TJ Hartnett
Atlanta Hawks Rebuild
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It was ugly. We can say that without hesitation. The Atlanta Hawks had an ugly season – but not one without lessons learned.
The team is now clearly leaning into a rebuilding stage, which means there are better days ahead, but they may be a bit further ahead than fans would like.
Still, there were positives from the season; like the emergence of John Collins, who at the age of 20 and in his first season after being drafted 19th in 2017 immediately made an impact on the Hawks.
He wasn’t seen as an immediate starter and indeed began the year on the bench but his quality play forced the Hawks’ hand (wing?) and put up numbers that surpassed the top of his draft class (looking at you, Lonzo Ball). He’s young but he’s already proven to be ready to contribute in a big way.
That being said, the Hawks were a pretty terrible offensive team this past season, coming in at 25th in points per game. All but one player on the team shot for an average of less than 15 points per game, something that needs to change as quickly as possible – possibly in the draft, which we’ll get to.
Schroder is the only player on the Hawks that can score the ball consistently. He averaged 19.4 points per game in 67 games this season. However, it is obvious that he is not a future superstar and number-one option for an NBA team. He would complement a superstar very well, but he cannot carry a franchise on his own.
He is, however, not the LeBron of Atlanta. He’s a good player, but his talents should be used to supplement someone who can be counted on as the number one go-to guy on the court. It doesn’t have to be a big-name star.
The Hawks succeeded in a big way without one just a few short years ago but they need someone in the role of shot maker.
That guy exists someone in the draft, the Hawks just need to be savvy enough to find him and snatch him up.
Now we look ahead to the offseason, which brings with it plenty of intrigue and promise. With three first-round picks in the draft and a fourth waiting at the top of the second round, there is a very good chance (barring some pick-trading) that the Atlanta roster will look mightily different come the start of next season later this year.
There are returning players who may serve as the foundation for these picks to build around: Schroder, Kent Bazemore, Taruean Prince and Collins.
Bazmore will look to return to the court healthy after being shut down in March.
There also might be potential changes on the sidelines, as the Hawks have granted head coach Mike Budenholzer permission to interview with the Milwaukee Bucks for their open coaching position. He could be potentially be competing for the job with Doc Rivers, so nothing is certain at this point despite his impressive resume.
In addition to the four top-level picks coming their way, the Hawks also have some financial freedom this offseason. They only have $56 million in guaranteed dollars on the books for 2018-2019, not including Dewayne Dedmon’s player option, among others.
After a tough season, the Hawks need changes fast and changes they are going to get.
This is only the beginning of the rebuild and while that signals lean times ahead, it also means lots to look forward to in Atlanta.
Ready, Set, Go
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Play ball!
The 2018 MLB season is under way and the Braves have wrapped up their first series of the year by winning two out of three against the Phillies.
That’s three games down, 159 to go but let’s unpack this tiny little sample size and see what we can deduce about how the rest of the season might go.
First off, this offense can be potent even without Ronald Acuna, Jr. They put up runs in all three games, including a huge night of 19 hits and 15 runs in the rubber game on Saturday.
That game in particular was a feat because they didn’t hit a single home run in the contest and that’s going to be something to keep an eye one.
This isn’t a team loaded with power (Nick Markakis, despite his walk off bomb on Opening Day, is not a powerful cleanup hitter), but they grinded and scrapped all series long to get the runs they got.
Of particular note were some of the players you might not have realized were on the team. Ryan Flaherty tore the cover off of the ball against Philadelphia (he’s hitting .538 on the season) and platoon left fielder Preston Tucker recorded two hits over the last two games to go along with his knock on Thursday. Along with Chris Stewart, who also featured prominently during the series finale, these are the guys that Alex Anthopoulos added to the team late and they are showing their worth so far.
Let’s not sell short the returning Braves either. Catchers aside, (because they’re both hurt) the returning Atlanta Braves, save one, are all hitting above .300 to start the season.
Ozzie Albies is the odd man out so far but he contributed a home run to the rally on Opening Day and has looked good in both the field and at the plate.
