Sad day for Braves fans

YoungGunDad,

We are Braves fans. My husband grew up in Wisconsin when they were the Braves. He grew up watching some of the greats .
My favorite years watching the Braves was when Smoltz, Glavine and Greg Maddux all pitched and Chipper was young and good as well.
I am sad that baseball has become like this. I think Chipper would be the last to go, and I will hate to see that day as well.
Its so much more fun to me to watch a game with players that you love and have invested years in watching. Unfortunately MLB is taking that a way, as well as the free agent market.

I agree YoungGun. Smoltz was a mainstay and still had some good pitches left in him. I don't get why they would let him go. I felt the same way about Glavine when the Braves let him go. It's a crying shame.

Wow! The Red Sox are loading up on starting pitchers:

Beckett
Lester
Matsuzaka
Penny
Smoltz
Wakefield
Buckholtz
Masterson
Bowden

I sense a major prospect being sent to the Rangers for Teagarden. Maybe wakefield will be included in the package. The Sox haven't signed anyone who can catch him. Either that or the Sox are making sure injuries can't take them down.

RJM...we'll give you Teagarden for Beckett and Matsuzaka (it's about time the Rangers got the better end of a trade). Teagarden is going to be a good major leaguer for a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by Tx-Husker:
RJM...we'll give you Teagarden for Beckett and Matsuzaka (it's about time the Rangers got the better end of a trade). Teagarden is going to be a good major leaguer for a long time.

How about Healthcliffe Slocum for Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe?

quote:

How about Healthcliffe Slocum for Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe?

We'll give you Heathcliff Huxtabull for them

Where the heck are they gonna put Peavy and Webb when they get them?

Every trade makes someone happy...until they play ball. Red Sox fans like it, at least today. They signed Rocco Baldelli today too.

Lets play ball!

Two of my fav players going to my fav team and on the same day! Its a great day to be a RS fan. Both of these guys are great talents and they are also great clubhouse guys. How sad is it going to be for the Yankees if they spent all that money and dont even win the division? I like the make up of the RS and the talent as much as ever.

And the Red Sox farm system is loaded---I think that is why they are not making huge moves

The Yankees are perrenial preseason champs.

I just don't get the Braves front office.

Just this week I read an article in the AJC that they are seriously contemplating on pursuing getting Andrew Jones back.

WHY?!

He became so bad that the Dodgers don't even want him! His stats for 2008 season: He batted .158 with three homers, 14 RBIs, 33 hits and 76 strikeouts in 209 at-bats.

Here are some excerpts from an interview with Chipper Jones on his take about the Smoltz news:

Q. How did you take all this?

A. I am disappointed. Very disappointed. Deflated. Frustrated. It’s been a very long offseason, not a lot of stuff to really get excited about and then to have this it just is the icing on the cake for me.

Q. You understand why Smoltz decided to sign with Boston?

A. I get it. Ultimately, it’s Smoltzy’s decision to go. But I don’t think anybody is blaming him. The money is significantly different. He doesn’t feel like the Braves are giving him the same respect that the Red Sox are … I’m under the impression they basically told him be ready for June. My whole thing is John Smoltz has earned the right and earned the respect of everybody here to if he wants to come back and pitch and says he is healthy enough, he deserves that opportunity. And you do whatever it takes to get it done. We’ve made so many gambles on players that haven’t panned out over the past few years and if there was one guy in that clubhouse that I’m going to gamble a couple of million dollars on, it’s going to be that guy. If he says he can do it, I believe him.”

Q. Fans are questioning why the Braves didn’t offer Smoltz more money when this is an offseason when the Braves have said they had money to spend. Do you agree?

A. For Smoltzy! That’s what I don’t understand. That’s what’s frustrating. I’m trying to be as diplomatic and as upbeat as I can possibly be and it is being made very hard on me to be that way. John Smoltz has been one of the faces of this franchise for 20 years. There’s no reason for him at 41 years old to be playing anywhere but here.

Q. How was the conversation?

A.He went through the whole scenario with me. The underlying tone was extreme disappointment — and from my end it was shock. I could see anyone one else going somewhere before John Smoltz. … After everything that’s happened to this organization this winter, the players and the fans need something good to happen. I’ve been keeping up with the news. I’ve been reading the blogs. The one silver lining we had was John Smoltz being back in the lineup this year. We could have had that dominant guy back in the lineup. But we won’t — and for what, a couple of million dollars?

Q. You worried now about how things might end with you?

A. I don’t know how it’s going to end with me. This is my last year under contract with Atlanta. And this last 24 hours certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by me. I haven’t been offered an extension. If we’re 15 games out in July or August, I doubt they’re just going to let me become a free agent and get nothing in return.”

