What have we learned so far this season? Well, after being fooled during the first 5 games, things haven’t changed much from last year. The roster is already peppered by a rash of injuries, the bullpen can’t throw strikes, and after a strong Marlins team showed us our weaknesses, Pittsburgh has embarrassed us. What’s so frustrating about Atlanta is their uncanny ability, developed over the past couple of years, to eke out some wins over a short period of time and obscure the underlying shortcomings to anyone who’s watching. Of course, the true nature of the Braves quickly shows itself just as soon as you start to get excited. For instance, those early unexpected flashes of brilliance from the rookie Jordan Schafer have now faded as his stats returned to earth. In the first 5 games, Schafer hit over .420. For the past 5 games Schafer’s hitting .055. The biggest hit to Atlanta is the number of players on the all-to-familiar DL. Currently P Jorge Campillo is 15-day DL while SS Yunel Escobar and 3B Chipper Jones are both day-to-day. Chipper has missed 3 straight games with a bruised left thumb. One has to really start to wondering if Jones will play more than 120 games this year. The one bright spot is undoubtedly Jeff Francoeur. His BA has been all over the place, but after Friday’s game he’s now leading the team with .350. But three days ago it was .250 so take that with a big grain of salt. But the old ghost of blown saves and poor power hitting is plaguing the Braves once again. During their 3 game sweep – the Marlins outscored Atlanta 21 – 7. The hemorrhaging that began when the bullpen gave up 8 runs in one inning to the Phillies hasn’t stopped yet. Fans are picking up where they left off last year with posts about Bobby Cox’s nasty habit of leaving relievers in far too long. But if all this pessimism is getting you down, check out an upbeat assessment by Furman Bisher on what’s right with the Braves this year.

I think most people who take a layman’s scan of Garret Anderson’s stats will react to his signing as nothing but good news for the ‘09 Braves season. While at the tail end of his career, the 36 year old has a career .296 BA over a very flat 15 year arc — .293 last year and .297 the year before. And unlike Ken Griffey Jr., Anderson has been surprisingly healthy. Three of the last four seasons Anderson has played over 140 games. So at first glance, the one year $2.5 million contract the Braves are giving Anderson may seem like a solid buy – exactly what we need to shore up the outfield for a year before bringing in a franchise hitter. But as saber-heads will tell you, BA doesn’t come close to telling the whole story about a player. As Mac Thomason has pointed out on Braves Journal, Anderson simply doesn’t draw walks. When you look at his OPS+, his ‘On Base plus Slugging’ percentage measured against the league average, Anderson is squarely in the average and below-average category barring outstanding seasons in ‘02 and ‘03. Also – over the past five seasons he’s averaged just under 16 homers – not exactly numbers of a big bat that’s going to knock in runs. While better than the abysmal numbers Atlanta’s outfield put up in ‘08, it may be too much to expect that Garret Anderson will be the the missing piece that will put the Braves back in the playoffs.

After ‘inside sources’ confirmed that Griffey was finalizing a deal to come to Atlanta on Tuesday, today it was announced that he’s actually signed with his old team the Mariners. Braves fans who were stung when Rafael Furcal’s return to Turner Field collapsed after looking like a certainty and felt punched in the stomach when management bungled negotiations with John Smoltz to watch him go to Boston must be reeling on the ground with this news. But the truth is hearing that Griffey was going to turn down the team he said he wanted to end his career with and become a Brave – when both teams were offering similar contracts – was more surprising than waking up today and finding out that he’s going to Seattle after all. The fact that Frank Wren said that the Braves are going to continue to look for a big bat is encouraging. There are still a couple free agent prospects on the table – lets hope we can still pick someone up before the start of the season.

With a weathered body and the weight of unfulfilled promise, 39 year old Ken Griffey Jr. is on his way to Atlanta according to David O’Brien and Terence Moore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Despite an injury-plagued career that dampened the hopes so many had in him, Griffey still stands 5th on the list of career home runs. The Braves are hoping Griffey can maintain his health while providing much needed power in the outfield – a glaring hole in the Braves current roster. Surprisingly, Griffey accepted the Braves offer over the Mariners – the team that originally drafted him in ‘87 and where he said in ‘07 he would like to end his career. The AJC reports that the Braves offer was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 – 2 million guaranteed with tacked on incentives dependent on plate appearances. One concern the Braves must have is Griffey’s offseason knee surgery. Though the surgery was successful, Griffey’s power comes from his lower body.

