So...where do we go from here?

[GenericBravesFan]

It's early June and we're sitting right at .500 while finding ourselves 6.5 games back of the Phillies thanks to this sweep. Now I would love for this to be one of those threads that everyone points and laughs at later in the season as an example of a fan's knee-jerk reaction to a few losses. However, I just don't think that's the case here.

We have an outfield that can't really hit. I still do have hope for Jeff Francoeur although that hope is dwindling with each at-bat. Our infield doesn't bother me that much aside from Teixeira's underachievingness, Yuni's punk attitude, KJ's occasional defensive blunders, and Chip's overall fragility.

To me, it's the pitching staff that is probably gonna spell doom for the season. Huddy is the only starter we have that can give us 7-8 innings consistently. All the rest (aside from Jojo who's gone a bit deeper in his last two starts) seem to max out around 6 innings.....which of course turns the game over to our bullpen.

I don't know if the bullpen's woes are due to certain pitchers being overworked, (though that is my guess) what I do know is that Sori is a big '?' right now as is Mike Gonzalez. There really is no one in there that I'd trust with a lead late in the game.

Overall, this has just been a bizarre season so far--one full of statistical anomalies. Above all else though, I'll remember it as John Smoltz's last season (should it be so) and Chipper's flirtation with Ms. .400

So as the thread title states....where do we go from here?

[MikeT]

FRancour traded to the west coast to play in Andruw land and trade the big Goofus back to Texas and get Salty back in the fold.

[diceman]

From here, we go nowhere with Bobble at the helm.

[Yogi44]

Easy to look backwards, but I still say as much as I liked getting Tex, the price was way to high. We will be feeling this one for years to come. We can only get better by trading pieces for pitching prospects. We have an old rotation (or it was) and we have not developed a top flight pitcher (that is still a Brave) in years. I'll be 47 soon , so I've seen the very bad years as well as the good ones. But how so many people look at this team and think we can be competitive is beyond me. We are not a bad team, but we are not a good team. We're a .500 club, which is about where we've been overall for the last 4 years. I say first order of business is laying the groundwork for Tex deal.

[Cosmic_Avenger]

1. Trade Franc.

2. Send Cox to pasture (sorry, pfig, but I think the cows could do better at this point ).

3. Get a GM and a Pres that doesn't think that recycled and refitted pitchers that are well past their primes are going to guarantee a competitive team. We don't have the superstars to cover up for the misses that we had in the past.

4. Ditch Tex.

5. Ditch McDowell.

6. Get a manager that is going to crawl up some fannies and explode when a hitter doesn't move a runner on base.

7. Basically overhaul the damn thing.

This is a recording...

(Really, I don't know what to do...)

[DR3AMR]

First off, injuries have absolutely killed us.

And secondly, we've been incredibly unlucky.

I think they really just need to sack up and get through this road trip at .500 or close to it. After that, if they can just hang around until Gonzo gets back and Kotsay returns, then I think they can make a run.

But, I can tell y'all one thing - I was upset last year when Francoeur didn't sign a long term deal like McCann. Not anymore. That guy needs to be sent off to Siberia. The sad thing about him though is that he's a white, local kid so they'll stick with him way too long. Basically we're stuck with his sorry ass.

[renny]

True, all the above. Vision is managing and leading with one's head, not the nostalgic heart. Glavine was the innings eater and everyone thought Smoltz was the 6 million dollar man - but, they are not to blame that they are old - it's the brass who put this team together on a wink and a prayer.

If Smoltzy stayed healthy..
If Glavine was as good as last year..
If Soriano stayed off the DL for good and remained dominant..
If Kotsay put his back toubles to rest and played consistently..
If Teixeira gave us a full year of what he teased us with the last couple months of last season..
If Hampton finally came off the DL and returned to 80% of his prior self..
If We hadn't lost a key dominant part of the pen...Moylan..
If Schafer hadn't gotten into trouble to delay his progress..
If Diaz had remained the hitting fool he's been the last two years..
If frenchie had finally started hitting like his buddy Brian..
If Chuckie had learned an out pitch over the OS and could be dominant for more than 5 innings..

If those in charge had forseen that these things might not happen and built a team that didn't rely on all these things going our way - I believe we'd handily be in first place.

I think we have a shot of catching the Phillies, but can we beat them once we catch them? We are playing without confidence. Our pen has lost us games, but our O hasn't exactly been on fire. We are leaving way too many runners on base - and that is the difference maker. If our pen had more of a cushion, some of these past losses could have turned into wins, in spite of giving up runs in the late innings.

Any team can get hot and cold on a dime - we ran into the Phillies who had just won -was it 14 out of their last 17 games? They are oozing confidence. Maybe they'll go to Fla and get swept and maybe we'll do a turn about and start playing well on the road. Anything can happen, but with a broken team right now it's just so much harder. I feel confident new blood will be acqured, somehow. I just don't know if it's a big enough bandage.

Depressing as hell, I tell you..when's the last time we sniffed the PS?

[DR3AMR]

Originally Posted by renny

I think we have a shot of catching the Phillies, but can we beat them once we catch them?

Like you said, confidence is everything. If KJ doesn't drop that ball and we beat them friday night in a one-run game, then I believe the series is completely different. But, when he did drop that ball you could just feel the air being let out of that dugout. I don't like to think a 162-game season can hang on one play. However, KJ's error could end up being the thing that got things moving in that direction.

Some things are unforgivable IMO. KJ's drop is in that category.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by DR3AMR

First off, injuries have absolutely killed us.

And secondly, we've been incredibly unlucky.

I think they really just need to sack up and get through this road trip at .500 or close to it. After that, if they can just hang around until Gonzo gets back and Kotsay returns, then I think they can make a run.

But, I can tell y'all one thing - I was upset last year when Francoeur didn't sign a long term deal like McCann. Not anymore. That guy needs to be sent off to Siberia. The sad thing about him though is that he's a white, local kid so they'll stick with him way too long. Basically we're stuck with his sorry ass.

I agree with most of this wholeheartedly. We've been incredibly unlucky, the one-run games on the road thing is a complete fluke that has thus far killed us, and now we're being ravaged by the DL and the day-to-day list.

I do think we desperately need to get another outfielder and starter, though. Kotsay may not come back this season, or if he does he may tweak it again two days later. Back probs are a *****, folks. Diaz has proven, in my mind at least, that he should only face lefties. Blanco is probably not an everyday player, and Anderson belongs in a used car dealership somewhere. We can't sit and pray for a Kotsay return and hope that will fix everything.

We also can't keep hoping our pitching can stay decent on a wing and a prayer. Right now, we have two starters we know we can trust, one 40-some-odd-year-old former ace who's now a #5, and a couple of unproven kids.

I still think that could do it. The new additions would help us now, and should someone actually come off the DL and be able to help us, it would just improve our depth, which was lacking anyway. We play in a AAAA league anyway, and 88 wins would almost guarantee a wild card slot. No need to set our eyes on taking down the D'Backs, since that's unlikely and largely predicated on luck in a short series anyway.

[NadoBrave]

The luck & injury thangs have done us in to date. But Sir Swingsalot has become another Druw & the Bobble IS afterall, the BOBBLE. Time so ship him to da Pads (their OF is far worse than ours) for Doggie (at least there will be something to cheer), though that is unlikely as da Pads pitching casualties indicate. Hate to throw in the towel, but over the last 3 seasons, this team really hasn't shown me a of perserverence/constitution as they did during the run. They've lost the swagger.