By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Well this pretty much sucks.

After leaving the game on May 17^th, Braves Country’s worst fear was realized. Freddie Freeman would be missing significant time. In fact, he’d be out with a broken wrist for 10 weeks.

Just like that the career best and MVP-caliber season Freeman was working on is lost.  Sure, he could come back with a vengeance but come September there will still be a big, gaping, two month hole in the middle of his season. This obviously, no pun intended, hurts for Freddie but it has dire consequences for the rest of the Braves.

Freddie Freeman is the Braves’ best player, that’s not news but he’s so important to this team for so many reasons. His personality and clubhouse presence is well documented but he’s a leader on the field; not just with his talent and production but with his work ethic and attitude.

He also is nearly irreplaceable in the three hole. Markakis will likely spend time there in his absence and while Markakis is consistent and will hit for a high average, he’s sitting on one homer for the year. While that’s low for him, Freddie was leading the league in home runs with 14.

Matt Kemp has been having a great season as well, batting well over .300 with some pop in the form of both doubles and home runs but he too can’t replace Freddie.

Moreover, moving either Markakis or Kemp into the third spot in the lineup disrupts what was a near-perfectly constructed lineup, especially the heart of the order. Freeman tearing it up at three followed by Kemp and Markakis was something that has been working non-stop since Kemp was acquired last season.

It put hitters in spots where they could do the most damage. Now there will be some better suited for the five-hole hitting third. It’s not that Markakis or Kemp or whoever can’t hit but there isn’t another prototypical third hitter on the roster like Freddie Freeman.

Now let me also say that I like Matt Adams just fine. In fact, I would say that trading for him was arguably the best stop gap measure the Braves could have pulled off.

However, he’s a poor substitute for our All-Star. He hadn’t been starting for St. Louis, though he did put up good numbers while he was their guy at the position. Adams hit at least 15 home runs all three years he logged at least 100 games.

So, he can certainly fill in for Freeman but he won’ be able to truly make up for the loss.  The Braves will need him to play his best baseball to keep hopes for their season alive. Granted, the Nationals have all but run away with the season and the rest of the NL East is just trading embarrassing losing streaks but I had hoped and even expected the Braves to sit around third place at least this year. Based the on the way the Braves had been playing in the games preceding Freddie’s injury that may have been likely.

Freddie is so crucial, so irreplaceable to this ballclub that just one day after his injury those lofty hopes seem dashed, even despite taking a series from Washington immediately following the injury. Now the Phillies, Mets and Marlins have all been enough of a mess that the Braves may just be able to hold on for two months, but there will need to be so much more consistency from the likes of Adonis Garcia, Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte to make that a reality.

Plus, the pitching staff won’t have Freddie leading the offense to bail them out of games. So, a starter giving up 5 runs shouldn’t expect to be spotted 10 by Freeman and company.

They’ll need to step up too; because on a team that’s been as unsure of its identity as the Braves have been, this is a loss that may be a little too difficult to overcome.