Russ's Sports Review

Many years ago, Sports Illustrated did a story called “Loserville”. All the Atlanta teams were not good. The Braves were still in the young days of the Ted Turner ownership. The Falcons were owned by Rankin Smith and family and were going nowhere. The Hawks were honestly boring and were a .500 team. The Atlanta hockey team, the Flames, were not bad but they did not have a championship until they moved to Calgary.
Now what does that have to do with today’s teams? Unfortunately, more than you can imagine. Let’s start with the Braves. They caught lightning in a bottle in 2018. They won better than 90 games as they shocked the world, myself included, as they won the East with ease. Then ownership made the biggest mistake possible; they talked about their off season plans in public. They told the world they made a 97 million dollar profit. They also said they would be in on any free agent and that included Harper and Machado. Things started pretty good as Josh Donaldson was picked to a one year deal. Okay. A good start. On the very next day, they brought home Brian McCann. The move was fine but I really don’t think he has a bunch left in the tank. Then everything went silent. This was a team that didn’t have a right fielder, the starting pitcher needed an ace and the bullpen needed some help as well. That’s fine. There was plenty of money to spend, right? Suddenly, they said the money was not available. Did Liberty bet against Brady in the Super Bowl? Man that would be stupid. Surely the franchise wouldn’t go after Nick Markakis, would they? These owners would and eventually did so. As things stand now, the payroll is actually LOWER than last year. Granted things could change as Kimbrel and Kuechel are still on the market, but there has been little talk.
Okay, did the rest of the National League East get better? Let’s go team by team. First the Nationals. They did lose Harper but they got Patrick Corbin to go in the rotation to go along with Scherzer and Strausberg The offense may be not as good but the pitching is better. A lot rides on the Mets’ pitcher’s health. If DeGrom and Wheeler are healthy, they will be pretty good. They added Edwin Diaz as the closer. If Robinson Cano comes back to his old form, they can challenge for the wild card. Then there’s the Phillies. They said they would spend “stupid money”. They added Segura to play short, McCutchen in left and J.T. Realmuto at catcher. Then they broke the bank by getting Bryce Harper. If they have a weakness, it’s that they have little depth in the rotation and bullpen. They are looking into Kuechel and Kimbrel on short term deals. Anything can happen but I think the Braves are the number four team in the division. Thank you Marlins. My fellow Braves fans, we have been stabbed in the back by ownership. I will be the first to admit if I am proven wrong. The season starts in Philly against Harper and the Phillies.
Good news Falcon fans. They aren’t afraid to spend money. They just don’t know how to do it. Last Wednesday, the team answered that they will keep defensive end Vic Beasley, even if it means keeping him at his 12.8 million dollar option. That will prove to be a disaster. The problem is defense tackle Grady Jarrett is a free agent, if Beasley is kept and they have until March 13th to undo it. On Monday, the franchise tag was put on Jarrett. That means Jarrett will sign a 15.2 million dollar deal. He can’t sign a long term deal until July 15th. That pretty much takes care of the salary cap for the 2019 season. Things can change in the blink of an eye and for the Bird’s sake, I hope so. Dan Quinn’s job will be on the line this year.
There is one pro team that I have confidence in for the future in Atlanta and that is the Hawks. I know they stunk this year but they are doing things the right way. The draft night trade that brought Trae Young to the Hawks didn’t look very good for a while. I know that Doncic is very good but he isn’t that much better than Young. The Hawks are 22-43 and going nowhere this year but if they draft well over the next couple of years, they will be okay.
Have the Falcons peaked under Quinn and company? Was last year’s Braves season a fluke? Can the Hawks recover? I hope things stop short of Loserville again.
On a happy note, it was a really good weekend for the UGA football program. They got four star quarterback Carson Beck out of the blue, as many say, he was a lock to join Florida. They also grabbed wide receiver Justin Robinson. Their 2020 class just got a lot better in a hurry!