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Thursday, March 16, 2006
The promise of April
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If someone had told you that, on March 15, Jonathan Schuerholz would be tied for the team home run lead, Mike Remlinger would be the only healthy left-hander in the bullpen, and Joey Devine would have twice as many strikeouts as any other Braves pitcher … you probably would have thought, it’s going to be a bad spring.
And it has been.
It’s been bad for the Braves for a variety of reasons, from health to WBC absences to simply poor performances from a few others the Braves had high hopes for (Brad Baker, we hardly knew ye).
But we all know what happens come April: No one remembers or cares what happened in March. So let’s not get carried away, folks. I realize most of you aren’t, but a few seem to be getting alarmed and concerned. Don’t fret.
Sure, the bullpen has more holes than my Kiss Army T-shirt from 1978. Sure, Jeff Francoeur is getting only slightly more plate appearances than I am. Sure, Horacio Ramirez and John Thomson have looked entirely mediocre, and Jorge Sosa has been _ well, we’d have to look up WBC stats to see exactly what he’s been doing, and I’m too busy watching the NCAA basketball tournament to do that.
But all I’m saying is, the Braves have had bad springs before, and bad for no reason other than they just stunk — no WBC or ebola virus, just bad. And you know what? At least since 1991, it hasn’t mattered. They’ve finished first in every completed season since then, from what I’m told.
They are 5-9-1 entering tonight’s game at Port St. Lousy against the Mets. Last year, the Braves finished 12-15-1 in the Grapefruit League. The year before, 14-17. In 2000, 14-17. In 1998, 13-17. 1997, 10-18… you get the picture.
The Braves have had losing records in six of the last nine spring trainings, and guess what? They finished first in the division every year.
Now there are other, more relevant reasons to be concerned about this team (see above — the bullpen’s suspect, back of the rotation looks unimpressive, etc.), including my biggest one: The Braves are relying heavily on a lot of players with one year of service or less to play major roles on this team.
Three of their eight projected starting position players have only played one full season or less — Langerhans, Francoeur, McCann. And if Jurries gets regular work as a platoon first baseman, it could be half of the lineup on many days.
But I also know how John (the other one) Schuerholz operates. He could pull off a trade before we leave this Hellish Theme Land, and I think he will, to add at least one reliever.
Then there’s the fact the Braves have several million bucks available to fill a hole or two at midseason, something they haven’t necessarily had at their disposal in recent years. If they need another bat or arm at the trade deadline, they can go out and get it.
They also have plenty of tradeable parts that teams are interested in, ranging from pitchers (Thomson or Horacio will get traded, I continue to believe) to middle infielders (Wilson Betemit is drawing interest again from other teams) to a load of prospects (they have more middle infielders than they know what to do with, and catchers, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia isn’t going to be traded, period).
Just a couple things from the past few days while I was tending to my ill horse on the farm: Chipper isn’t moving to first base. We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again. And he’s not going to be traded. Keep talking about it if it’s fun and all, but it’s not going to happen.
Giles isn’t going to be traded and second base turned over to Wilson Betemit. This lineup already has enough question marks; the Braves aren’t going to trade away one of the two or three most productive second baseman in baseball, at least not until next winter when they know who’s ready to take over the job.
OK, I’d go on, but this post is due so they can get it on the big, unfortunately named 4 p.m. Blitz.
But one other matter:
There’s a spine-tingling scene in the new Neil Young movie, “Heart of Gold” (it’s on at the Tara), when ol’ Neil plays his song This Old Guitar from his LP “Prairie Wind” while playing THE guitar, which belonged to the great Hank Williams.
The significance, other than it being Hank’s guitar and the inspiration for the song is that Neil is playing it at the Ryman Auditorium, where he said Hank last played it in 1951, before getting kicked out of the Grand Ole Opry (as a bonus, the ever-gorgeous Emmylou Harris does the song with him).
So there he is, playing it in front of the footlights that Johnny Cash on speed once kicked out. God, it’s great stuff. Everyone should see it. It’s really great, important music, and Neil is just a giant, making as good or better stuff than ever.
(Skynyrd fans, you know Neil and and Ronnie were actually close friends, right? That both bands appreciated and admired the other despite the hype about “Southern Man” and Skynyrd’s response in “Sweet Home Alabama”? By the way, I got the new, expanded double-CD “Gimme Back My Bullets” while home in Atlanta. Great additional stuff, including a DVD of a special they did on BBC around that time).
Anyway, the Neil movie, an absolute must-see for any fan, is up-close (extremely up close in many instances) footage of the entire concert he did at Nashville last year, shortly after surgery for a brain aneurysm .
He’s got his usual great backing band, plus a Memphis horn section and background singers including Emmylou. Simply awesome. Neil’s anecdotes and asides about his dad and daughter show sides of him I’ve never seen. Touching, to say the least.
It reminded me of the Scorcese film “The Last Waltz,” or “Stop Making Sense,” the Talking Heads movie also directed by Jonathan Demme, who directs “Heart of Gold.” It’s as good as its gets for a concert film.
New suitors worth getting excited about?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two new prospective buyers of the Braves have emerged, and while neither has the name recognition of Arthur Blank, both are local. What do you think about the two parites — radio-magnate Lew Dickey Jr. and Ron Terwillinger’s investment group? Would you be pleased if either ended up buying the team, or are you holding out for Blank to make another run?
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