CLEARWATER, Fla. – One prominent media outlet rates the rebuilding, remodeling or revamping (choose your adjective) Braves as the second-worst team in the majors, ahead of only the Phillies. Another predicts they could lose 100 games after trading away three of the best four hitters from what was the second-worst offense in baseball.
Of the seemingly countless publications and outlets covering or otherwise opining on baseball, not a one that we’re aware of picks the Braves to make the playoffs.
Which makes the mood within the organization and in the clubhouse all the more conspicuous in contrast.
Folks, these Braves don’t just believe they’ll avoid embarrassment this year; they think they will be competitive.
Nevermind aiming to be merely respectable, they believe they can start a new era of winning in the organization. Not only do they have self-respect, they have, dare we say, a little swagger. And they don’t mind if people know.
Taped to Julio Teheran’s locker stall in the Braves’ spring-training clubhouse is 10-by-12 inch laminated poster with “SWAG-LANTA” inscribed above the familiar cursive ‘A’ logo, which has a muscular arm extending from it, clutching a tomahawk. Below the ‘A’ is this: “Putting the Swagger back in the Braves, 2015”.
It’s just one innocuous poster hanging from one player’s locker, but it’s also not something that anyone is likely to ask Teheran to take down. Because the Braves feel good about themselves and want that to continue.
There’s been a positive, upbeat attitude throughout the organization this spring, and team officials certainly prefer that to players buying into all the negative stuff being written and said about their chances this season.
If there’s been an infusion of swagger, a big reason for it has been the arrival of veteran Jonny Gomes, a World Series champion with Boston in 2013, who said upon reporting to Braves spring training: “I’m here to win, and I’m here to win it all. That’s where I’m at.”
The Braves brought in Gomes in part because of his playoff experience, and the energy and aggressiveness he exudes.
Here’s what he had to say recently about the team’s performance and the mood in the clubhouse this spring:
“I don’t think anything’s really jumped out at me that I didn’t see coming, to tell the truth. It’s worked out pretty good out of the gate. (Rookie second baseman) Jace Peterson has shown up; I didn’t know him. But you’ve got to be careful right now, like in spring, everything you see, everything on the positive side is, ‘OK that’s really good,’ but everything on the negative side is, it’s only spring. So you don’t put a lot into it.
“All 30 teams are excited right now,” Gomes continued. “There’s no team that’s panicking. Everyone has swag right now. So you just have to keep yourself in check, keep your team in check, and just keep grinding every day to get better at the game.”
Still, that hard-to-define intangible, clubhouse chemistry, has been as good this spring as the Braves could possibly have hoped for from a team with so many new faces. They made a lot of their moves with that in mind, seeking to bring in players they believed would help build team unity and enthusiasm, knowing those are things they lacked a year ago and that could help get the Braves during the 162-grind that begins Monday.
Former Cardinals pitcher Shelby Miller, in his first year with the Braves, was asked recently about the clubhouse vibe.
“Oh, man, it’s much better than probably what’s predicted or what fans or other people think,” Miller said. “The locker room’s great. Great guys in the locker room. Great veterans, great leadership, and everybody seems to get along great. We’re building a chemistry and building one pretty fast. I think we all have a pretty good idea what we want to do. For 2015 I know we’re probably not projected to be the best, but we think we’re the best, and that’s how you’ve got to play every single game. Laying it all on the line. And whatever happens, happens.”
