Quote Originally Posted by smootness View Post
I would absolutely advocate selling at the deadline unless we are clearly in contention (meaning easily in a WC spot at the time). But posts like this miss the way casual fans think about this stuff. Sure, you will still get people coming to the stadium just to watch the Braves because it's something to do. But while a guy like Jim Johnson is not bringing anybody to the park one way or another, when a team sells off players, it sends a message to the fanbase that they're not really trying to win. So it's not, 'Man, Jim Johnson got traded? No reason for me to watch now.' It's, 'Screw that, I'm not watching a bunch of scrubs lose games.'
Define casual fan.

I don't think a casual fan really knows who Jim Johnson is.

If someone is patient enough to follow the team enough to know the players on the roster, then They are probably smart enough to understand what a good baseball move is.