The rest, consisting of Ender Inciarte, Freddie Freeman, Markakis, and most importantly Dansby Swanson, have all racked up several hits on the young season so far.
Swanson went hitless in the first game but collected five in the following two. Hopefully, the rule to Thursdays exception.
The pitching, in particular the starting pitching, has also been good so far. Julio Teheran pitched five solid innings before leaving the field a bit of a mess in the sixth, Mike Foltynewicz through five with seven strikeouts against just one walk and two earned runs and new Brave Brandon McCarthy settled down after a rough first to pick up the first win for a Braves starter on the year.
It hasn’t been a showcase of several Clayton Kershaws but it was never going to be and what they did get was good enough.
But all that good work aside, what really stood out about this series is how inept Gabe Kapler looked as the manager of the Phillies.
From taking Aaron Nola out after 68 pitches and a 5-0 lead in game 1 to using 9 pitchers in game 2, to taking out his starter without having warmed up a reliever in game 3, the guy is going to get eaten alive by the Philadelphia press this week.
The Phillies are a better team on paper but unless Kapler can make some huge strides, and soon, the Braves will be looking forward to plaything them 16 more times before October.
Speaking of managers, a point of interest: Brian Snitker must be chasing Bobby Cox’s career record for ejections, as he’s been tossed twice in three games. It bears mentioning that those are the two victories, so maybe he ought to make it a trend.
Brave Business
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Ronald Acuna, Jr. had a stellar showing in spring training for the Braves this year.
The heir apparent to left field led the team with four home runs in 16 games to go along with his bonkers slash line of .432/.519/.727. Oh, and he also stole 4 bases.
To sum up, the kid is good and he’s going to win Rookie of the Year; once he makes the big-league club.
That’s right, Acuna has already been demoted to Triple A despite having the best spring of anyone on the team and he’ll begin the season in Gwinnett, just as predicted.
Don’t fret however, because he’ll be donning his Atlanta uniform on April 13th. Write in down in pen.
The reason for this decision comes down to money and player control, not that anyone in the Braves’ front office would say so publicly. It’s the same situation that the Cubs found themselves in with Kris Bryant, the Philles with Maikel Franco, and the Astros with George Springer.
Due to complicated and pretty stupid Collective Bargaining Agreement details (the players are really going to have some things to say when the current CBA expires) if the Braves keep Acuna in the minor leagues through April 12th, they’ll get an extra year of at the end of his initial contract before he’s eligible for free agency.
Essentially Atlanta is trading two weeks of baseball’s best prospect in 2018 for a full year of a player entering his prime six years from now. A fair trade, if you ask me.
It’s a loophole that will almost certainly be closed in the next few years, as it does deny the players involved a whole year of potential big money but the Braves will reap the benefits for now.
As they should, because this is not the same situation as the Cubs were in in 2015, when they were a competitive team. Bryant being held back and the interim third basemen going 1-for-12 in the three losses out of five games might have actually made a difference to Chicago, who could have had home field advantage in the Wild Card Game with just one more win (they beat the Pirates in Pittsburgh anyway, mind you).
A few losses due to some lesser left fielders taking the field instead of Acuna will have no such impact for Atlanta.
I know it’s disappointing for those who bought Opening Day tickets (see you there), but let’s not pretend that two weeks of Acuna are going to make or break the Braves’ 2018 season.
The Nationals are going to win the NL East again (and lose in the first round again) and a few extra at-bats by our best prospect isn’t going to stop them.
The Wild Card is going to be out of reach as well. I think the team is going to be able to take some steps forward this year but there are better teams out there who will secure those spots.
The Braves won’t find themselves in the cellar (hello, Miami) but the youth and inexperience of the pitching staff will prevent them from finding a way into the playoffs this year.
On the other hand, in six years’ time those pitchers will be in their primes and so will the likes of Dansby Swanson, Ozzie Albies, and Ronald Acuna, Jr.
There will be more use for him on the other end of this contract than there is right now and that’s why the Braves are doing what they’re doing.
This demotion was expected and its good business. Ronald Acuna, Jr. will be here soon anyway, on April 13th.
