Well, as many who know me, and have spoken to me, are aware, Iam a baseball fanatic. I wanted to post on here to express my thoughts, and extreme displeasure, with AOL and the Atlanta Braves for their pitiful stance in regard to their team this winter.
If any of you follow baseball, you are aware that the Braves best hitter, right fielder Gary Sheffield, is very close to signing a contract with the New York Yankees. In addition, it looks like we will be losing both 3rd baseman Vinny Castilla, and catcher Javy Lopez. Also, I learned last night that we will be parting ways with our longtime pitching ace, and one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game of baseball, Greg Maddux.
What angers me so much is not the changes, but the fact that the Braves just seem to be nonchalantly allowing their best players to slip away, and seem to have no contingency plan for what happens when they do leave. Granted, Braves General Manager John Scherholtz has been hampered by what he claims is a bare bones 75 million dollar payroll this winter, making any significant moves difficult. Last year, when the Braves lost key people to free agency, they at least attempted to make it up by making a couple of good acquistions. This year, it appears we will be doing nothing.
Although I predicted the Braves demise last year, and was shocked when Atlanta won 101 games and another division title, I believe this is the year when the Braves penny pinching will come back to bite them in the ass. I dont know what plans the other NL East teams have, but I do know that there is a darn good young team over in Philadelphia that underachieved a bit last year. If the Braves are weakened more, and Philly keeps their people, I predict the Braves string of division titles will end in 2004, and they may have to fight for the wild card, or miss the playoffs all together. As I said, I dont know what they have planned as far as moves, but from what I see, unless we do something dramatic, while our starting pitching remains okay even without Maddux, our offense will greatly suffer. My 2004 prediction for the Braves unless moves are made is 85 wins and a fight for the wild card that may ultimately fall short. As any who know baseball are aware, Braves GM John Scherholtz and manager Bobby Cox were the architects of this amazing team that did so well for 13 years, and it is sad to see all their good work to build a championship team go up in smoke by having a dynasty end like this. I was dismayed when AOL announced that they will not be selling the team. I wish AOL would sell, so that they could bring in ownership that wouldnt cut payroll every year. A few years ago, the GM Scherholtz talked of Atlanta being "Competetive" with a diminished payroll, meaning he would apparently settle for having a decent team that doesnt win championships as long as the payroll is right. I say it is the end of a dynasty, and on top of being a lousy ISP, I will forever have bitter feelings towards AOL for being a tightwad ownership that may result in the end of one of the greatest dynasties in professional sports history. Were I Bobby Cox and Scherholtz, I would resign from my jobs after so much success, before the fallout and bad happens due to all the penny pinching they are being forced to do due to cheap corporate owner AOL.
Mitch
If any of you follow baseball, you are aware that the Braves best hitter, right fielder Gary Sheffield, is very close to signing a contract with the New York Yankees. In addition, it looks like we will be losing both 3rd baseman Vinny Castilla, and catcher Javy Lopez. Also, I learned last night that we will be parting ways with our longtime pitching ace, and one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game of baseball, Greg Maddux.
What angers me so much is not the changes, but the fact that the Braves just seem to be nonchalantly allowing their best players to slip away, and seem to have no contingency plan for what happens when they do leave. Granted, Braves General Manager John Scherholtz has been hampered by what he claims is a bare bones 75 million dollar payroll this winter, making any significant moves difficult. Last year, when the Braves lost key people to free agency, they at least attempted to make it up by making a couple of good acquistions. This year, it appears we will be doing nothing.
Although I predicted the Braves demise last year, and was shocked when Atlanta won 101 games and another division title, I believe this is the year when the Braves penny pinching will come back to bite them in the ass. I dont know what plans the other NL East teams have, but I do know that there is a darn good young team over in Philadelphia that underachieved a bit last year. If the Braves are weakened more, and Philly keeps their people, I predict the Braves string of division titles will end in 2004, and they may have to fight for the wild card, or miss the playoffs all together. As I said, I dont know what they have planned as far as moves, but from what I see, unless we do something dramatic, while our starting pitching remains okay even without Maddux, our offense will greatly suffer. My 2004 prediction for the Braves unless moves are made is 85 wins and a fight for the wild card that may ultimately fall short. As any who know baseball are aware, Braves GM John Scherholtz and manager Bobby Cox were the architects of this amazing team that did so well for 13 years, and it is sad to see all their good work to build a championship team go up in smoke by having a dynasty end like this. I was dismayed when AOL announced that they will not be selling the team. I wish AOL would sell, so that they could bring in ownership that wouldnt cut payroll every year. A few years ago, the GM Scherholtz talked of Atlanta being "Competetive" with a diminished payroll, meaning he would apparently settle for having a decent team that doesnt win championships as long as the payroll is right. I say it is the end of a dynasty, and on top of being a lousy ISP, I will forever have bitter feelings towards AOL for being a tightwad ownership that may result in the end of one of the greatest dynasties in professional sports history. Were I Bobby Cox and Scherholtz, I would resign from my jobs after so much success, before the fallout and bad happens due to all the penny pinching they are being forced to do due to cheap corporate owner AOL.
Mitch
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