Caray on the difference between the Cubs and Braves.

[Soul]

bright spots to the 2005 season:

 

- no sammy

 

- no chip

 

- no alou

 

- derrek lee is the best player in baseball

 

- burnitz proves to be a very patient hitter, if not a powerful one

 

- aramis ramirez is locked up, and he's very very good

 

- ron santo is (relatively) well

 

To me, those are nice little side stories, but if the team doesn't win something (even a Wild Card), it's still a miserable year. I especially agree with 4,6, & 7 though----those have been good stories this year.

[dime]

...did I mention that chip carey is gone? :D

[Iceblink]

From an observer's point of view, Atlanta has seemed to get a lot from their minor leauges. They build up a core - Glavine, Maddux, Smoltz; or Chipper, Andruw, Smoltz - and actually play their rookies in positions where they can succeed. Maybe they just have better prospects than we do, and maybe I'm just generalizing hastily...but it seems like they've always got a promising rookie whom they know how to develop - Furcal, Laroche, Giles...hell, some guy named Kelly Johnson is an .800 OPS guy for them. They still sin with questionable filler guys (Brian Jordan, Fick, Mondesi), but appear more willing to develop a player at the major league level than we do. Sometimes I wonder if Dontrelle Willis would still be in AAA for us...or maybe trying to get a few innings out of the pen.

 

Cox & Mazzone have also repeatedly shown a great head for putting together and using a bullpen.

[J.R.]

For all of Atlanta's success, they still haven't mastered the art of marketing. If they had any kind of PR talent they could probably draw close to 4 million a year - then they'd be nearly as dangerous as the Yanks.

 

The great Braves tradition hasn't bred the kind of fan numbers one would expect. They have a nice following around the country, but the south just seems bored with 'em.