3 Deep Breaths - Rumors of the Braves' Demise Have Been Greatly Exagerated

The title of this post is taken from a famous quote by Mark Twain in a letter to the New York Sun. As the Braves have started the season 1-3 (with all 3 losses coming to the Nats and Bus . . . ouch) many fans have started clamoring that we are seeing a repeat performance from last year. Here's a list of reasons (in no particular order) why many fans need to step away from the ledge.

1. Texeira will not bat .105 all season. It's only been 4 games, cut the guy some slack. If he's still batting below .250 at the end of the month I will start to be concerned.


2. The Braves are 0-3 in one run games. This is another trend that will not continue for two reasons. First, we will not see 120+ 1 run games (current pace) and second, the bullpen though not spectacular has not been as bad as it seems.


3. The Bullpen - Right now the bullpen is exhausted. We have multiple pitchers who have pitched 3 days in a row. Once the pen gets on a regular schedule and gets consistent roles AND REST things will settle down.


4. Chuck James will likely join the rotation soon. While he is not a top tier pitcher he can provide the team with close to 200 innings which should help the bullpen significantly.


5. James has won 11 games each of the past 2 seasons. There's no reason to think that he can't do so again.

Now that I've reassured everyone here are a list of concerns that I have after the first 4 games

1. The SP's have to pitch more than 5 innings. Through the first 4 games only Huddy has made it out of the 6th inning. With Smoltzie and Tommy being 40+ and Jair a rookie one would have to think we are going to see a lot of 5/6 inning starts.


2. Why are we carrying 3 catchers? Either Corky or Pena needs to be sent down as Bobby needs an extra arm in the pen until the roles get settled and everyone is back on their regular pitching schedule


3. Kelly Johnson's knee- I'm concerned that this injury will linger all season and force him to change his game. KJ will likely be less aggressive on the base paths as he attempts to stay healthy and in the line up. It will not be surprising at all to see a platoon develop with KJ and Prado. Mark Bowman's latest article on MLB.com (found here) suggests than KJ would be willing to go on the DL now if it will prevent him from missing a significant amount of games throughout the season. Here's the problem - KJ's knee has been hurting for over a year. If an entire winter was not enough to make the pain go away how will a two week stint on the DL relieve the pain?