![\"\"](\"http:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/kimbrelbye.jpg\")
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Long story short<\/a>: Braves trade All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel and Melvin \u201cStop calling me B.J.\u201d Upton to the Padres.<\/span><\/p>\n Opening Day wasn\u2019t even a full 24 hours away when this trade became official, and in one final fell swoop before the first game of the season, the Braves effectively trade the\u00a0best relief pitcher<\/em>\u00a0in the game away, as well as one of the\u00a0worst players<\/em>\u00a0in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n In return, the Braves get an old outfielder who can\u2019t really play the outfield anymore in\u00a0Carlos Quentin<\/strong>, as well as a guy that will always have the what-if ball and chain attached to his name and potential in\u00a0Cameron Maybin<\/strong>.\u00a0 Additionally, the Braves receive two supposed minor league studs, and an additional pick going into the 2015 draft.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ultimately, there\u2019s no denying that the Braves \u201cwon\u201d this trade, and hard, because they accomplished everything they wanted to accomplish and then some; the Braves, knowing they\u2019re not competing at all this season as well as next managed to shed a massive chunk of salary obligations, which in itself is a win, but in the process also snare some promising minor league prospects and a bonus draft pick, which helps bolster the future they\u2019re so fervently building for.<\/span><\/p>\n Sure, it came at the costly cost of letting go of\u00a0Craig Kimbrel<\/strong>, a pitcher I really, really enjoyed watching for the better part of the last six years (including the minor leagues, because I\u2019m a hipster), but the reality is that with the expected team going into 2015, there simply weren\u2019t going to be a ton of games for him to actually save.\u00a0 But getting rid of a financial albatross like\u00a0Melvin Upton<\/strong>\u00a0is an opportunity that so few teams actually get the chance to do, and even if it cost Kimbrel, I think the Braves were smart to pull the trigger on getting rid of Upton\u2019s contract.<\/span><\/p>\n Bottom line is that I\u2019m sad to see Kimbrel go, but very happy to see Upton go, and it\u2019s actually really funny to me, not only just how much the Braves won this transaction, but just how bad the Padres lost it.\u00a0 The Padres pick up an outfielder they don\u2019t need (or ostensibly want), a pitcher that will pitch maybe 65 innings all season, and around $80M in contractual obligations over the next three years.<\/span><\/p>\n Regardless, with Craig Kimbrel now out of the equation to solidify what wins the Braves may actually have this season, it goes without saying that\u00a0I am now absolutely expecting 100 losses this year<\/strong>.\u00a0 Sure, the Braves have automatically improved offensively by simply not being capable of fielding Melvin Upton any further, but relief pitching is going to be absolutely abysmal now, with Kimbrel gone, and there will be some back-breaking late-game losses this season.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about 2006 proportions, where the Braves literally blew over 20 games and cost John Smoltz a second Cy Young Award.<\/span><\/p>\n But I\u2019m not even mad about the level of suckiness the Braves are expected to perform to this year.\u00a0 Contrarily, I\u2019m looking forward to this season being a complete wash, and probably next year too.\u00a0\u00a0 As fucked up as it sounds, I like when my team sucks, because it\u2019s just that much more relaxing to watch as a fan.\u00a0 No expectations for wins, no disappointment in losses.<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re going to suck, be the absolute best at it.<\/span><\/p>\n And baseball being what it is, even if the Braves do lose 100 games, there are so many games in total that they\u2019re still going to win 60.\u00a0 And among those 60 wins, there will be some wins against my friends\u2019 teams, and\/or some good teams with great pitchers, that a team like the 2015 Braves have no business in defeating will defeat.\u00a0 And every single one of those sparse wins, will feel like monumental victories, and legitimate reason to celebrate; except when it encroaches on my desire to see 100 losses.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Long story short: Braves trade All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel and Melvin \u201cStop calling me B.J.\u201d Upton to the Padres. Opening Day wasn\u2019t even a full 24 hours away when this trade became official, and in one final fell swoop before the first game of the season, the Braves effectively trade the\u00a0best relief pitcher\u00a0in the game … Continue reading On Opening Day 2015<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62,66,45,15],"class_list":["post-40291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-fail","tag-og"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40293,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40291\/revisions\/40293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}