Georgia Hires Crean Of Crop
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
They fired their basketball coach and so obviously they needed to find a new one. It was supposed to be Thad Matta.
There was a 5-year, $16 million contract offer made and he was expected to sign it, but on Wednesday he decided not to.
That’s was the first choice. To say that the guy who was hired was a second choice does a disservice to him. Simply, because it only took three hours after Matta’s contract rejection to make an offer to the next guy on the list.
Tom Crean showed up and showed off the kind of infectious enthusiasm he’ll be bringing to the table after he was announced as the new University of Georgia men’s basketball coach this week. He started off on an excited and positive note, leaving just one thing left to do, get ready for the next season of ball.
Exuberance and enthusiasm are good things for first impressions, certainly, but even beyond that I think that Crean is the right man for the job right now. His resume is one that shows a guy who can right a ship and build up a program that needs it.
Look at his successes at Marquette, where he took a rarely successful program and took them to the Final Four in his fourth year. As well as made every post season after. He also took a program that was on probation in Indiana and got them to the Sweet 16.
These aren’t just little schools either. Indiana is Indiana, with five National Championships to their name. Marquette had won the big one as well and both of those schools were in dire straits before Crean turned them around.
In both situations, Crean utilized the progams’ wide reaches and rich pools of resources to return them to glory. UGA is different in that its former glory doesn’t include championships, but it’s about where those two schools were before Crean came aboard and pushed them towards excellence.
It is no small matter that he was the head coach at Indiana. UGA is an SEC school, sure, but the pressures of a basketball coach at Indiana are more akin to what Kirby Smart faces each year than they are to the situation Crean now finds himself in.
He’ll need to produce wins to keep his job but the pressure of being the top dog (no pun intended) of a school’s sports program is off of him. That is likely to be a positive as he inherits the Bulldog’s basketball team.
Hugh Durham and then Mark Fox took a broken program after the 2002 scandal and led them back to winning ways but they were never able to implement consistency and take the next step.
That sporadic success has made UGA fans ravenous for more and more success.
The return of UGA’s football program to an elite level has also raised the expectations of its other programs. UGA is a football school and it will always come first, but success breeds expectation and Crean should be the guy to elevate the basketball program to an equal level of Kirby Smart’s boys.
February and March could merely be a continuation of sports fanaticism, not a just a lull in between the end of a bowl game and G-Day.
Crean can make that happen. He’s already been speaking about his approach and his plans to attack the Greater Atlanta area for recruiting once his staff is in place.
He’s got a history of getting programs past their previous barriers, and he can be expected to do the same thing at UGA.
Not bad for a second choice.
Out Of Options
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For a while after Suntrust Park was announced, the fable was that when the stadium opened in 2017 the Braves would be ready to compete.
As the opening for the new park drew closer, that hope became less of a reality and instead the expectation to compete for a playoff spot was pushed back a couple of years.
It still hasn’t arrived, but 2019 could very well be the first true step forward in Atlanta’s rebuild. That means 2018 won’t be a playoff year, but it is still a very crucial season for the Bravos.
The steps they take through this season will determine how to spend the money coming off the books next offseason to field a team that will challenge for a postseason berth. It’s also an opportunity for players who have high expectations but haven’t yet produced to do so; especially those with no more minor league options.
Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos has said that those players may break camp with the Braves in order to get a longer look at what they can do.
He’s saying that the 25 best guys out of spring training may not be the 25 on the roster on Opening Day (clue number 346 that Ronald Acuna is starting the season in Gwinnett).
The players without options include Jose Ramirez, Luke Jackson, Josh Ravin, Chase Whitley, Lane Adams, and Danny Santana. Some of those names were penciled in anyway, but others may come as surprise picks for the opening of the season.
Luke Jackson, for example, will need to prove that he deserves a spot on the team once they kick it into gear in 2019. He had a lot of growing pains out of the bullpen in 2017, including getting eaten alive by right-handed hitters.
Jackson may end up a left-handed specialist but that will all be determined by what he shows Anthopoulos and Brain Snitker this year.
Josh Ravin was picked up after the Dodger’s DFA’d him in November and at the age of 30 he’ll have a huge chip on his shoulder as he tries to stay afloat in the majors.
