Five Least Favorite Braves of All Time

Believe folks are getting Kolb confused with big, fat Rob Wickman, who had the run-in with Cox on the place over his usage. Essentially, he was fired during the season.

1. Hector Olivera

2. Melky Cabrera

3. Damaso Garcia

4. Raul Mondesi

5. Casey Kotchman

Here is the lowdown on Reggie Sanders. He grew up in South Carolina a Braves fan, and being a Brave allowed his mom to watch him play for the first time. It killed him that he didn't contribute -- but in September, he actually carried the Braves (.345-5-18 for the month) to the postseason. I covered the club daily at the time and knew Reggie personally. He wanted it, maybe too much, but the braves don't reach the postseason without his September.

Never knew that about Sanders' mom and him growing up a Braves fan. The guy I watched didn't seem to care at all but maybe that was just the way he handled his failure.

As for the last month of the season, I can't give him too much credit for that. If he hadn't been wretched the first 5 months of the season we might not have needed him to be money in September. It's like if I stole $1,000 from you but then picked up the check at lunch. I'd still be in the hole.
 
Yunel Escobar

Martin Prado

Fredi Gonzalez

Jordan Schafer

Fredi Gonzalez (Yeah, twice, that's right...cause **** that dude)
 
He had attitude issues in 2009. He was benched twice.

Technically, it was his bat in 2010 and inconsistent defense (for a team that heavily [Hudson/Lowe] relied on it) which prompted the Braves to move him in a really shortsighted win-now deal. That he didn't get along with Cox or the media was certainly a factor which contributed to the trade, but to characterize the move as being born purely out of Escobar's 'behavior' is inaccurate I think.

It was a bad trade, even still.

I would say the poor attitude that led to his inconsistent defense. Again if he was a model citizen here then that trade wouldn't of been made.
 
I need a refresher on why fans didn't like Lofton. I realize for some reason Bobby Cox and the clubhouse didn't care for him, but the dude was really quite good on the field and maybe I just don't recall it now, but were there any public outbursts?
 
I need a refresher on why fans didn't like Lofton. I realize for some reason Bobby Cox and the clubhouse didn't care for him, but the dude was really quite good on the field and maybe I just don't recall it now, but were there any public outbursts?

What I remember is that he insisted on playing CF, meaning Andruw had to play in right that season.
 
Hmm...too many options

Shane Reynolds..the guy was absolutely terrible and yet we ran him out there every 5th day

BJ Surhoff...liked the guy, just wasn't what was needed at the time

Vinny Castilla...what a waste of payroll

Melky Cabrera...enough said and we traded my boy Vazquez for him..UGH

Andy Ashby...horrible acquisition and a horrible pitcher

Anybody in the 2003 bullpen(outside of Smoltz and September Jaret Wright)...Blowberto, Ray Burger King, Chris Reitsma, Gryboski...all hot Garbage

Paul Byrd...his contract and NOT Maddux's surprise arbitration acceptance forced the Millwood salary dump

BJ Upton...horrible performance and attitude

Fredi Gonzalez...terrible manager, wouldn't trust him coaching a little league squad...nice guy though

Scott Thorman...walking windmill

Greg Norton...got a pitch hit appearance every game but never got a hit

Russ Ortiz....6 IP, 4R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K...140 pitches and 4 hours later

Rico Brogna...Galarraga's replacement? Haha that's some good stuff your smoking, JS.

Ken Caminiti...attempt to play first might still be the most hilarious actual on field fail I have seen from a professional athlete in my life

AROD...went to bed a Brave, woke up a Ranger...probably for the better in the end for us but still

John Rocker...loved the guy until he opened his mouth

Rey Sanchez...emergency acquisition with the injury to Furcal but this defensive wiz was anything but in a Braves uniform and couldn't hit himself out of a paper bag to save his life

Jose Hernandez...pretty good offensive shortstop for the Cubs but couldn't even beat out 95 year old Weiss or 76 year old Guillem at a position of need

Albie Lopez...4 million dollars in 2002 is a lot and especially for a mop up guy...him and Castilla essentially killed any chances of acquiring Thome (or Rolen)in season

Johnny Estrada...good little player but we traded our AcE and my boy Millwood for him
 
I think Nate McLouth, Uggla, BJ Upton. Reggie Sanders to some degree though I felt mostly bad for him after a bit.

