OT - Being a braves fan...

bigwilli

Is beginning to become a bummer . I stuck with them when they were terrible in the 80's . I smiled through 14 division
titles , but now....We need pitching and our inept GM Frank Wren cant sign any and lets our only good pitchers walk. Cant
sign Burnett become the "evil empire" offers more money...fine . We cant trade for Peavy because the Braves dont want
to lose some average young players . We lose Mike Hampton just when he finally get healthy and to top it all off , we lose
John Soltz to the Red Sox . Whats next , is Chipper Jones gonna demand a trade.....wouldnt blame him .

Thanks for letting me vent a little.....

Ironmanfan

I'm a little surprised that John Smoltz didn't retire...I thought it would have been cool if he & Maddux got inducted into Cooperstown the same year (possibility of Glavine too).

baseballfan

try being an orioles fan

lsutigers1973

Javier Vazquez signed with the Braves.

bigwilli

Javier who??????....just kidding . But we need 3 starting pitchers . Tim Hudson isnt going to be ready until June . I just
think that if we could offer Burnett almost 90 million , why cant we sign any other pitchers . Instead Wren wants to bring
back Andruw Jones.....who couldnt hit my 8 year olds fastball. WTF

itzagoner

um, i hate to rain on your little "Why me?" parade, but the Cubs are on the verge of signing Milton Bradley.

bigwilli

...How long will it be before Bradley and Zambrano get into an argument in the dugout?

bigwilli

The Braves have said they need to generate more money.......Well you cant do that unless you bring some
excitement to the team . Fans wont spend there money at the ballpark if you cant even put a team on the field
that couldnt even beat the Bad News Bears .

itzagoner

<< <i>...How long will it be before Bradley and Zambrano get into an argument in the dugout? >>



Bradley wouldn't last long enough to toss a water bottle at Carlos' feet.

bigwilli

Hey maybe we can convince Phil Niekro and Charlie Leibrandt to come out of retirement

MooseDog

All teams go through cycles, the Braves had a great run, but now baseball is dominated by the big spending teams.

You can always become an A's fan, god knows we can use all we can get.

Here's what you can expect...don't get attached to any players. Anytime a player gets good, he gets traded for prospects. Billy Bean calls this "value over replacement player" and plays his roster like Warren Buffet plays the market.

Once those prospects get good, they get traded for more prospects.

We seem to have an endless supply of good pitching. However, a 15 win season usually results in being traded for prospects.

Every off season, a once-great slugger will be signed - Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza, now Jason Giambi. The slugger will usually have a great April and May, followed by an injury which will sideline them for most of the rest of the season, but opening the door for those prospects acquired earlier.

If the A's happen to make the playoffs, they will lose in the first round, occasionally due to some very bad luck. As Beane says "...my stuff doesn't work in the playoffs".

We have an owner who lives in the Southern part of the state (LA), whose ambition is to move the team a few miles down Hwy 880 to Fremont (?) so he has no interest in seeing the A's succeed in Oakland. It's all about making money in the real estate development. With more and more people lining up against the "multi-use development" that is planned which will create horrendous traffic jams on game days...oh, and did I mention the proposed site is downwind of a really big dump? Those warm summer nights will have quite an "air" about them.

...all in all prospects not good.

CrimsonTider

BigWilli, I feel your pain. As a child I loved watching the Braves on TBS. Living in northeast Alabama, its only a little over two hours away from Atlanta, my father and I would always catch a couple of games each year. Went to college in the early 90's in B'ham, which is about an hour and a half away, so me and my buds would make that trip fairly often.

The thought of Smoltz in a Red Sox uniform turns my stomach. If he goes, I wish him the best. Chipper's a GA boy so I hope he wants to stay.

I miss the excitment of the early 90's Braves team. I remember being so thrilled when we signed F Mcgriff that it seemed like I was walking on air for awhile, and I can still tell exactly where I was when Sid Bream scored from second base to beat the Pirates! Say it with me "Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!!!!"

I was watching the Braves game at my fraternity house when Otis Nixon made one of the greatest catches I've ever seen.

I still try not to look at my Dale Murphy cards that have him in a Phillies or Rockie's uniform. However, I still buy them for my set registery.