Chase Whitley is another new addition; picked up off waivers from Tampa Bay in December. Whitley had a successful season in Tampa, posting a 4.08 ERA. He was a former starter and can offer the Braves another option as a long reliever, so expect him to be given a fair amount of leeway as the season progresses.
Danny Santana is only 27 years old but since a stellar rookie campaign in Minnesota in 2014, he hasn’t managed to consistently produce at a level anywhere close. He could be incredibly important to a competitive team, with versatility and speed that can win plenty of ballgames, even if it’s just off the bench. However, hitting at a .202 clip, as he did last year simply isn’t going to keep him on the team. He’s young and has enough raw speed that someone would take a flyer out on him if he doesn’t remain a Brave but being productive for an up and coming young team will draw more eyes to him than being picked up off the scrap heap will.
All eyes will be understandably focused on the stars of the future in 2018. The Swansons, the Albieses, the Freemans and the Acunas, but it takes a whole team of ballplayers to win with enough consistency to fight for a chance at a postseason run.
These players might be even more fun to watch these season, as they with nothing to lose seek to prove their worth for this year and beyond.
Brave New Beginning
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
While Spring Training is not a good example of what will come to pass in the regular season for any major league team, every game provides at least something to watch.
For the Braves, there will be many things to keep an eye one throughout spring, from any innings pitched by their young hurlers to Dansby Swanson’s attempt to make adjustments and improvements. And of course, most of all, Ronald Acuna taking at bats.
The Braves have started off their Grapefruit League season with consecutive losses against the Mets and Astros, but who cares?
That first loss featured every run scored by the Mets coming in the ninth inning off a pitcher whose name I can’t spell and don’t care to because he won’t be on the roster on Opening Day.
Prior to that, the Braves gave up only two hits and two walks in eight innings, featuring the likes of Matt Wisler and Kolby Allard pitching scoreless baseball.
Rotation contender Sean Newcomb gave up one run on a hit and a walk in his one inning of work in the second game, but also struck out two batters. Watching his one inning he certainly lacked control but after the first two batters got on Newcomb buckled down and adjusted.
Which is, again, more important to see than his actually line score. His big curve ball to strike out Carlos Correa looking reaffirmed that his stuff is good and that he can battle. He just needs to consistently throw strikes.
Ozzie Albies looks to continue his good work from 2017, going 1 for 3 in both games, including leading off game 2 with a slap hit on the first pitch.
Watching him play is going to continue to be a joy in 2018, if his gameplay so far is any indication. He was a pesky hitter who also drew a few throws while leading off from first base. That is exactly the kind of scrappy player I hope he continues to be during the regular season.
Watching Ronald Acuna bat was a treat (he made his debut in the second game) despite going 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts. I had never seen him play before, but his swing was smooth and he fought off some tough pitches before going down swinging in his first at bat.
Once he straightens out a few balls he’s going to really make keeping him in Gwinnett a tough call for Alex Anthopoulos (sort of – I’d be surprised if he makes the roster Opening Day even if he leads the Grapefruit League in four baggers).
I’d be remiss not to mention his able chase down of a ball to the warning track that was smoked by Tony Kemp in the second inning. His bat gets all the headlines but Acuna is also heralded as a defender who could man center field for Atlanta if not for Ender Inciarte firmly in place at the position. It’s good to see the kid’s makeup.
Even though he didn’t have the preferred results at the plate, Acuna still scored rave reviews from Brian Snitker due to him staying in the dugout to soak up more baseball after he was taken out of the game.
This isn’t required or expected, or even very common, but it says something about the game’s best prospect that he isn’t resting on his laurels and is still trying to learn everything he can about the game of baseball.
It’s so early and the games are massively populated with players that are a long way from the Major Leagues (especially after the 4th inning or so) but storylines are already starting to develop in Braves camp, with more to begin their opening chapters in the coming weeks.
The Curious Case Of Corey Dickerson
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Tampa Bay Rays must know something about Corey Dickerson that they are not sharing with the world.
