AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > April > 01 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTough to judge this book by its cover
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
If you want to know about the past, you’ll find it on banners in the outfield. Otherwise, the Braves are pretty much devoid of reminders. We are now like old men sitting on the porch, complaining about the cost of a bowl of soup and the fact that nobody has ever really replaced Mark Lemke.
The media guide cover? It depicts two kids. Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur are less than two years removed from being a major league novelty and their first legal beer.
The roster has only two leftovers from the 1995 World Series team, one (John Smoltz) possibly gone after this season and the other (Chipper Jones) possibly soon to follow, assuming his body parts hold together. The only other reminder in the dugout from even a pennant team is Andruw Jones, and this season amounts to a farewell tour.
These are the Braves today. They have talent. They have youth. They have a bullpen (we think).
What they don’t have is much of a résumé. They’re a blank page. Maybe they go back to the playoffs. Maybe, as Chipper Jones said, “Just because we lost last season doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten how to finish first.”
But this is what we don’t say: “The Braves? They’ll figure out a way. They always do.” Because last season, for the first time since we finally got over the Nick Esasky hangover, they didn’t.
Bobby Cox, the Braves manager, generally gives his players the same speech every spring training. In so many words, it’s, “We’re here to win a championship.” This year, he tweaked it slightly.
“I just told them a lot of good things happened last year,” he said. “Losing sucks and all that. But it happened, and I told them why it happened. We had a good team. We had one soft area, and that was it. I thought last year’s team worked harder than any team we ever had. We had a lot of great things that happened. But when you blow 30 games in the bullpen — it doesn’t mean we had a bad team.”
No, the Braves aren’t a bad team.
We just can’t be sure how good they are.
General manager John Schuerholz certainly strengthened the bullpen with the additions of Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano. Losing the division, Schuerholz said, created “an intensity and a focus in our meetings even sharper than most offseasons. And once we made the deals for the bullpen, the countenance and the spirit of our team changed.”
That said, it would be overly simplistic to conclude all is well. There are too many issues.
The entire right side of the infield, Kelly Johnson and Scott Thorman, is untested. Johnson also is hitting leadoff, which has been a black hole since Rafael Furcal left. Three months from now, we may still be asking, “Who starts in left?”
The starting rotation may be very good. Or not. There was an attempt to bring back Tom Glavine that failed. Smoltz shows no signs of breaking down. But wouldn’t you feel more comfortable if he were the No. 2 starter at almost 40? Tim Hudson, the intended staff ace, has been going the wrong way in his two seasons. Mike Hampton is coming off major surgery and injured himself taking batting practice. Chuck James — suddenly he’s No. 3 as a sophomore.
How many games does Chipper miss? How will the distraction of impending free agency affect Andruw?
The Braves are a team devoid of assumptions.
“We had less question marks last year at the beginning of the year, but there’s more upside this year,” Smoltz said.
He will tell you that, despite failing to win the division, the start of this season didn’t feel different. Failure is failure, whether it’s losing in the playoffs or not getting there at all.
“When I sit and watch other teams play,” Smoltz said, “that’s about the worst feeling for me, whether it’s Oct. 1, Oct. 18 or Oct. 20. It all feels the same. It infuriates me, and that’s a feeling that I hope carries over to 25 players.” Better? Maybe.
Different? Certainly.
If you want comfort, you’re in the wrong era.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves / MLB, Jeff Schultz
Comments
By Gene
April 2, 2007 10:20 AM | Link to this
The Mets looked good last night. It is a shame that the Braves didn’t pick up Glavin when they had the chance, and trading LaRoche will probably prove to be a bad move. I personally would rather see some good hustling baseball than see the Braves win the division only to lollygag in October.
By JSS
April 2, 2007 12:13 PM | Link to this
Hey is somebody stealing Dave O’Brien’s blogs from two months ago? Oh, it is just the NO TALENT HACK, and he’s at it again, just downright STEALING!!!
Jeff Schultz, does having one original thought scare you that much? OK, so it is 12:15PM and you’re still a NO TALENT HACK!!!
By Alan
April 2, 2007 5:25 PM | Link to this
Jeffry, Jeffry, Jeffry.I hope this finds you as happy to see baseball season as I am. Of course, when will you ever find time to cover basketball or hockey? Gag. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Last year the Braves spent an entire month headlining the loss column and blew more saves than a two legged Newfoundland. This year should be fun! Sorry I didn’t have anything more insightful to post but hey, that’s your job.
By Scott
April 2, 2007 5:27 PM | Link to this
The Braves won.
That’s all that matters. Brian McCann is the best young catcher in baseball, yes better than Mauer. And we still have veterans around him. Renteria, Chipper, and Andruw are all back. This team looked good, with Smoltz looking flat out filthy until he got tired.