Q. Hard to take in, isn’t it?

A. Never, even in a million years did I think this day would come for John Smoltz. I never did. He was the one guy, I honestly thought that everybody would go somewhere else before John would, just for the simple fact that his family here in Atlanta, the school, all the extracurricular stuff that he does off the field, never thought this would happen. So that ought to tell you how disrespected he feels.

Q. Did you have a chance to tell him you’ll miss him, what he’s meant to this organization?

A. We were so upset and so shocked that this is happening. We didn’t even really think about what could happen, that we’d be facing each other, that he could be pitching at the Ted for Boston, that we could be facing him in Fenway Park. We didn’t even allow ourselves to think about that kind of stuff. We’re so shocked that this is actually taking place and that he’s moving on and playing for a different team. I wished him good luck. It’s like losing a brother. We’ve been to war with each other for the last 17 years. Now that’s not going to happen anymore. It’s very upsetting.

Q. Does this send the wrong message to players and fans?

A. This can only hurt.

Sad......just really sad.

Any of you Braves fans remember Rick Camp's home run in a crazy long extra inning game in the 80's?

Due to the Superstation I cheered for the Braves in the days of Hubbard, Horner, Rafael, etc...

Chipper would look good at 3B at Fenway.

What a great arm and competitor, grew up and played HS ball in Michigan against inferior competition, as some say?

Thanks for that interview with Chipper. I am going to show it to my husband and son who are lifelong fans of Braves. It is what I said earlier in my post , this is what MLB has come to. No committment to life time guys. It wasnt like this when I was a kid.
This is a huge statement for all of MLB that they would not stand by Smlotz, I bet Bobby Cox wanted him. I believe in my heart Cox wanted him.
You can just hear Chippers sadness in this whole issue.My son grew up with all these guys playing for the Braves, Smoltz, Maddux, Glavine, Chipper, he has followed tha Braves on the road. has almost all their autographs, pictures with them signing his baseballs. I have watched the Braves for 26 years with my husband. So this all is frustrating to me. I am a mom and we have different emotions as you men out there. Part of my connection with a team is to get to know their players, and connect with them as people with lives outside of baseball. Smoltz is a strong Christian man, he was good frineds with Dave as he went through cancer, they used to pray together with their families. These are the real faces of MLB to me. These are the good role models we need and look how they are treated. and this just isnt good for the Braves even from a fans perspective.

I think I will quit watching baseball if this happens to Chipper. All time favorite of my son, since he was 5 years old.He would not look good in Red Sox uniform.

quote:

Originally posted by trojan-skipper:

Any of you Braves fans remember Rick Camp's home run in a crazy long extra inning game in the 80's?

Due to the Superstation I cheered for the Braves in the days of Hubbard, Horner, Rafael, etc...

Skipper, my wife was there at that ballgame that night! 18 innings I believe against the NY Mets. She was a Braves fan when being a Braves fan wasn't cool, i.e. losing seasons year after year.

She told me yesterday that if this trade went through she wasn't going to anymore Braves game. It just deflates her like you fanofgame. Her all-time favorite player was Dale Murphy. You would've thought someone died when he went to Philly.

I am so dissappointed in this story. I think it's probably a safe bet the Chipper won't be a Brave much longer either. There has been so much talk about trying to get the younger generation to be fans of the game, but the Braves are doing a real bad job of it. Glavine is a big fan favorite, but of the older fans, the younger ones don't know him. They love Smoltzy, gone. Texiera, gone. Andruw, gone. Frenchy, will be gone if he doesn't get out of his slump. McCann seems to be the only one fairly secure there. The other players don't seem to have the same pull for the young fans.

Turner Field will be a lot emptier this year ( and if you saw it the end of last season, that's pretty empty) with how things are starting. Last year they had a Braves Fan Fest in January. For a very family friendly admission price, you could have a full day of free activities, not buy a single thing other than food, and have a great experience and be excited about the season starting. We had a BLAST. This year? Autograph fest. For either $20 $50 or $100 you get to stand in line and get an autograph....yippee . Even with money as tight as it is right now for us, I would take everyone back to Fan Fest. Not this new version.

I'm a big Braves fan, and this time last year I had so much anticipation for the season to get underway. This year? Not so much.

While I feel bad for the Braves fans, it's a great day for the RS Nation. We've been through it and it hurts, I'll never get the image of Boggs riding on that **** horse out of my head. I'm humbled and respectful of what Smoltz has accomplished. Smoltz will be a huge favorite at Fenway.

The Sox are changing how pitchers are used. They manage not only pitches per game, but innings per year and career workload. They plan on using 7 or 8 starters per year, so Smoltz not being ready until June won't be a problem. The Sox also plan to have the guys in the pen change in and out during the course of the year. If Penny gets healthy and Josh Beckett is over whatever was bothering him last year, this could be the best Sox staff ever.