The Atlanta Braves are moving out of 20-year-old Turner Field after the conclusion of the 2016 season. By the looks of things two weeks into the current season the moving trucks can start moving gear out of the Braves locker rooms now. The Braves are presently 0-9, their worst start since going 0-10 during the first two weeks of the 1988 season. That Braves team led by two-time NL MVP Dale Murphy finished dead last in the NL West with a 54-106 record. The roster had a number of very young players that would play a huge part in Atlanta’s 1991 historical worst-to-first season; 22 year olds Jeff Blauser, Tom Glavine, Mark Lemke, John Smoltz and 23-year-old Ron Gant. That was then and this now. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
To make matters worse, 31-year-old Braves third baseman Hector Olivera was arrested by Arlington, Virginia police on Wednesday. Olivera is being accused of assaulting a woman at a Washington hotel. Olivera was only hitting .211 in six games so I’m not sure his presence was greatly missed during the Braves four game sweep at the hands of the Washington Nationals. In the immortal words of no less a womanizer than University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino ‘Bobby Cox isn’t walking through that door.’
The Braves are traveling to Miami to play a three-game series with the Marlins before hosting the Dodgers, Mets and Red Sox over an eight-day home stand. Good luck with that guys.