More than any other team the Mets left the winter meetings in Las Vegas with their weaknesses shored up. The mediocre bullpen that contributed to the Mets late season collapses over the past couple of years was transformed into a formidable force when they acquired two top level relievers in Francisco Rodriquez and J.J. Putz. Another New York team has gone on a characteristic buying spree unmatched by any other team. The Yankees picked up two huge starters in C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Today, it was announced they picked up first baseman, and Brave for a year, Mark Teixeira. Though Teixeira was only signed for a year with Atlanta and they had to trade him last season before he became a free agent. Spending the money to try and keep Teixeira in a Braves uniform would have been the type of move the Braves need but can’t seem to make this offseason. First, Atlanta tried to bring in a big starter (desperately needed). They went after Jake Peavy in a multi-player trade but that deal crashed and burned. Then they put their hat in the ring for A.J. Burnett with a big offer to only see the Yankees put up more. Finally, they tried to get a short stop (not desperately needed) by signing former Brave Rafael Furcal. Unless you’ve been living in a hole you know the debacle that turned into. Word is the Braves are going to start thinking long term. That would be great if this was 2006. Instead, they’ve wasted at least two years trying to patch holes in a sinking ship, but the water is flowing in too quickly for Atlanta. The Braves started this offseason trying to spend some of their decent sized coffer to plug some more of those holes, but it hasn’t worked out at all. If they are going to rebuild, they’ve got to get serious and truly clean house. Don’t hold out for a return to the playoffs. Right now the Braves just need to bring in and develop smart young talent – like the Minnesota twins of a few years ago.

The sports pages are filled today with reports of John Schuerholz, Brave’s president, tirade against Rafael Furcal’s agents from the Wasserman Media Group after they backed out of a ‘done deal’ to return Furcal to Atlanta and resigned with LA. It’s almost hard to believe that the fit Schuerholz has unleashed in the media – calling Furcal’s agents ‘disgusting’ and banning any future dealings with players represented by them – is over a peaked short stop who played 36 games last year. Are we to believe that Furcal was the only player in MLB who could come into Atlanta and rebuild this struggling franchise? Don’t get me wrong, Furcal still has a few good years ahead of him as he begins the decline down the other side of the bell curve, but stacking the infield does not fix the Brave’s problems in the bullpen and lack of power hitting. Instead of embarrassing the Brave’s with a public hissy fit, Schuerholz needs to look past this small bump in the road and work with Frank Wren to fix the bigger problems Atlanta has. They’ve got the money to spend – its time to make the moves to build a club that can deliver.