Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: This Scheme Won’t Work, AFL Wrap
Construction ain’t pretty. Rio de Janeiro; Brazil; Construction continues inside the Olympic Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports
Trust the process: Rebuilding plan is what’s best for Atlanta Braves
Complete rebuilds, by their very nature, are ugly little messes that go against the whole point of sports, which is to win. It’s why even after the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs showed just how effective a to-the-studs teardown can be, a certain cognitive dissonance among fans still exists. Winning is great, so long as it doesn’t take losing to get there.
Here, then, are the Atlanta Braves, who are losing but don’t exactly want to say they’re losing because they picked about the worst possible time to start losing: in the run-up to the opening of a new stadium that gets somewhere between half and two-thirds of its funding from public money earmarked by politicians and not an open vote. So, essentially, the Braves will benefit from money unwittingly offered by the citizens to whom they’re now peddling bad baseball as an amuse-bouche for a stadium some citizens may not have wanted in the first place.
The best intentions can fall prey to bad timing, and that’s where the Braves seem to find themselves now, after the trade of shortstop Andrelton Simmons fomented unrest and the chatter about the Braves’ willingness to trade first baseman Freddie Freeman made even more waves.
Here are the facts: Ken Rosenthal’s report that the Braves talked about dealing Freeman was 100 percent true. Three sources told Yahoo Sports that Freeman’s name came up in conversations with the Houston Astros as part of a mega-trade that would’ve included more than five players. It went nowhere. Neither did light chatter with other teams. Discussions about franchise-type players owed more than $100 million rarely do, and that context is vital in understanding what Atlanta is trying to do.
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[ Ed. note: much more about rebuilds and musings about the process available at the link above. And immediately after the conclusion of Passan’s article, you have links available for the Yahoo Sports Daily Fantasy leagues in which you can win big prizes for a nominal entry fee.
Illegal in Alabama… probably. *smh* ]
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