No more excuses, it’s time for the Atlanta Braves to win
With another opening day upon us, hope springs eternal once again in Braves country. This time, however, there’s no room for a let down.
There’s no denying that the Atlanta Braves rebuilding process, even with its stumbling blocks, has resulted in a stacked farm system and plenty of cash on hand. Unfortunately, that was the easy part.
This isn’t intended to be a piece filled with in-depth statistics or groundbreaking tidbits, but simply the thoughts of someone who has been a big defender to date of nearly every step thus far in the rebuilding process in Atlanta.
Back in 2016, it was easy to see the fruits of a major rebuild. The big league club had a memorable second half under (then) interim manager Brian Snitker and the majority of Braves farm teams had a ton of success in their respective post seasons. Atlanta closed out Turner Field with a win in storybook fashion and phenom Dansby Swanson hit over .300 and looked like a natural.
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The 2017 season was a disappointment on many levels, and the frustration returned. As the year went on and the new wore off the SunTrust Park experience, it seemed like one thing after another for the Braves; In the midst of an MVP-type campaign, Freddie Freeman‘s hand was broken and the Atlanta bullpen, as a whole, couldn’t seem to pitch their way out of a paper bag.
To add insult to injury, the 72-90 season was capped off with the revelation that the Braves had broken Major League Baseball rules in the international market, costing the franchise a boatload of prospects and the architect of their rebuild. John Coppolella’s resignation felt like a setback, but there was still plenty to work with.
Names like Ronald Acuna, Austin Riley, Mike Soroka, Alex Jackson and Kolby Allard have made a splash down on the farm, while Ender Inciarte racked up a pair of Gold Glove awards at the big league level. Freddie Freeman seemed relatively unaffected long-term by his hand injury and there was a lot of success from young players who were called up to the show last season.
It would be easy to make excuses as the 2018 season starts Thursday night, but there shouldn’t be any need to do so, in reality. Foreign prospects are still missing and Atlanta’s pride is still a little hurt by the recent MLB sanctions, but there’s still plenty to work with. There’s enough meat on the bone for the Braves to begin to compete. Simply put, there’s no more room for excuses.
Nobody is saying here that either Alex Anthopoulos or Brian Snitker have been apologists of Atlanta’s recent losing ways. Both men seem to be well grounded in the reality of the situation. Part of that reality is a ton of legitimate young talent along with a decent amount of freed up cash to take some good stabs in the market.
The first half of the 2018 campaign should probe to be the most difficult of the rebuilding process to date. This season the Braves will have to decide who to keep and who to let go long term. Atlanta will be forced to finally decide who to promote and when to promote them. Those decisions will be even more tedious when it comes to pitching. That’s why MLB front office folks and managers make the big bucks after all.
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Braves fans around 35 and older remember being both the bottom feeder and later a perennial winner, while the 20-somethings were born into a dominant franchise. For the children in Braves country, however, their baseball lives have been bleak thus far. It’s time to give them all a winner once again. The pieces are there, they just need to be put together correctly.