Good morning. This is LEADOFF, today’s early look at Atlanta sports.
For a team far removed from the playoffs, the Braves continue to draw a lot of national attention this week.
Not the good kind, of course:
> FanGraphs' Dave Cameron was asked in an online chat if he agrees that former general manager John Coppolella, forced to resign amid an MLB investigation into alleged rule-breaking on the international player market, had been doing a good job rebuilding the Braves.
“Nope,” Cameron replied. “The farm system is in good shape, but the Major League team is mostly a mess. The prospects are mostly very high risk types.
“I don’t think the Braves are all that close to being good, and they haven’t done a good job of managing fan expectations.”
> Ken Rosenthal, writing for The Athletic, made a strong case for Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore to run the Braves' baseball operations.
Rosenthal closed with this blistering line about what Moore would bring to the Braves:
“He represents something the franchise currently lacks: An adult in the room.”
> Jon Heyman, in a FanRag Sports column, named the Braves' Matt Kemp "NL LVP" – least valuable player.
“He can still hit a bit, but moving looks like a chore at this point,” Heyman wrote. “Moving him elsewhere may be an even bigger chore.”
ICYMI ...
Ken Sugiura looks back – 100 years back -- to the 1917 Georgia Tech football team, which "lifted football in the South to a height it had never reached." See his story here.
D. Orlando Ledbetter assesses how the Falcons' rookies are faring four games into the season. See his story here.
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