Rotten start to key stretch for Braves

I just don't get Bobby Cox singling out Yunel Escobar. Yes he has made mistakes and the rundown on Roberts was foolish when tagging the runner gets u out the inning, but you can't assume the dp in the 1st. Seems like a cop-out.

Ok and even if your feed up w/Escobar, still why not call out Garrett Anderson for a lack hustle. McLouth yesterday was in left field running down fly balls, or Diaz/Johnson/or Franceour for lack of plate awareness and giving away at-bats.

Also Wren is also to blame for our plight. Left field could have been better sured up by Bobby Abreu. Power could have been added with Adam Dunn. and if money was the excuse why did the Braves go hard after Gary Sheffield. He was being given away.

OK lets look at 2nd base. Kelly Johnson was shopped this off-season, main the rumors are Brian Roberts or Ryan Ludwig. OK here is the problems I have with not pulling the trigger on Roberts;

Money and prospects were said to be the sticking point, however we offered Furcal 10m and thats whats Roberts is making. OK next gripe I have is prospects. Brave fans and management have fallen in love with unproven talent yet want to compete in the now. Of course you can't part with Hanson/Escobar/Schafer or Jair Jurrgens not because they are too valuable but because management wanted to incorparate them into this season. You can't trade pieces u want to use this year however even if the O's asked for these guys you have pitching depth in the farm use it. You can't use 10 starting pitchers. Also Orlando Hudson was avaiable. The Braves problems started theis off-season and now are Haunting this team.

Wren stated two weeks after the season ended that his two main goals were to fix the starting rotation and land a power-hitting outfielder.

He definitely fixed the rotation. But not landing the big stick for left field (Ibanez; Dunn; Abreu, etc.) hurts this team every day. I don't find fault with the way the lineup was constructed coming out of spring training. Everybody knew the Braves weren't going to hit for power or have a lot of speed (I still would've kept Josh Anderson and started Jordan Schafer in Gwinnett for at least the first month). But with Anderson, a guy who gets on base and who can change a game with his speed once on first base, you had a decent leadoff guy in front of a lot of good, solid hitters -- with decent power threats at third and fourth with Chipper and Mac.

That premise, of course, was contingent on Jeff Francoeur rediscovering himself and Kelly Johnson carrying over his strong finish from 2008. We all know what's happened since. Casey Kotchman is what he is, not a bad offensive player with gap power who hits for a decent average. Not his fault the Braves don't have power coming from anywhere else. The struggles of Francoeur and Johnson really have doomed this offense, in my opinion, as well as not having Omar Infante (who is insurance for KJ when Johnson goes into his inevitable tailspins) and Kotchman, and the ineffectiveness of Garret Anderson (injuries, slumps) have turned this lineup -- one that figured to string hits together and generate enough run support for the very good rotation and solid bullpen -- into four or five decent hitters and a big ol' black hole at the bottom of the order.

I love Yunel Escobar's fire and passion. I think the Braves need more of it, to be honest, to show some emotion. I just think he's got to sharpen up the mental side of his game, of being aware of the situation and being smart on the bases, of at least being cognizant that some of the stuff he does innocently may indeed be perceived as showing up the opposition and/or the umps. We all forget this dude made his big-league debut two years ago this month; he's young. Sky's the limit with him, and I think he's essential to this team's success. With that said, I don't have a problem with Bobby benching him to "send a message."

I have a bigger problem with Bobby continuing to run Johnson and Francoeur out there day-in and day-out, albeit I admit I don't know who in the world you'd put out there to replace either of them. Martin Prado just now is getting back from that groin injury. Infante's been gone for more than a month. The Braves have NO outfield depth whatsoever.

I'm afraid what we saw last night is a harbinger of things to come during the next 15 games, a stretch where the Braves just might be pushed too far back to make the rest of this season relevant.

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Ok I agree that there is a Big black hole at the bottom of the order, but Wren new this going into the season. Garrett was injury prone along with Griffey, Jr. And those are the two players its seems the Braves targeted in the off-season. I think most braves fans would agree with the top of the order, but G.Anderson was a cheap signing who is flawed defensively, lacks hustle, and is injury prone. I know Francouer is virtually untradeable, but why compound the problem and put a band-aid on left field. Heyward to 2 yrs away. So even if you get rid of Francouer you now have two outfield spots to field in the off-season and very few FA to replace them with. The one solution that I saw proposed that didn't involve "trading the farm" was to sign Matt Holliday let Schafer play center and keep Francouer until Heyward was ready. That puts Holliday with all the cards and may mean the Braves would be force to pay a Kings Ransom to stop the bleeding.