OutSpencered

 

Here's how the Braves' season is going so far: the star outfielder is still hurt, the ace is injured for another few weeks, the biggest offseason signing is out with a PED suspension, a rookie hitting .150 is starting at catcher, two of the biggest marquee hitters aren't hitting either, there's starting depth issues [which wouldn't have happened if they hadn't have traded Ian Anderson for a bag of peanuts a week before the season to a team that won't start him either], and the only win so far, denoted by Michael Harris showboating on social media, has been followed by a shutout loss by Cal Quantrill and a rainout. 

The Braves are currently, without a doubt, the worst team in baseball. The only other team kept at 1 win just won their second yesterday against the A's. The Braves, after being one of the true alphas of the game for a solid 5 years, are now firmly at the bottom. It is ultimately better to hit the bottom in April than it is to hit the bottom in September, but...this still isn't great. 

It's not like there was a mass exodus. The guys that made the playoff teams worthwhile are still here. They're just not doing well. Chris Sale's ERA is around 5. Austin Riley has 14 strikeouts, and Marcell Ozuna has 11, and the only reason Ozuna is still hitting for average is that everyone keeps walking him. They're hitting .193 as a team. Nobody has more than 5 RBIs or 1 home run. It is...bleak. And all this while the Phillies continue to surge, the Mets build back their fanbase, and the Marlins somehow figure things out. 

The one bright spot of this year so far? Spencer Schwellenbach. The second-year came very close to no-hitting the Marlins the other night, and he already has 14 strikeouts while allowing no runs. His spring starts were looking nice, and he's carried that over to some MLB dominance to start things off. The Braves need that right now, because their other Spencer, Spencer Strider, was delayed in getting back to the majors, and their other big innings-eater, Reynaldo Lopez, is out for a bit. If Schwellenbach can be a full season presence for this team, it'll take some of the sting out of the depleted, waterlogged feel of this roster. 

Maybe things will be better when Acuna and Strider come back. Maybe adding Kimbrel back into the fold could inject excitement. Maybe this needs time to even out. But the possibility that none of those things could work and this could be a down, depressing year for the Braves is scaring the fans. We'll see if this coming week is any better, but a lot of people are gonna need to spring to life fairly soon. 

Coming Tonight: Tony Gwynn hit like hell for his whole career, made a ton of All Star teams, never won an MVP or a ring, and everybody regards him as one of the best. The closest we have to this might be a guy who had a 3-homer day recently.