The Braves are not good. Maybe you noticed. Atlanta pitchers gave up 26 hits in an 18-3 loss to the Cardinals last night. It was the Braves’ sixth consecutive loss and 11th in 12 games. They are now 16 games back in the NL East.

So, it’s safe to say Braves fans are looking ahead to next season. But what will next year’s team look like? AJC columnist Jeff Schultz seems to think it will be a team stocked with expensive free agents. He says the Braves may have $47 million to spend. $47 million!

The Braves might lose five of the top seven salaries from this year’s payroll: Mike Hampton, John Smoltz, Mark Teixeira (already traded), Tom Glavine and Mark Kotsay.

So who might the Braves sign?

Hello, C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets?

Hmmm…that sounds like a little bit of wishful thinking. But let’s say Schultz is right. Let’s say the Braves give Sabathia a six-year $120 million contract. They’ll have $27 million left to spend. And all they’ll need is two more starting pitchers to pitch alongside CC, Jair Jorgens and Jorge Campillo. Free agent pitchers will include Jon Garland (29), Braden Looper (34) and Derek Lowe (36). Bringing back Glavine didn’t work, but Greg Maddux (43) will be a free agent this winter. How about it?

Oh, and they’ll need a centerfielder to replace Kotsay. Free agent centerfielders include Rocco Baldelli (27), Jim Edmonds (39), Mark Kotsay (33), Corey Patterson (29). Will $27 million accompish all that? Will Liberty Media grow the team’s budget?

For what it’s worth, AJC blogger David O’Brien has a plan to put together a contender and keep Tom Glavine and John Smoltz in Atlanta (in the unlikely event that either returns to pitch in 2009). He says ownership should set a budget, but make it clear that they’ll exceed that budget only to sign Glavine or Smoltz, or both.

I really don’t get O’Brien’s plan. It seems to me that if you’ve got $100 million to spend on a team that does include Tom Glavine, then you should have $100 million to spend on a team that doesn’t include Glavine.

A much better plan for rebuilding the Braves is the plan floated by Sabernomics earlier in the week. Part of that strategy involved trading Chipper Jones:

I think Chipper would be willing to play for another team that has a chance to win (a source has told me that this is the case). And if the Braves are rebuilding, I don’t think he’ll miss being part of the process. Sure, some fans will miss him, but it’s not like the organization heavily promotes him now. Chipper will go into the Hall of Fame as a Brave, that is settled. And the fact that his bat can net prospects that can help the team rebuild is an asset that the Braves shouldn’t waste. for nostalgia.

Trading Chipper would be unpopular, to be sure. But there is simply no way Atlanta is going to compete in 2009, especially now that Tim Hudson is going to be out all year. So why not make 2010 the goal?

Hey, plenty of folks here at Umpbump picked the Braves to win the NL East this season. Well, ok, it was just me. But I’ll be the first one to admit that I was wrong. The Braves aren’t a championship team. Not even close. It’s time for Frank Wren to come to the same conclusion. $47 million worth of free agents won’t fix this team. Atlanta needs to get younger. And cheaper. And trading Chipper Jones is the quickest way to do that.

NOTE: For a complete list of 2009 free agents, check out MLB Trade Rumors.

Creative Loafing is reporting that Furman Bisher is one of 75 AJC journalists who have accepted a buyout. You may remember Bisher for his work as the president of the Tom Glavine Fan Club, or you may remember the time he objected to MLB playing games in Japan, because of, you know, World War II and all.

Or maybe you remember Bisher as the guy who wrote for the AJC, Sports Illustrated, and The Sporting News for the better part of 70 years and who loved golf and earned a reputation as the “dean” of Masters journalists. I’ll remember Bisher as the guy who, in 1949, landed the only interview ever granted by Shoeless Joe Jackson concerning his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Nice work.

The site was down today. We couldn’t publish a thing. And so, AJC columnist Mark Bradley was granted a brief reprieve. But now we’re back in business, and now Bradley’s gonna get it. And I’m gonna give it to him.

In his column today , Bradley says the Braves won’t win unless Frenchy and Teixeira hit:

"Mark Teixeira has had tremendous seasons, but this isn’t yet one of them…"

Yes it is. Tex is on pace for his second best season ever. Anyone who thinks he’s under-performing obviously wasn’t paying attention last year, or the year before that, or the year before that. Other than his crazy 2004 season (43 HR, 144 RBI), this is as good as Teixeira has ever been.