Perhaps they have information proving that he was the mastermind behind the Bernie Madoff scandal. That remains to be seen, but for some unknown reason Tampa Bay designated their All-Star leadoff hitter for assignment on Saturday after they acquired first baseman CJ Cron from the Los Angeles Angels.
To clue in the casual baseball fan, a MLB’s Major League 25-man roster is culled from a 40-man roster, where they ostensibly keep their 40 best players, including minor leaguers who aren’t protected from the Rule 5 draft (which is a whole different thing, just Google it).
Fourty is max, so if a team like the Rays has 40 players on that roster and acquire someone else without trading away one of those 40, then they have to maneuver in some way to make room.
This can range from putting someone on the disabled list to, as Tampa Bay has done with Dickerson, designate someone for assignment.
Basically, they’ve put themselves in a position where they will either need to make another trade or release Dickerson altogether.
The reason this is a little crazy is because despite a second half dropoff in 2017, Corey Dickerson finished the year with a batting average of .282 and 27 home runs or, for the sabermetrically inclined, he clocked in with an OPS of .815 and an OPS+ of 120.
In other words, he had a very good season. I mentioned he was an All-Star; he actually started the game at DH over the likes of Nelson Cruz; such was the season he was having in the first half.
However, the Rays have essentially declared that they don’t see a need for him in 2018. So, again, I can’t see how this makes sense unless the Rays know something we, the prone-to-snap-judgements public, don’t know.
It’s curious because if they weren’t interested in retaining Dickerson’s services, he would have been a clear candidate for a trade. Now if they want to trade him, they’ve worked against themselves. Any interested party could conceivably just wait it out and see if the Rays just release him outright. Then they’ll just need to spend money to pick him up, instead of spending prospects.
I can’t imagine it getting to that point. In fact, I have to assume (or hope?) that Tampa has got something up their sleeve.
Maybe they’ve already got a trade for Dickerson in place that will reveal itself in the coming days. Possibly they have some other trade coming down the pipeline that will free up a space on the 40-man so that Dickerson can be placed back on it. This seems unlikely, because why risk a player the likes of Dickerson in this particular situation? It’s feasible, since the Rays have 10 days to reinstate him, just improbable.
Were the Rays really that concerned about Dickerson’s second half slump? I’ll grant you that it was more in line with his first season in Tampa and that the All-Star first half of 2017 is more of an outlier of his time in Florida, but his numbers would still be appealing to someone looking for a DH or outfielder.
Or is it something more sinister? Could it be that Corey Dickerson is harboring a dark secret and the Rays discovered it? Fangraphs.com’s Jeff Sullivan seems to think so, tweeting “this move makes plenty of sense when you recall that Corey Dickerson is the zodiac killer” after the news broke.
Whatever the case, this story is just breaking, so stay tuned to The Southern Sports Edition for any news about the Rays’ plans. Or Corey Dickerson’s crimes, maybe.
New Young Braves
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Believe it or not, spring training games are upon us.
The glorious season of baseball is upon us and hope springs eternal. There is plenty to do before Opening Day.
For one, the roster must be constructed. There are some openings and some questions for now, so let’s take a look at what the 25-man squad might look like come March 29th.
Catchers: Tyler Flowers & Kurt Suzuki.
This one is easy. The tandem of Flowers and Suzuki made, arguably, the most productive position on the team in 2017. That level may be hard to replicate this year, but we know they’ll both be at Suntrust Park for the first game of the year.
Infield: Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson & Johan Camargo.
Unless a move is made, this one is pretty set in stone as well. Freeman, Albies and Swanson are certain and unless the Braves make a move and bring in a third baseman, Camargo will get the job here (I had my eye on Todd Frazier, but now he’s a Met. Yuck.).
Swanson’s spring training performance will be watched closely due to his struggles at the plate last season. I think even with a weaker spring he’s going to be given the benefit of the doubt and start the season at short on the big club.
Outfield: Ender Inciarte, Nick Markakis & Lane Adams.
This is the part that no one wants to hear: Ronald Acuna is going to start the season in Triple A.
