Last Couple of Weeks In A Nutshell

Posting here has been rather sporadic of late. Turns out there's a great big world out there beyond Braves-land, with some interesting people and pretty cool stuff. Who knew?

Anyway, please don't fret, dear reader -- Brave-O-Matic has not forsaken you. Here's what's up:

There remains some offensive talent on this team, but the whole is less than the sum of the parts. The guys who are supposed to get on base don't, and those who do get on base either can't run, can't field, or both. The home run hitters hit only home runs, and the second best hitter can't get into the lineup. The shortstop has trouble bending at the waist, and the third baseman's range is defined by how far he can fall to either side.

The rotation is brittle and has been populated by pitchers with no upside, and though they hang in there as often as not, they're forced to stay in the game too long because of the bullpen, which cannot hold a lead of any size.

It's fire sale time. Here's the list of players presently on the active ML roster who should not be either released or considered trade bait:

McCann
Francoeur
Andruw
Ray (only because he's cheap)
James

Honestly, that's it. That's the list.