My bad...

I owe a huge apology to anyone I have ever bragged about Yunel Escobar to and everyone I have tried to defend Escobar's skills as a player, adamantly saying that trading the young shortstop would be an awful idea. Admittedly, Yunel's last (half) year with the Bravos has been hard to swallow, but I strongly disagreed with getting rid of him, repeatedly saying his offense is just in a slump. All I can say now is thank you Frank Wren for yet another brilliant deal that no one expected and everyone is reaping the rewards.

Who would've thought that Escobar was really Hanley Ramirez's disciple? Considering Escy's one of the most talented young shortstops, scratch that, players in the game and has been steadily improving every year, who would've thought the Brave's would've pulled a Jeff Francouer and abandoned another one of our young "future face's of the Braves". Then again, who could've predicted just how selfish Escobar would play and how much of a cancer he could seemingly be inside an otherwise unbelievable club house. Bobby didn't deserve that sort of behavior during his (possible, yes, only possible) last year. Kudos to Frank Wren for doing what was necessary to not lose anything on a trade that sent someone who proved they weren't happy with being in the Brave's clubhouse away, and for once, GAINED talent in a trade.

Nothing against JoJo Reyes, the guy is uber talented and has several plus pitches, but his major league stats are almost as bad as Charlie Morton. There was no foreseeable place for Reyes within the pitching staff, especially with the likes of Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Kris Medlen, and Derek Lowe. The future is looking bright with three very young pitchers who are dominating A and AA, not to mention the "controversial" draft pick in Mike Minor who in 3 games started at Gwinnett this year is 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 20 ks in 18 innings. The kid who came over in the Escobar deal, Tim Collins, already has a save in 3 games and 5 ks with 1 BB and 0 hits.

Back to Escobar, the "slump" that I was so adamant about seems a bit self imposed. Way to hit two bombs, one of them a grand slam, and actually play baseball again. It's amazing how Escy came out to talk about how he's given his all for the Braves, including this year, and he's going to "continue" to be the player that he has been his entire career now that he's with the Blue Jays... yeah... I hope the door did hit him on his way out of the clubhouse. Maybe it hit him in the head and he remembered he's Yunel Escobar and not Alex Rodriguez or Albert Pujols. Way to give it your all buddy... I hope Heyward learns a lesson from the trades of Francouer and Escobar. Wren isn't putting up with half hearted play and childish temper tantrums any longer. It's about time the "baby Braves" grew up and played in their big boy pants and Frank Wren is becoming the daddy these children needed.

On a much better note, welcome to the Bravos Alex Gonzalez and kudos Frank Wren. Now it's time for another championship for Bobby! GO BRAVOS!!!