Should fans make an investment on the Braves?

If you are a lifelong Braves fan, you might be a redneck. Just kidding, it really means that it's probable you were born and raised in the south - or in a market that didn't have a baseball team but had TBS.

You're welcome Iowa.

Chances are though, you, like me, aren't from around here. You've probably lived in the South for awhile and still consider yourself a fan of your hometown teams. I will always be a part of Red Sox Nation and I earned my stripes as a Patriots fan by sitting in sub-zero temperatures with my dad and grandfather back when the Patriots were rarely great.

I moved to Peachtree City in November of 1992 - the Braves had just captured America's attention with the tomahawk chop and losing the World Series. I went to my first Braves game the following year and considered them my second favorite baseball team - my team in the National League. I watched every inning of the playoffs and World Series in 1995 while partying, I mean studying, at UGA and have been to numerous opening days, playoff games and match-ups with the Red Sox ever since.

I have to admit though that I fell off the bandwagon a bit in the last few years. Yes, you could argue it was at the first sign of trouble, but I'll counter with I now have two children under the age of four and NESN. I rarely have had the time to watch games (and who knows what channel they are on anymore?) and by the time the house is quiet and I'm ready - NESN Extra Innings clicks on and I catch the last few innings of Red Sox Baseball.

Still, the Braves captivated me with a strong spring training (I know, meaningless) and a good stretch to start the season. I saw many reasons to be optimistic and then Atlanta played Pittsburgh. There have already been a lot of ups and downs and heading into the second weekend of May I'm still not sold on this squad and their chances to right the ship.

Line-up wise, I see the potential to be very good, but I also see the aging veterans looking more aging than veteran-y. Garrett Anderson? Has he even played yet? Hasn't Chipper already missed a number of games with another nagging injury? Is Brian McCann blind now? O.K., McCann isn't an aging veteran, but he is arguably one of the Braves most feared hitters. When he can see.

But there are some exciting possibilities in the lineup. Jordan Schafer may strike out a lot but he gets on base. Kelly Johnson seems like a Marcus Giles like hitter to me and Yunel Escobar is one of the better shortstops in the league. Production from them usually means runs and that usually means wins.

Pitching wise, I think Derek Lowe is great, Javier Vasquez will be decent and Jair Jurrjens is a rising star. It's too early to adopt or banish Kawakami. He could be good, but he could also be a bust. The fifth starter is Jo-Jo Reyes and he can also go either way. Hopefully, Tim Hudson comes back after the break and pitches well enough to be looked at as like a free trade - you know, we got this great new player and we didn't have to give anything up for him. I also think (hope) the Braves are in it late enough that Tommy Hanson can come in and be Atlanta's David Price. (Price was the young pitcher for Tampa last year who befuddled Red Sox players in the ALCS).

So, should I (and you) invest our time and energy into the Braves this season? I realize this is Georgia and we are already knee deep in spring football, but I'm going to say yes. The funky stuff that has happened so far, has already happened. Yeah, Anderson will probably be Grumpy Old Man 3 all year and Chipper might pull something in his thumb, big toe or jaw, but McCann isn't going to go more blind (right?) and Casey Kotchman will drive in runners in scoring position at some point.

Ultimately, this seems like a better constructed team than in year's past and, let's face it, nobody is running away with the NL East right now. Atlanta is in fourth place at 2 back. One good weekend and they're back on top.

Now let's have that good weekend.