Quote:
Originally Posted by Eshaw99
The most critical flaw in the team was pitching, and there simply weren't any options available on the market to fix that.
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Exactly. All the more reason to stand pat.
The Braves were third in the NL in offense at the time of the trade. Yes, Thorman was not getting the job done at 1B, and defensively he was no great shakes. But something happened which made me wonder if JS had lost focus on the direction of this team: the acquisition of Julio. Why? It served no purpose, but even then, Julio was hitting .400 in the series before Tex was brought in to the team. He was warming up. So why make the trade? Julio mentoring Thor would have been more plausible then blowing our wad on Tex.
eshaw, I agree with you that having Tex nailed down our 1B position, and gave Cox one less position to platoon (always a plus in my book). I also understand the "win it all now" thought process, and I hope it does enrich this team. I'm glad that you feel good about that, and I'm sure some of the Braves share your sentiment.
But with three teams in our division that have loaded offenses, what will seperate the leader is differentiation, not parity. Our starting pitching, for lack of a better word after Hud and Smoltz, sucks. In my opinion, we aren't going anywhere with that rotation, Tex or not. Now, we've traded the one guy that could have impacted that deficiency in the offseason for a brighter tomorrow.
I hope I'm wrong, my friend.