Recall really bad feelings about Juan Berenguer and Jeff Reardon.
 
What I remember is that he insisted on playing CF, meaning Andruw had to play in right that season.

To be fair Lofton was one of the top defensive CF in baseball at that time and I doubt many foresaw Andruw being the GOAT at that position. It sucked he didn't fit in with the team for whatever reason because Lofton was a hell of a player at that time.
 
I think Nate McLouth, Uggla, BJ Upton. Reggie Sanders to some degree though I felt mostly bad for him after a bit.

Recall really bad feelings about Juan Berenguer and Jeff Reardon.

uggh.. Reardon.. Can't believe Bobby went to him in game 2 of the Blue Jays series. I swear, I think if Bobby could have managed a BP better, he would have 4 titles to his name instead of one. That man managed playoff games like Sunday after noon game on June 3rd against the lowly Expos..
 
At Scout, it was daily ritual that somebody would launch into a rant about Brian Jordan v. 2.0 and Mondesi. Some goofballs even combined their names into Jordesi. As much raw suckage as there was, they were making minimal salary and didn't last that long. So, it seemed like wasted energy. Guys like Fick, Wickman and Melky, it was easy to see dislike with their attitudes.

[MENTION=21]rico43[/MENTION] :

Kind of confused about the Damaso Garcia mention. That came up previously in another thread. Not sure what he did that was so wrong, especially since he was there during the Dark Days. He was just another Bobby connection from Toronto, and didn't really cause any specific damage after Hubbard was gone with a void at 2B.

My vote goes to Ozzie Virgil. The guy never fit in and was basically a prick. The deal cost Steve Bedrosian. Bredrosian would go on to win a Cy Young as a Phillie, while the Braves were dedicated to the Ted-instigaged FA deal with all world closer Bruce Sutter, who promptly developed Bell's Palsy and at least one other ailment, as his career imploded in Atlanta. Pete Smith also was included in this trade, and did not amount to much. Milt Thompson have also gone to Phily. (Too lazy to verify if this was the same transaction.) Thompon was useful for a spell.

I think the main issue was, at least in Jordan's case, Bobby's insistence on starting him over superior talent. The 2005 playoffs come to mind, when he started Brian Jordan at first base over Adam LaRoche. One of the few times where Bobby seriously made me scratch my head. Hell, the Braves were even dumb enough to re-sign Jordan for the 2006 season. I believe he was the inaugural BSOML story.
 
I think the main issue was, at least in Jordan's case, Bobby's insistence on starting him over superior talent. The 2005 playoffs come to mind, when he started Brian Jordan at first base over Adam LaRoche. One of the few times where Bobby seriously made me scratch my head. Hell, the Braves were even dumb enough to re-sign Jordan for the 2006 season. I believe he was the inaugural BSOML story.

At the end of BJ's first tenure in Atlanta he was always hurt—too hurt to play effectively, really, but Bobby would keep running him out there even though he could barely hit the ball out of the infield. It was Bobby's attachment to BJ's veteran presence that I disliked, not BJ himself, although after enough reps of that I was triggered when Jordan was in the lineup. This isn't the NFL, pal. There are 162 games. You can miss a few.
 
I think the main issue was, at least in Jordan's case, Bobby's insistence on starting him over superior talent. The 2005 playoffs come to mind, when he started Brian Jordan at first base over Adam LaRoche. One of the few times where Bobby seriously made me scratch my head. Hell, the Braves were even dumb enough to re-sign Jordan for the 2006 season. I believe he was the inaugural BSOML story.

Oh I remember that Spring Training. BJ was taking grounder sat first and everyone was freaking out because Bobby said "he looks really good out there" which usually meant lots of PT
 
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