I’m gonna go ahead and assume that Bradley, when he complains about Tex’s lack of production, isn’t looking at semi-sophisticated stats like OPS or runs created, but is instead focusing on homers and RBIs. And that makes his argument even crazier, since this season Tex is on pace for 30 HR and 120 RBI, which is the same number of homers and 15 more RBI than he hit last season. Moreover, 120 RBI would be Tex’s second highest total ever.

If there’s any concern whatsoever, it’s that Tex is hitting more ground balls than he should be, which is affecting his Isolated Power, which is down a bit from his norms. But his line drive percentage is right around where it should be.

Why would Bradley expect more from Teixeira? The first baseman mashed last year after he was traded to Atlanta. Maybe Bradley thought that was sustainable. But anybody who thinks a .500 average with runners in scoring position is sustainable should have his head examined.

I’m not saying this is as good as Tex gets. I think he’ll improve in the second half. His BABiP is usually well over .300, but so far this year he’s at .287. So that’s going to go up. And when it does, his batting average should go up, too.

But even if Teixeira simply continues doing what he’s been doing, that’s still pretty good. And if thus far the Braves’ first baseman has failed to meet your expectations, then your expectations were too high.

NOTE: Paul Moro contributed to this post. But most of the really serious thinking was done by yours truly. Spelling mistakes, typos, gaps in logic – that was all Paul.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Mark Bradley wants Braves fans to leave Jeff Francoeur alone . Bradley thinks the fans are being too tough on the locally grown phenom, even if Frenchy is off to a crappy start this season:

Jeff Francoeur is having a rough year. His batting average is .252, which isn’t good, and his on-base percentage is .300, which is bad. He has 10 hits - against 10 strikeouts and only two walks - in his past 10 games. Since hitting a walk-off homer against Arizona on May 24, he has eight RBIs in 96 at-bats.

As tepid as those numbers are, they don’t quite explain the rancor directed Francoeur’s way. In Sunday’s sports section he received three mentions (none flattering) in The Vent. If e-mails to a certain writer (namely, me) are any measure, the suggestions go like this: Bat Frenchy eighth; bench Frenchy; send Frenchy to the minors until he learns the strike zone.

You hear that? Fans are going so far as to send frustrated emails to the local paper. Call in the national guard! The situation is out of hand!

Bradley thinks fans should just chill out because, after all, Francoeur is still pretty young and, hey, he’s from Georgia. And, though Bradley doesn’t include this, it’s worth mentioning that Frenchy has the cutest hot baseball wife and that the Francoeurs are totally freaking adorable .

Here’s what Bradley does say about Frenchy:

It’s understandable fans would be anxious, especially at a time when the entire team is listing. What’s curious is how quickly we Atlantans seem to turn on the guy from Gwinnett. Has almost a decade of his derring-do, first at Parkview and now as a Brave, bred such contempt? Have we tired of the famous Frenchy? Have we forgotten that, for all his notoriety, he’s only 24?

First of all, I feel the need to point out that Atlanta fans are the most patient and forgiving fans in America. And if you’ve incurred their wrath than you probably deserve it. I’m a Phillies fan and I feel pretty confident saying that if Frenchy brought his .300 OBP to Philly he’d be dead in a week.

Of course, Francoeur doesn’t play in Philly. He plays in Georgia, the same place where he played in high school and college and in the minors. Should Frenchy’s Georgia roots matter to fans, as Bradley suggests? I don’t think so. He shouldn’t be rewarded for going to high school in Gwinnett any more than Mark Teixeira should be penalized for growing up in the Baltimore area. Players should be measured by their accomplishments, not their zip codes.

As for Frenchy’s feats as a Brave, well, that’s worth debating. He’s certainly had a lot of big moments. He’s been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, for crying out loud! But his stats are a mixed bag. In 2006, he hit 29 home runs, which is pretty good. But he also had an OBP of .293, which is really, really bad. The next year he had an OPB of .334, which is respectable. But he only hit 19 homers, which is only so-so.

