which could well happen — there’s not apt to be any hometown discount offered or even considered.
“With the Rangers,” Teixeira said this spring, “there was so much unknown. You were always hoping you’d have a good season. With the Braves, you expect to have a good season.”
Even if Teixeira departs for bigger money come the fall, that doesn’t mean the Braves were wrong to trade for him. It was the right deal at the time: Andruw Jones was about to exit and leave a hole behind Chipper Jones in the order, and the prospect of stacking Chipper and Teixeira back-to-back — two splendid switch-hitters, neither of whom is going to strike out at Andruw’s numbing rate — was too good to pass up.
If a miracle occurs and the Braves somehow find the money to keep Teixeira — or, miracle of all miracles, if Boras decides to ask for less instead of his customary more — then that trade will give this team a flying start on the next decade. If not, it was still a risk worth running. The past two seasons have taught us that the Braves can no longer count on winning just because they’re the Braves and they win every single season. They had to make a big move to maximize what’s left of this run of excellence, assuming anything is.
And there’s one more division title to be plucked. The Mets, the advent of Johan Santana notwithstanding, must live with the knowledge that they blew a season that was all but impossible to blow. The Phillies nearly fired Charlie Manuel a year ago and are still a combustible enterprise. These Braves can do this: They can win one more for Bobby Cox, one more for their legacy.
“What they’ve done over here is absolutely incredible,” Teixeira said. “It should go down in history as one of the greatest achievements in the history of the sport.”
The great run isn’t quite done. There’s one more postseason berth out there, one more to show everyone that the Braves aren’t yesterday’s men just yet, one more before the rebuilding begins in earnest.
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