According to the AJC’s David O’Brien, the Braves management team is pretty satisfied with themselves after salvaging a horrible off season when they secured Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami in their starting rotation. O’Brien reports that General Manager Frank Wren and the Braves “have no sense of urgency now in pursuing that big outfield bat they’ve been looking for since the end of last season”. If a power hitting outfielder wasn’t such a huge hole in Atlanta’s roster such a lackadaisical attitude could be excused. But if the cash healthy Braves think they can just sit on their wallets while the likes of Adam Dunn are ready to be plucked from free agency then they better not act surprised to find themselves struggling with the same lineup as last year. To load up on SP’s and not complete the picture offensively would be an unforgivable sin by Wren and John Schuerholz. Chipper Jones and Brian McCann can’t shoulder the entire lineup themselves. If management is pinning their production hopes on Francoeur and Kotchman returning to form (or even rolling the dice on Andruw Jones) then we could be in for another subpar season. The bright spot in all of this is one of the best stable of prospects in baseball. Pitcher Tommy Hanson and outfielder Jason Heyward, both invited to Braves spring training, are ranked in the top three of all available prospects. With the addition of Kris Medlen, Freeddie Freeman, and Jordan Schafer, the Braves have a ton of ammo to create future Atlanta stars or trade for impact players right now. The pieces are in place. Hopefully the right decisions will be made.

Like most fans who watched Jeff Francoeur take all the promise in the world and collapse last season, I couldn’t believe that he and his agents were pushing for arbitration over a very generous offer of $2.8 million for 2009 when his request for nearly $4 million was turned down. I don’t think anyone who has watched Jeff thinks he’s a greedy guy who’s oblivious to what happened last year. Even if he hadn’t let his disappointment in himself be known in the press you could have read it in his face and demeanor. But to be in a position where many question if you even have major league talent, asking for a $4 million contract seems vulgar. In the business of baseball, though, Francoeur’s actions may be rude, but they’re logical. If Francoeur hadn’t had such a terrible time last year, but had improved upon his outstanding 2007 season, there’s every chance Atlanta would be investing in a huge multi-year deal to secure him as a franchise power-hitter. The Braves hope that 2008’s performance was just a fluke and he can still become the hitter he appeared to be becoming in 2007. An arbitrator might think there’s value in Francoeur’s future that’s not reflected in the $2.8 million offer. The only downside to Francoeur if he does win the bigger contract, but doesn’t improve, is a huge fan backlash in Atlanta.

If there’s any consolation to Braves fans over the management debacle that sent John Smoltz to Boston it’s that several player’s have already spoken out with the anger and dismay many of them feel. It’s not just those of us outside the park who can’t fathom why a team with ten’s of millions of dollars in spending money would let a hall of fame 20 year veteran leave town over two million dollars. While Frank Wren, Terry McGuirk, and John Schuerholz fretted over pennies, other teams sensed an opportunity and Boston landed Smoltz on the cheap.

The first player to lay down a strong rant was Chipper Jones with the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Here are a couple of the best gems from the interview:

“I am disappointed. Very disappointed. Deflated. Frustrated. It’s been a very long offseason, not a lot of stuff to really get excited about and then to have this it just is the icing on the cake for me.”

“My whole thing is John Smoltz has earned the right and earned the respect of everybody here to if he wants to come back and pitch and says he is healthy enough, he deserves that opportunity. And you do whatever it takes to get it done. We’ve made so many gambles on players that haven’t panned out over the past few years and if there was one guy in that clubhouse that I’m going to gamble a couple of million dollars on, it’s going to be that guy. If he says he can do it, I believe him.”

“That’s what I don’t understand. That’s what’s frustrating. I’m trying to be as diplomatic and as upbeat as I can possibly be and it is being made very hard on me to be that way. John Smoltz has been one of the faces of this franchise for 20 years. There’s no reason for him at 41 years old to be playing anywhere but here.”

“He (Smoltz) went through the whole scenario with me. The underlying tone was extreme disappointment — and from my end it was shock. I could see anyone one else going somewhere before John Smoltz. … After everything that’s happened to this organization this winter, the players and the fans need something good to happen. I’ve been keeping up with the news. I’ve been reading the blogs. The one silver lining we had was John Smoltz being back in the lineup this year. We could have had that dominant guy back in the lineup. But we won’t — and for what, a couple of million dollars?”

Next up was relief pitcher Blaine Boyer who said:

“It’s sad for me and the team, but also sad for Braves fans.”

“As far as I’m concerned, John Smoltz is the Atlanta Braves, for me growing up. Now that I’ve developed a strong relationship with him over the past few years, to see him going to Boston, it’s just sad.”

Tom Glavine, whose injuries cloud his future with the Braves, said:

“I think as an athlete that’s been somewhere for a long time, it’s always difficult emotionally when you don’t feel like you’re getting the respect you deserve from your team, when somebody else steps in and shows you the love, so to speak, you kind of get that feeling of ‘Why doesn’t my team that I’ve been with for so long show this same kind of appreciation?’”