CdnOsfan

<< <i>try being an orioles fan >>



No kidding and who played a role in their demise, none other than Mr. Frank Wren himself!

mccardguy1

<< <i>Is beginning to become a bummer . I stuck with them when they were terrible in the 80's . I smiled through 14 division
titles , but now....We need pitching and our inept GM Frank Wren cant sign any and lets our only good pitchers walk. Cant
sign Burnett become the "evil empire" offers more money...fine . We cant trade for Peavy because the Braves dont want
to lose some average young players . We lose Mike Hampton just when he finally get healthy and to top it all off , we lose
John Soltz to the Red Sox . Whats next , is Chipper Jones gonna demand a trade.....wouldnt blame him .

Thanks for letting me vent a little..... >>



Do you really want Mike Hampton back? That guy has been nothing but a towel rack in the clubhouse for how many years now?? He should be doing time for stealing so much money!

MantleMarisFordBerra

Though I am a Yanks fan, I always enjoyed the Braves. It helped I lived rather close to their park when they used to do spring training in West Palm Beach. The Expos also used the same field. I remember in the spring of '91 I went to a game and got a BUNCH of autographs. The stands were fairly empty because the Braves had sucked up to that point, but I was 13 and loved the game so I thought it was incredible. I remember one kid yelling, "Hey Cox" at Bobby Cox walking to the dugout & Bobby wouldn't respond. So I yelled, "Hey Bobby!" and he came over & signed my glove! I also got Kelly Mann, Greg Olsen, and a few others - including John Smoltz who was out of uniform but in the stands that day. I remember other kids saying their was a contract dispute, I don't know.

But yeah those early 90's Braves teams were something. Anyone else remember Mark Lemke the 2nd baseman playing like he was Mickey Mantle every time the post season rolled around?

Darin

What happened to John Shuerholz, did he retire or is he GM for another team now?

CrimsonTider

Mark Lemke is in a battle with Glen Hubbard for the spot as 'All-time favorite Braves second baseman'.

lsutigers1973

<< <i>Mark Lemke is in a battle with Glen Hubbard for the spot as 'All-time favorite Braves second baseman'. >>



I got to go to a Braves/Astros 3-game set every summer thanks to Glen Hubbard. My Mom was in love with him. I think it was the big snake.

Goot

<< <i>

Here's what you can expect...don't get attached to any players. Anytime a player gets good, he gets traded for prospects. . >>




Which is why I don't collect Braves modern, except for Chipp.

Goot

<< <i>What happened to John Shuerholz, did he retire or is he GM for another team now? >>




He's just the president of the club now. He stepped down last year and handed GM duties over to Frank Wren.

I pray Tommy Hanson is as good has they say he is and we can get something decent out of guys like Locke, Teheran, Rohrborough, and maybe salvage Jo-Jo and Morton. Only time will tell though...

lanemyer85

"We cant trade for Peavy because the Braves dont want to lose some average young players"

no the Braves backed out of the Peavy trade because the Braves never give anyone a no-trade clause which isn't a bad policy imo. Peavy has a no-trade and wasn't willing to give up his no-trade rights. Plus the Padres were asking for a ridiculously large haul from both the Braves and Cubs...that's why the Cubs pulled out. Smoltz isn't going to contribute until June at the earliest so I guess it depends on what you realistically thought the Braves could do in the first two months of the season without him and Hudson who might be out for the entire year, not just the first half. With the Phils and Mets around with better clubs I didn't like the Braves chances even with Smoltz and Hudson for half years. Chipper will miss 2 months as always and that's really not a great offense outside of him and McCann. A mediocre Kotchman replaces Teixeira, Francouer is a ?...and the Braves might be bringing back Andruw Jones after he gets released from the Dodgers. They did trade for Javy Vasquez a solid #2 innings eater SP and he moves from an extreme hitters park to a good pitcher's park so his numbers will improve from that and moving to the NL. Plus the Braves are not out of the Derek Lowe sweepstakes yet either. Looks like it could come down to the Braves and the Mets for his services. Plus like the Rays fan above mentioned they are understandably high on top prospect Tommy Hanson who dominated the AFL. That offense has all the potential to suck, so regardless of what they do with their SP it likely won't matter if they do sign Lowe to go along with Vasquez, Jurrjens, Campillo, possibly Glavine, and maybe Hanson in May or June. Quite frankly it's a team that should rebuild...and there are already rumors that Chipper could be on the block come July....it's not like Braves fans pack that stadium anyway, they can't even sellout playoff games. The Braves are sort of like the Cardinals who cut payroll right after winning a World Series and building a new stadium. They just want to be competitive every year, but never really go all out nor fully utilize their actual income.

CrimsonTider

I miss the concrete monster called Atlanta Fulton County Stadium