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Saturday, June 30, 2007
Braves now just a team in transition
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
During 14 full seasons we witnessed the extraordinary. We saw a team finish first every single time. There was no impediment so immense the Braves couldn’t figure a way around it, or over it, or through it. Indeed, if the great streak were still intact we’d be sitting here fully believing they’ll find a way to overhaul the Mets.
But the great streak isn’t intact. It ended last year. And the Braves are something different, something less. They’re the team that, since the beginning of the 2006 season, is 121-121. That’s the definition of ordinary.
They awoke Saturday having won four in a row. They began the week having lost five in a row. That’s what the Braves do now. They look good for a little while, and then they look less good. They have too many gifted players — and too shrewd a manager — to be dismissed, too many holes to be seen as a threat to win the World Series. That used to be the stated goal here every year, but it faded about the time the payroll started coming down.
A lavish payroll, as we know, doesn’t guarantee excellence, but a big-spending team has the luxury of outspending its mistakes. The Braves must now settle for tinkering and tweaking. Should we really be surprised that the team with the 15th-highest payroll among 30 major-league clubs has played .500 ball over the last season and a half?
Credit the Braves for being resourceful. They turned an outfielder into a decent second baseman over the winter, and they’re trying to turn a catcher into a first baseman now. They’ve been buoyed by a new left fielder and a rookie shortstop who has been asked to play two other positions. These maneuvers have kept the Braves afloat at a time when their All-Star center fielder is hitting .199, but it defies rational thought that Willie Harris and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Yunel Escobar can continue to carry the team Andruw Jones was supposed to carry.
And it defies rational thought that this rotation will be good enough to hold up over three more months. Mike Hampton was supposed to be the linchpin, but he never got started. Mark Redman was supposed to fill the gap, but he’s already gone. Lance Cormier was supposed to be the needed reinforcement, but he’s back on the disabled list with a “tired arm” after yielding seven home runs in 7 2/3 innings.
We keep expecting the Braves to make a trade to rectify the rotation because making big trades is what the Braves used to do. But should we really expect the team that opened the season with a half-new infield to find a difference-making starting pitcher in the next month? And should we really want the Braves to acquire a pitcher who isn’t apt to stay with the Braves beyond this season — Mark Buerhle, say — if it means losing Salty or Escobar?
This is officially a team in transition. It’s no longer the club that can count on massive seasons from the Joneses — Chipper for reasons of health, Andruw for reasons unclear — or seamless performances from the rotation. The staples are staples no more. We knew the great run of first-place finishes would end someday, and now that it has it’s hard to imagine this middling team finishing first, or even a wild-card-worthy second.
And yet we continue to hold out hope that the Braves will think of something again because during 14 full seasons the Braves always thought of something. The sad truth is that these Braves aren’t those Braves. They still have a chance in the East because the Mets lost 14 of their first 18 in June, but the Mets aren’t apt to do that again. The Mets, see, have better players. The Mets, see, have a better team.
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