Manager Bobby Cox was more diplomatic when he raised the corn factor to 10 with “I wish him all the luck in the world with Boston. I guess they kind of blew his socks off there.” But beyond the clubhouse the cluelessness of management in this whole matter was demonstrated as soon as they opened their mouths. CEO McGuirk expressed surprise that Smoltz wouldn’t be happy to accept any bone the Braves threw him – whenever they were good and ready:

“He follows his own head, and I just don’t know what’s going on with him right now. We’ve offered less of a guarantee, but we’ve offered a substantial guarantee. Coming off an injury like this, we feel like it’s the right thing that we should be doing.”

“We’ve offered him a package that would get him in the $10 million range, if he were to pitch a full season and pitch well. For him to walk away from that and to go to another place, I’m just shocked and surprised.”

General Manager Frank Wren added:

“It was never that we didn’t want John back, or a lack of respect for John. Our priority was to have a pitching staff that would allow us to go into the season not concerned about rehabs and injuries and the things that set us back in 2008. And that still stands.”

After hearing these comments Smoltz was compelled to respond. Through his agent Smoltz said:

“I was going to withhold comment until the announcement of my signing with a new team, but I now feel the need to clear up any misconceptions and inaccuracies about the contract negotiations between myself and the Atlanta Braves.”

“There were large discrepancies between the offer from the Braves and offers from other teams.”

“I have always loved the city of Atlanta, and it will always be my home. I will cherish my 21 years with Bobby Cox and all my Braves teammates. I continue to wish the Atlanta Braves nothing but success in the future.”

Bravo for Wren, McGuirk, and Schuerholz for keeping their heads in the sand and making a bad offseason miserable.

Many Braves fans are waking up today to the shocking news that John Smoltz, tired of waiting for a contract offer from Atlanta, is going to sign a deal with the Boston Red Sox. This comes after a 21 year career spent entirely in Atlanta and public statements by Smoltz that he hoped to finish his career with the Braves. Despite having a good practice from the mound in December, Braves GM Frank Wren wasn’t prepared to sign Smoltz until he saw more from the pitcher who spent nearly all of last season on the DL. In the meantime, several teams expressed interest in signing Smoltz culminating in a one year offer from Boston for $5.5 million guaranteed and $5 million in incentives. The Braves were only willing to offer Smoltz $3 million guaranteed. For the front office, this will be a huge blow. John Smoltz is such an iconic and respected Brave no one could have imagined he would leave Atlanta at the end of his career. No doubt fans are going to blame braves management for letting Smoltz get away by being unnecessarily stingy. Coupled with the Braves inability to bring any big free agents to the team this offseason, some fans are ready to give up and tune out before the season even begins.

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.

Here is the Brave’s spring schedule, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitiution:

Feb. 25, Detroit at Lakeland, 1:05 p.m.

Feb. 26, Houston at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

Feb. 27, Pittsburgh at Bradenton, 1:05 p.m.

Feb. 28, Toronto at Dunedin, 1:05 p.m.

March 1, Philadelphia at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 3, WBC Panama at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 4, N.Y. Yankees at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 5, WBC Venezuela at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 6, Houston at Disney, 7:05 p.m.

March 7, N.Y. Yankees at Tampa, 1:05 p.m.

March 8, Philadelphia at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 10, Houston at Kissimmee, 1:05 p.m.

March 11, Philadelphia at Clearwater, 1:05 p.m.

March 12, Washington at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 13, Florida at Jupiter, 1:05 p.m.

March 14, St. Louis at Jupiter, 1:05 p.m.

March 15, Houston at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 17, N.Y. Mets at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 18, N.Y. Mets at Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.

March 19, Detroit at Disney, 7:05 p.m.

March 20, Florida at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 21, N.Y. Mets at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 22, N.Y. Mets at Port St. Lucie, 1:10 p.m.

March 24, Pittsburgh at Disney, 6:05 p.m.

March 25, Washington at Viera, 1:05 p.m.

March 26, Toronto at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 27, Detroit at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 28, N.Y. Yankees at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 29, Detroit at Lakeland, 1:05 p.m.

March 30, Boston at Disney, 1:05 p.m.

March 31, Houston at Kissimmee, 7:05 p.m.

April 1, Detroit at Lakeland, 1:05 p.m.

April 2, Houston at Kissimmee, 1:05 p.m.

April 3, Detroit at Atlanta, 7:05 p.m.

April 4, Detroit at Atlanta, 1:05 p.m