This season, Frenchy reportedly worked out in the offseason in an effort to add muscle that would lend itself to more dingers. But so far this season he’s only got eight homers.

Francoeur has undoubtedly suffered from lofty – some might say impossible – expectations.

Here’s what the AJC’s Dave O’Brien predicted Francoeur would do last season. He made this prediction after 20 games:

I’m saying the Braves’ 23-year-old right fielder finishes this season at .280 with 32 homers, 120 RBIs and a .345 OBP, which would be one hell of a season and a huge improvement over last season.

Francoeur ended up with 19 homers, a .338 OBP and 105 RBI, which isn’t bad, but was well short of O’Brien’s prediction.

Here’s what Baseball America 2005 had to say about Frenchy, via Dave O’Brien’s Braves Blog :

“One of the purest five-tool players in the minor leagues. Scouts rave about the way he consistently gets the barrel of the bat on the ball. He uses his hands well in his swing and generates tremendous bat speed, which combined with his natural power should enable him to hit 30-plus home runs annually in the majors. Francoeur uses the entire field and used his season at pitcher-friendly Myrtle Beach to his advantage, becoming adept at driving outside pitches the opposite way…. As impressive as his tools may be, Francoeur’s makeup may stand out even more. Of the most competitive players in the organization, he’s a fiery team leader, which could be just what the big league team needs.”

No pressure, right? Baseball America goes on to compare Frenchy to Dale Murphy and Chipper Jones, which is pretty elite company. So far, Frenchy has fallen far short of those comparisons. But, as Bradley points out, Francoeur is still young. So it’s too early to give up on him.

But it’s certainly not too early to boo Frenchy’s .300 OBP. And it’s not too early to worry that the local boy will never learn plate discipline. Francoeur was lobbying for a longterm contract in the offseason, but his performance thus far has hardly warranted one. When Frenchy learns to take a walk, he’ll get the money and the accolades, and he won’t see any more nastly fan letters. But until then, he’s bound to dissapoint.

I’m not one to pick a fight. Whenever the editor of a newspaper for which I don’t work for comes over to my cubicle screaming obscenities as to why the Internet is jacked up, I look down, blush red in anger, and bite my lip.

Loyal UmpBump readers know that I rarely have a bone to pick with anyone (well, except Jay Mariotti, but who doesn’t?!)

But this morning, as I unfolded the sports section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution I came across a column by one Furman Bisher, a pundit I’d never heard of in my life. And his column, “Sayonara, baseball tradition” though eloquent, rich in historical facts, embellished with romantic longing for yesteryear, came across as outstandingly ignorant and scandalous.

Now, as I said, I’d never heard of Bisher, so I brushed up on his bio just to know who I was dealing with, and it’s more than evident that he’s an eminence and he’s earned his place among accomplished sports journalists.

But passages like this have finally broken my impression of printed dates preceded by the number 19 as current or modern; and clearly, like Bisher, those dates belong in the 20th century, and not in the opinion pages of any publication:

Well, not any longer. Money can change any habit. Eight springs ago the Mets and Cubs opened the season, not in Cincinnati. Guess where? Tokyo. That Tokyo, the guys who gave us Pearl Harbor. Some people don’t like you to bring that up, trade with Japan is so hot. But I’ve got a long memory. I saw what a few bombs can do to our property.

Oh, well, ‘scuse me. It’s just tough to get away from it when you turn on your TV in the morning there are the Boston Red Sox playing the Oakland A’s in the Tokyo Dome. Not only that, but the Red Sox pitcher is Daisuke Matsuzaka, who didn’t grow up in Wampole.

I have no problem with Furman waxing nostalgic about Red Stockings and how every season was opened in Cincinnati; yes, tradition is something we all long for and have a hard time breaking off. But when you go from Cubs-Mets in Tokyo, to the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, to Daisuke and Opening Day ‘08, it’s time to ignore the senile old man and let him sit in his chair, drinking his sweet tea.

Except, of course, he’s not sitting idly reminiscing on his better days. He’s in the opinion pages of both a major daily and its website!

Bah, who am I kidding. This is the AJC, and this is Georgia, where it’s still illegal to buy beer on Sunday. Too bad old man Bisher doesn’t realize that, much like him, some traditions, for better or worse, will simply not go away.