He may do his best to force Alex Anthopoulos’ hand but it’ll go one of two ways, neither of which see him on the opening day roster. If he falters, then he’ll be sent to Gwinnett for seasoning; if he kills it in Florida, then he’ll be sent to Gwinnett to wait until the timing is right so the Braves will have him under team control for an extra year. No Acuna. Lane Adams will keep his spot warm.
Bench: Preston Tucker, Danny Santana & Charlie Culberson.
Tucker will make the squad and likely split duties with Adams in left field at the start of the season, as he hits lefty and Adams hits righty.
Santana is a non-roster invitee and only hit .203 with the Braves last year but he’s also versatile. The Braves seem to like to have this kind of player on the team. Teams drool over guys who can play the infield and the outfield, ignoring the fact that they can’t hit the ball even though they’re primarily being used as pinch hitters.
Culberson, who came over in the Matt Kemp trade, will have the third spot.
Starting Rotation: Julio Teheran, Mike Foltynewicz, Brandon McCarthy, Luis Gohara and Sean Newcomb.
This one has a chance to see some battles. The first three guys are locks and the Braves are high enough on Gohara that I think his spot is secure as well.
The last spot could go any number of ways. Max Fried will be seriously considered and let’s not forget that Scott Kazmir came over from Los Angeles. At the end of the day Newcomb will make the team after showing improved command in spring training.
Bullpen: Arodys Vizcaino, A.J. Minter, Jose Ramirez, Sam Freeman, Dan Winkler, Lucas Sims, Rex Brothers & Chase Whitley.
Familiar faces, most of these guys. They’ll be back again to fill much the same roles they did last year. There’s a chance one of the Braves’ young starters gets a long relief gig out of spring training, displacing Whitley.
Is this a team that can compete? We’ll see on March 29th.
Power Outage
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Trading Matt Kemp was a good thing, that’s true. Not keeping Matt Adams was fine. He had nowhere to play. Trading Brandon Phillips at the end of the season was the right thing to do as well, or at least it was the nice thing to do. The fallout from that is the loss of a ton of last year’s already meager home run output by the Atlanta Braves.
If you’re keeping score, the Bravos hit 165 dingers in 2017. That was good enough for 28th in the Majors and 28 of those came from Freddie Freeman. No one else had 20.
More pressingly, no one has been added to the roster to replace the 49 that Kemp, Adams and Phillips produced. There is a serious lack of power on the Braves’ roster going into spring training and there’s no indication much will be done to change that.
So, who will protect Freeman from the cleanup spot in the batting order?
Yes, Tyler Flowers and Kurt Suzuki combined to crank out 31 bombs from the catching position and they certainly are an option; but I do question the idea that they’d be able to duplicate that level of success.
That being said, 10 homers each will still likely make them the number two power-producing position on the lineup card, depending on what a certain number one prospect manages to do when he shows up.
The most intriguing option is, of course, Ronald Acuna. All signs point to him starting the season in Triple A Gwinnett but a call up isn’t likely to be too far down the road.
Part of this rationale is seasoning. Acuna spent very little time in Gwinnett last year and part of it is player control: if they wait to bring him up, they’ll have another year before he’s able to hit free agency (the Cubs pulled this same maneuver with Kris Bryant). Both excuses are perfectly valid and either way we’ll be seeing him soon enough. The question is where does he hit when he arrives?
Cleanup is a tough spot to thrust a rookie into right off the bat (no pun intended). It may be a lot to ask of a 20 year to be called upon to protect Freddie Freeman in his first game with the big club.
On the other hand, he may have just the right make up to succeed under that kind of pressure. The problem is you won’t know until he’s there.
Failure can shake a young man’s confidence pretty fast and there will be a lot of eyes pointed at this kid.
Maybe it would be more prudent to see if he can produce from the fifth or sixth spot in the order first. He’ll be hitting cleanup (or second) eventually.
When GM Alex Anthopoulos addressed the Braves’ power deficiency at Fan Fest, he offered up two possible roads: one, in which the Braves roll with what they’ve got, which we’ve explored, or two, when he knowingly pointed out that there are a lot of free agents still available.
