Opening Day, Departures, Arrivals
Opening Day is upon us.
Braves Country has spent the past four months and some change looking for answers, explanations, people to blame, and postseason formatting to blame. Words no longer matter.
Importance rests exclusively on the production put forth by the guys wearing tomahawks on their chest.
Looking around, the best is in Atlanta. The rotation is, in the words of the esteemed Randy Travis, “deeper than the holler”. The bullpen is loaded with guys brought in and built upon last year’s successes and repairing last year’s discrepancies. The offense is an all-time producer. There are no holes.
But every journey begins with a first step. Game One is a return to the scene of the crime, of sorts. Perhaps the best team in the history of the Braves organization was violently laid to rest prematurely last offseason in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; where the Braves begin the 2024 campaign with a four-game series.
The pitching matchup as announced will be Spencer Strider against Zack Wheeler. Spencer starting Game One in and of itself is a storyline. Incumbent ace Max Fried is in the final year of his contract. Instead of operating where they can “catering to” Fried in efforts to bolster their chances of retaining him either before he officially becomes a free agent or during the free agency process, they symbolically passed the torch to Spencer Strider. Talk about cold-blooded. And I don’t mean cold-blooded in its accepted connotation of an act being ruthless, I used it in the context of they’re operating as a team who puts no player on a pedestal. Each player is equal, title & opportunity is awarded on merit; just as we all would like our favorite team operated. Personally, I’m all for it, and I’m a Max guy. But I’m also a realist & strive to cover this team with no personal bias woven in, I’ve expected Fried to leave for the West Coast after his contract runs out, for a few years now.
All of the guys who came up in the Braves system that have excelled in their MLB careers have signed long-term extensions or contracts in the past couple seasons, save one: Max Fried. Fried bolting for the West Coast isn’t the only Braves arm I expect to toy with the idea of returning home to play baseball after this season.