IT IS TIME FOR AN OVERHAUL!

I am a huge baseball fan, sometimes I think I like it more than football...sometimes. I don't mind the slowness of the game, I enjoy the strategy and the history and mystique of the game is matched by no other sport.

In this game of baseball I follow a couple of teams close, but the Braves are my team. From back when I was a kid, watching games on TBS with my grandfather, going to games at Fulton County Stadium in the 70's all the way through their incredible run in the 90's. Which brings us to today. This incarnation of the Braves is horrible. They have no offense, their starting pitching is decent, but their bullpen is ungodly awful and as much as I love Bobby Cox, I think it may be time to overhaul the coaching staff.

PITCHING:

Their starting pitching has been pretty decent. Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens have been great and Javier Vasquez has been ok. So far each of these starters have kept the Braves in pretty much every game they have started. Kenshin Kawakami has been down right horrendous, yeah that was good use of $8mill, and Jo Jo Reyes has been decent but he is not reliable.

Their bullpen is another story all together. While their starters usually leave with the lead or with the Braves within a run or two, the bullpen usually takes care of all of that and pet's their opponents do what they please. The Braves bullpen is dead last in not allowing inherited runners to score. The majority of their relievers have an ERA over 4.00. Yes Jeff Bennett has an ERA of 0.71, but that is because all the runs he gives up are credited to other people. He has pitched 12 innings and given up 20 hits. Soriano and Gonzalez have been decent, but the rest have got to go. If I see Peter Moylan come into another game I am going to hurt somebody.

OFFENSE:

I have never seen a team that is so horribly awful at putting the ball into play. The team has struck out 248 times in 881 at bats, that's 1 strike out every 3 1/2 at bats. They can't steal bases, they can't move runners over they have to rely on the home run but they have no one who can hit home runs. Jordan Schafer the wonder kid who homered on his first at bat, the savior of the Braves, yeah..he needs to be sent back to the minors. He is batting .238, with 2 homeruns, and 3 RBIs, uhh the homers and ribs all came in the first 3 games of season. He has 34 K's in 84 at bats.....I think it is safe to say he is having trouble hitting major league pitching. I won't even get into the Garrett Anderson fiasco.

COACHING:

I think it is time for Bobby to retire. He has had a great run and has done things with teams that no one has ever done nor will they do again. 14 straight division titles is one heck of a run. The other coaches I have issues with are Roger McDowell and Terry Pendleton. McDowell has been the pitching coach for 3 years, which have been the 3 worst pitching year the team has had in the past 20 years. Maybe something new is needed. Pendleton has not improved any hitters on this team the entire career he has been the Hitting Coach. Andruw Jones progressively got worse, Jeff Francoeur got worse, I can go on, name one hitter he has helped. Yes Francoeur has gotten better this year, but in the off season he hired the hitting coach at Texas to work with him, not Pendelton. Look at Andruw Jones this season, he is hitting .341, 3 hrs and 8 rbis......hmmm he is playing for Texas. Chipper Jones and other players use their dads as hitting coaches, get advice from them not Pendleton. So all I am saying is maybe it is time for a change.

I think it is time to blow this team up. You keep Chipper because he is "The Brave", you keep Brian McCann and you keep Jordan Schafer because he is going to be good. Other than that, start trading....if anyone wants any of the players. Obviously something ain't right in Atlanta or all those free agents would not have used the Braves to get better contracts.

Build this team through the minors, then add a few veterans to round things out...hmm didn't they do that in 91'?

Yes I know we are only a month and a half into the season, and things could change, but right now I don't see that happening.