What the Braves have to do now

I'm going to agree with Munford that the Braves botched the Smoltz thing - even though I am super excited to see Smoltzie as a member of the Boston Red Sox. An offer of $2.5 million - when we are talking about the monopoly money of MLB - is an insult to a player who has given his all for the club and would have done so again. I understand Frank Wren's position that they didn't want to make offers to guys who could possibly break down again, but John Smoltz isn't Mike Hampton and he shouldn't have been treated as such.

So, what do you do now? The infield is set and will be productive and catcher is set with McCann. The outfield is a mess. Unless Jordan Schaefer is ready to go, I can't see there being much of any production coming out of the outfield. I can't even tell you who is in the outfield right now for the Braves outside of Francouer. I hope he can right his ship.

Pitching wise, Vazquez will give you innings and Jurrjens is an up and comer, but the Braves need Derek Lowe to lead the staff. If that happens, the Braves should be able to stick around and maybe make some moves near the break to put them over the top.

It might be time to make some moves with some of the farm system to shore up that outfield though and the Braves must sign Lowe and/or Ben Sheets (another injury guy, though) to have a staff that can pitch at least six innings every time out and lead the way to a bullpen that should be very solid.