Braves in the News
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by user Thepoliticalgame
I have been watching closely as the John Smoltz/Chipper Jones saga plays out. Chipper says he is feeling pressured to be on the field, though hurting, by the veteran pitcher Smoltz and Smoltz says he can't worry about who is on the field and who isn't while making the impression that a players (i.e. Chipper) need to buck up and play the game instead of biding their time on the disabled list.
What I find most amazing about this isn't that Smoltz says all of this to the news media rather than Chipper or that Chipper responded the way he has by taking the field, what I find amazing is that they're worthy of a rotation in the 24-hour sports news cycle right now.
Any general manager knows that there will be some friction in the clubhouse when a team is losing. Any baseball fan knows that the Braves aren't what they used to be when they were winning division titles (fourteen in a row to be precise). Anybody who is giving this little "feud" a second thought is wasting their time.
Before long Cox (also in the news for tying the all-time high of ejections from a game) will call the two in, hash out the details, and tell them to grow up and play ball. Today they may be on eggshells with one another, but by tomorrow they won't be front page news, a few feelings may remain hurt, but they'll take the field together as they have for many years and be the leaders of a team still eligible for post-season play.
Smoltz and Hudson have had a rough couple of weeks and they would eagerly let the blame of numerous losses fall on the shoulders of their teammates. The other Jones, Andruw, has been in a hitting slump for too long now and his future with the Braves after this season is up in the air. The Braves were wise enough to trade Macay McBride who wasn't helping them in the pitching rotation and they have realized the strength of a few fielders (Thorman, Diaz, and McCann), allowing them to step up and help the team out of a rough go the first part of the season.
This will sort itself out. And if it doesn't, rest assured, Bobby Cox isn't going to let his players form a cirucular firing squad.
