johnny damon to the braves?


say it ain't so.

i guess it's baseball season now, huh? at least, we are getting close.

in time, you will start seeing this site taking a break from all the alabama hoopla and focus in on the braves. the primary reasons? there are four storylines that i will be following as a braves fairweather fan this year, and none of them have anything to do with melky cabrera. three of them have to do with "youth" and "the future" and "potential" and the same kind of hullabaloo that i gave you with 2008 bama recruiting class.

oh, shit. i can already see this is going to be annoying as hell.

maybe. but here is the thing. why is national signing day so wonderful for every school in the country? because no matter what anyone says, you can sculpt an argument around your school's recruiting class being the best and/or most efficient/effective in the history of college football and no one can truly disprove your claim. on signing day, it's ALL about potential. not one of the high school seniors has ever played a down in college, but you can take his grainy, youtube, high school highlight video and extrapolate it into a theory of why you are looking at the next herschel walker. people might tell you that you are wrong. people might say you are stupid. people might accuse you of indulging in too much of the crack rock, but what do they know? they haven't seen anything on the field that would disprove your "herschel walker theory", so you can sit on your couch satisfied with the thought that tomorrow will bring greater things as a result of this year's signing day haul. all that being said, i sincerely hope auburn's top five class ends up ringing in a new and improved era for their team. a college football season that marches towards an iron bowl with significant meaning for both teams is a better and more enjoyable college football season, in my opinion. auburn being good incites more faux "hate". auburn being good will bring more satisfaction when alabama kicks that ass. national signing day is great because it is ALL about potential.

same with spring training. you can think that the royals will suck in 2010. you can think the pirates may never win another game. and you may think that the red sox should be really good with their starting rotation that includes three potential number one guys. you can think a whole lot, but you can't prove shit, because every team is resting comfortably at 0-0.

i say that to say this. heading into spring training, i think there are four stories that will stir my salsa heading into april. i rank their importance, bottom to top.

4) the redemption of jordan schafer - i documented here on HACAM that i believe bobby cox ruined schafer last year. he was hurt early. still forced to trot out and work through his major league growing pains on the biggest stage and couldn't get his body and mind right after the first week of the season. i hate bobby cox for this, and i will always hate bobby cox for this. schafer may not be called up until september, but i will track him every step of the way and hope that he makes nate mcclouth expendable sooner rather than later.

3) is tommy hanson a number one starter? - he won't start opening day, but that's not the point. he scratched the surface of his potential after the braves waited too long to call him up last year. he'll be pitching, consistently, against the other team's second or third or maybe fourth best pitcher every time he takes the mound. he, in theory, should win those games, win eighteen all told and set himself up as the future of the braves rotation for years. we will see if that happens.

2) the return of my love - tim hudson will be back and pitching on opening day. stay safe, my dear. let me know if you need anything. ANYTHING.

1) is jason heyward julio jones? - we'll will get more into this soon. for those of you that follow this blog, though, and have any interest in the braves, you know what i am talking about here. more to come on the existential importance of jason heyward.

do note that not one of my storylines worries about the braves chances at winning the division. i would love it if it happened. but the braves didn't add roy halladay to an already stacked team. the phillies did. it's wild card or bust, in my mind, when setting a realistic goal for the season.

pitchers and catchers report soon.

roll braves.