Monday, July 28, 2008

It's Over

Tim Hudson is going to have Tommy John surgery. Well, that hasn't actually been prescribed yet, but his MRI shows elbow ligament damage and he's off to see Dr. James Andrews tomorrow. We all know how that's going to end.

There has not been a Braves season like this in nearly twenty years, but at least back in the 80s there wasn't some semblance of hope like their was with this team, so it was better then somehow. The only good news to report is that the Braves have finally decided to face their fate and have announced that they're accepting offers for Teixeira.

And really, if I'm Frank Wren, I trade Ohman and Kotsay and everything else not nailed down or named McCann, Escobar, Jurrjens, and maybe Johnson and Campillo. I guess you don't/can't trade Chipper because he's basically the Braves' Al Kaline, but if he so much as shrugged uncomfortably I'd seek his approval to ship him off someplace where he could end his career as a winner. Everyone else can go as far as I'm concerned. The whole superstructure can be burnt down.

Final move: retire Bobby Cox back to a senior adviser role in the hopes that he can bring back the heady days of 1986-1990 when he was responsible for the drafting and development of Ron Gant, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, Pete Smith, David Justice, and Chipper Jones. Likely? No, but I have too much respect for the guy as a manager to make him have to squeeze into that uniform anymore and teach a bunch of kids who were in diapers the last time the Braves had to rebuild.

It's 1984 all over again, Braves Nation. Let's ease into it as quickly yet gracefully as we possibly can and hope that this time our time in the wilderness is shorter than it was before.

3 comments:

tadthebad said...

Ouch. That had to hurt.

Mac said...

I dunno. The Braves are clearly in better shape than they were in 1984, because they have a few more pieces -- back then, they basically had Murphy and Hubbard and didn't trust Hubbard. As I've written before, building a good offense with what they have should not be difficult, because they have good players, even great players, at the four spots where it's hardest to find good players.

Losing Hudson, now, that's a catastrophe. If they want to compete in 2009 -- and I'm not willing to give up yet -- they're going to have to pound opponents into submission.

Oh, and shoot Francoeur.

Ron Rollins said...

You can have Dayton Moore back. After all, he's done a great of rebuilding in Kansas City.

You can have Tony Pena, Jr back also. Thanks.

And Kyle Davis.

And Ross Gload.

I know he didn't come from the Braves, but its worth a try.

You guys are too smart to take Guillen. Aren't you?