biggentleben

Um, wow. Just wow.

Yeah, and as the lead prospect guy for Tomahawk Take, I'm loving our top 20 right now. There are 5 guys who would have been on that top 20 in October that don't even make honorable mention now. It's crazy the amount of talent brought in this offseason. Also realize for Braves fans who lived through the 90s, a closer at the end of the game has more importance due to multiple offseasons ending because of the lack of a quality closer, so Kimbrel had a bit more importance to many of the older fans for that reason.

I agree, but I will say that as a fan, it's awfully hard to watch your team's favorite players go out the door, especially moving two homegrown "stars" in Heyward and Kimbrel in one season. I love the trade for all the value for the Braves, but emotionally, I'll miss the lean of Kimbrel in the 9th.

I am a huge Kimbrel fan on and off the field, so I'm very, very sad to see him go. Maybin is a lottery ticket that will probably come up dry, but what the heck, sometimes you buy a $1 Powerball and get $5 out of it. Quentin will be DFA'd in order to expedite him to the AL (Orioles maybe?). I really like Wisler and getting the draft pick, but the real prize is ridding the team of Melvin.

Can I borrow some negativity? After today, the white flag is officially up. The Nationals could win 100 this year even if half their roster is injured because the Braves and Phillies are in that division.

'twas how I attended so many games during college! $5 could get you lower left field seats AND 2 dome dogs!

Holy crap. Just holy crap. Craig Kimbrel and BJ Upton to San Diego Carlos Quentin, Cameron Maybin, Matt Wisler, Jordan Paroubek, and #41 pick to Atlanta Jesus.

I wouldn't go that far, but he certainly deserved a shot. They designated both of the guys I thought should have been the final two outfielders on the team.

Benson cut today, much to chagrin of Braves fans around the world.

Bark, we'll always respectfully disagree on our personal views of religion and faith, but that was a very well-put statement. Thanks for stating it. Our world has major problems. Our country has major problems. Our local communities have major problems. Who one person chooses to love is not one of those problems, whether homosexual or heterosexual, black, brown, or white, Christian, Muslim, or none of the above. That said, I think all of us can be action to change all of this. There are too many sheep that never make their blood, sweat, and tears currency. I'm proud to say that I've put some of that into what I do every day, hoping to affect change in lives of people who are often overlooked or outright put down by society. One of the men I respect most on this planet spent time in jail due to legal protests that he participated in that a corrupt governor chose to break up because it hurt his political agenda. That's putting yourself into action rather than just sharing stories on Facebook or talking about it on TD. I'm not assuming anyone here is only doing that by any means, but it takes more than just those reading this site to put literal skin into the game and make your presence felt and voice audibly heard to better our society. My best man in my wedding is about as far from me politically in who we end up supporting, though I think we are closer in actual ideologies than our respective voting records would lead one to believe. He made a comment about this whole issue that really rings true: why do we always have to legislate common human decency? Sad to say, while I agree with his point, I also understand that without legislating it, we'd have too many who would allow the lack of punishment to be truly deplorable to their fellow man, and yes, I understand many do, but that's why these legislated common decencies must still exist.

What reasonable doubt? He was suspended this spring from either a spring or offseason test. He was part of multiple tests in 2014 with the Braves and didn't get popped. The Braves didn't pursue Santana before he was signed because they didn't have the financial resources to do such. By the time they had freed up the money to make a run at a big contract like that, the Twins had already signed Santana. They offered him the qualifying offer, so they obviously felt he was worthy of a $14M+ annual contract. The Braves decision on Santana was 100% financial, not suspension related.

1. You know when he began using? 2. The Braves nearly lost 90 games last year in Santana's only season with the team. Where was that benefit?

Four hits tonight, including the game winning single for Benson.

A whole generation has grown up without that now, though.

Former member of my list, televangelist Robert Schuller passed away at 88

Absolutely. Fandom doesn't have to be rational.

They moved one of their outfielders off of the 40-man in Zoilo Almonte (who never should have been given a major league deal in the first place, but I digress), so there's an open spot. They've pretty much already taken away anyone who could play a corner, so that's something Benson brings to the table.

Saddens me that after all these years, I haven't swayed more folks here to at least support the Braves!

It made me sad to read Keith Law's faux Old Hoss tweet just because not knowing who's behind it is half the fun of the account. I don't believe for a second that Law is behind it, but still, I don't even like people joking about being behind the account...I want to believe Old Hoss's ghost is running it!

Absolutely. I write for Tomahawk Take, which is similar, albeit without the extensive forum. I also participate at huzzah.co, which is actually a group of Braves, Dodgers, and Cardinals fans who bonded together for a shared forum site after ESPN sold off their forum moderation on their old team boards. The Braves board is a lot of fun on that site, though let's just say TD has infinitely more moderation! I have been part of Tomahawk Chop, but once they joined together with Capital Avenue Club, that site went way downhill as far as encouraging user participation. Certainly nothing like a lot of other SB Nation sites like John Sickels' site.

Oh, I do. Though his account has slowly gone downhill. The peak was certainly when ESPN or MLB or someone like that released a top 100 players of all time and the account commented on it.

Successfully, no. In fact, when I did the research a handful of years ago, 90%+ of all attempted litigations were thrown out before ever going to trial. The ones that did were either represented by a lawyer working pro-bono or supported by an outside entity paying for their legal representation, so the churches never paid for it, and none of those cases ever went against the church to force the church to perform the wedding.

Yes, I meant thousands over the course of his career, and yes, many never make the major leagues, but I'm talking about those who he has taken to the majors and to free agency. I'm probably still bitter about it, but when they had the old arbitration system, the Braves went to Greg Maddux with a 4 year deal hoping to have him end his career in Atlanta. The reported number was $55M with two option years, so really 4/$50M with two option years that had $5M buyouts. Boras wanted to go to free agency, and he did take the arbitration amount both years ($13M and $14.75M) before the Braves didn't offer it and he ended up playing for $6M and $9M for the Cubs in what would have been the final two guaranteed years of the deal. So he got $42.75M for those four years instead of $55M, and he ended up bouncing around the I would never again have a problem with a Boras client getting "stuck" by a team.

I'd like to attach Washington to a... Oh, bad Ben, no downtrodding in this post. I am still bitter that I have to watch NameChange Upton in CF instead of Span.

100% this. Ask any person who has been part of an ELCA Lutheran church since before 2009 how one of the largest church denominations in the world was split completely on a worldwide scale due to the issue of homosexuality, even though there was nothing that forced any individual church to accept a homosexual marriage, minister, or even member, they were still outraged that it was allowed at all.