That’s true. There are over one hundred unsigned free agents, including some that could add some pop to the Braves’ lineup in 2018. The most obvious place for a free agent to slot in would be third base and there are options there.
One is the very unlikely Mike Moustakas, the other is the slightly more likely Todd Frazier.
Frazier is a third baseman with pop and will be much less expensive with Moustakas.
His batting average is fairly horrendous, reaching a career low last year, which he split between the White Sox and Yankees, but if you’re into OPS+ then his 105 is a little bit above average.
More to the point, the later it gets in the year the more likely it is that he’d look into a one or two-year contract, whereas Moustakas seems to be holding out for a multi-year deal.
It’s not a perfect solution but other than turning newly-minted Hall of Famer Chipper Jones back into a 25-year-old and signing him to a team-friendly contract, there don’t appear to be any.
Flowers and Suzuki. Acuna. Frazier, or another free agent. Whoever it is, the Braves need some pop.
The Miami Marlins Curse
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Miami Marlins have a short history of existence and long track record of winning championships and pissing off their fan base.
When former owner and Floridian supervillain Jeffrey Loria sold the team last year, baseball fans from across the globe wondered what kind of change this would bring to a team with 25 years of winning every single postseason series they’ve ever played in, along with never winning a single division title and constantly trading away their most popular players.
This is the team that wholesaled sold off their big guns after both World Series wins and the team that fired Joe Girardi the season he won Manager of the Year.
They have constantly developed superstars and then shipped them elsewhere. In 2012 the team built a new stadium and hired Ozzie Guillen to manage the team, which included freshly signed free agent superstars Jose Reyes, Mark Beuhrle, and Heath Bell.
Guillen was fired after one season and not one of those three players saw a second season in a Marlins uniform.
So, the team being sold was cause for celebration for the handful of Floridians who live and breathe Marlins.
After all, the team was chocked full of talent and maybe a new guiding hand would be able to supplement the likes of Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna with players that would help Miami take a huge step forward.
Another wrinkle was that the group buying the team included Yankees legend Derek Jeter among its members. This was a true baseball guy, someone who knows how the game is played and what’s more, knows how to win. All in all, things were hopeful for the Miami faithful.
But the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Jeter and the ownership group moved quickly to do the same thing to the Marlins that the previous two owners did – strip it down for parts. Over the course of one week, just seven days, Miami traded away three of their most valuable assets.
Dee Gordon was the first to go, packing his bags for Seattle. Marcell Ozuna was part three, being traded to St. Louis exactly one week later.
Ozuna was just an extra kick in the ribs, as three days prior, reigning MVP Giancarlo Stanton was traded away. It should be noted that he was traded to the Yankees, because there is no justice in the world.
In the span of just seven days all the promise that the concept of new ownership had brought to the team sank into the familiar sense of utter betrayal that must by now feel like a warm hug to Marlins fans.
Rebuilding isn’t inherently an awful thing and it may not even be the wrong thing to do for Jeter but what a wrong foot to start out on for this new regime.
For a franchise that has repeatedly been torn down to be rebuilt and then torn down again, trading away some of the most talented players the team has ever seen as a first move will not instill trust between owners and fans. Stanton is probably the second greatest Marlin in their team’s short history behind Miguel Cabrera (who was traded), ahead of the likes of Gary Sheffield (who was traded), Josh Beckett (who was traded), and literally any other Marlins player was any good at all (who was traded).
He was incredibly popular and now he’s gone, along with Ozuna and Gordon and Christian Yelich isn’t going to be too far behind.
No one liked Jeffrey Loria. He didn’t have a good relationship with his players and they were usually happy to leave south Florida but Derek Jeter is a likeable guy.
Yet Christian Yelich’s agent claimed that the relationship between Yelich and the team was damaged beyond repair.
The Curse of the Bambino prevented the Red Sox from winning a World Series for 86 years.
The Curse of the Black Sox prevent the White Sox from winning a World Series for 88 years.
The Curse of the Billy Goat prevented the Cubs from even participating in a World Series for 71 years, extending their championship drought to 108 years.
The Marlins have won two World Series in the past 25 years but are they cursed to forever be a front office mess?
