The Talking Chop Hate Machine® - Making Losing Infathomably Unbearable Since 2006

I like to people-watch.  Draw your own conclusions from that statement, but it is true.  Some mornings, I'll sit at Starbucks with my morning coffee watching people come in and go out, and all the little things they do - check out this girl, check out that girl, open their wallet extra wide so that everyone can see the AmEx BLACK they're paying with, etc, etc.  Sometimes during lunch, I'll sit out on the patios of a Willy's or Fellini's, and watch the hipsters of Atlanta trying to be unique despite the fact that they're all wearing the same skin-tight thrift store grade shirt with the blood/paint spatters and butterflies on it with skinny jeans and studded belts with the same Mick Jagger haircuts.  But my favorite place is the airport, which is this endless supply of people to watch, with the biggest variety one could ask for; hot women in pajamas, people wearing business suits trying to parade around as people obviously more important than others, frazzled parents, surprisingly collected and cool families that know how to travel, and a vast medley of train wrecks that makes sitting and waiting at an airport terminal not at all that for a worldly voyeur like myself

You know where else I like to people watch?  Right here.

Sure, I can't see your faces, or watch your mannerisms.  Sure, text is a horrible indicator of actual human emotion and human behavior.  But it does not make it impossible - especially when so many make it so obvious to what they're feeling, and putting their thoughts and emotions on their e-sleeves.  Sometimes it's not difficult to tell when someone's trying to get a rise out of another member, or bait justin into another debate over Kelly Johnson.  But it's pretty fun and pleasant when it's obvious that you're happy over a Braves win, or a Heap or Heyward homer, or Tim Hudson inducing an inning-ending double play.  Unfortunately, and more frequently, especially now, it's painfully obvious when the hate starts to arise, at the state of the Atlanta Braves.  And if it's not obvious by the title, hate is the name of the game for this post, and in a nutshell, how the hate has been, whom it is being directed at, and some of the patterns that I've observed over the last few years.

But anyway, let's cut to the chase - every season, we go through the same ebb and flow of activity here on TC.  When the Braves are winning, people are happy, everything is gleaming through rose-colored glasses, and the organization can do no wrong.  But overall, it's pretty serene, by which I mean, pretty quiet.

Unfortunately, the Braves have never gone 162-0, nor has any other team in the history of baseball, so that means that there is losing that occurs on a fairly normal basis.  As I've said numerous times, baseball's really the only sport where a .600 record makes you elite; in the NFL, a .600 record usually isn't good enough to secure a Wild Card spot in the AFC.  In the NBA, sure, a few times some abysmal sub.500 teams have made the playoffs, but the top seeds are all looking at 55 wins and up (.675+).  So in a nutshell, in baseball, losing happens often, and it happens a lot.  And in the case of the Atlanta Braves who have missed the playoffs the past four years after securing the prior 14 seasons' worth of division titles, it goes without saying that there is, and has been a lot of losing, and the subsequent behavior over the Braves blogosphere, and especially here on Talking Chop for the last few years, has been, well . . . interesting.

It's said that some statistics need a good bit of time to become sufficient enough for trends and patterns to be extracted from them.  Nobody likes to be called out on using the dreaded SSSes, because it's essentially the quickest way to be dismissed for one's research.  So for all intents and purposes, the timeline for this begins in 2006, the first year after fourteen consecutive division titles that the Atlanta Braves did not make the playoffs.  I will list as many of the acquisition/call ups that I can remember, as well as list the particular players for that year who were targets of the TC Hate Machine.

2006

Acquired  (pre-season): SS Edgar Renteria, RP Oscar Villarreal, C Todd Pratt

Acquired (mid-season): RP Danys Baez, UT Willy Aybar, CL Bob Wickman, PH Daryle Ward

The guys everyone hated: The bullpen - Chris Reitsma, Mike Remlinger, Tyler Yates, Blaine Boyer, Joey Devine, Chad Paronto, Macay McBride, Ken Ray, Jorge Sosa.  Also, Mike Hampton was victim to hatred for costing the team money while out with TJS (but not nearly as much as people thought due to insurance).

Everyone loved: Andruw Jones, Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, Adam LaRoche, Edgar Renteria, Matt Diaz, Wilson Betemit, John Smoltz, Chuck James, Oscar Villarreal, Bob Wickman

The offense was outstanding in 2006, with five Braves hitting 20+ homers, and the team scoring a total of 849 runs.  Pythagorian W-L had the Braves at 85 wins, but the team ended up winning only 79, mostly in part due to the absolutely abysmal bullpen that blew saves at an astronomical rate, including six potential wins for John Smoltz, which in a year where the NL Cy Young was a logjam of mediocrity, a 22-9 record on top of his 232 IP and 211 K should have easily pushed him over the top of Aaron Harang and eventual winner, Brandon Webb.  Oscar Villarreal vultured his way to an astounding 9-1 record subsequently.  And Bob Wickman was brought in to stabilize a maligned bullpen far too late in the year.

Needless to say the summary of the 2006 season was easily summed up as the end of the streak, thanks in no part to the Atlanta bullpen.  And believe you me, the fans were ALL over the bullpen.  Like angry red ants scurrying and biting and attacking when a kid steps too close to the anthill.  I remember the AJC sports section going all Comic Book Guy with the headline "WORST. BULLPEN. EVER." one morning after blowing a game.  You guys should've seen the AJC comments section the night when Wilson Betemit was traded.

How did the new guys fare:  Edgar Renteria, loved. Oscar Villarreal, liked. Bob Wickman, liked. Todd Pratt, disliked. Danys Baez, hated. Willy Aybar, resented, drank himself into depression and eventually, off of the Braves.

2007

Acquired  (pre-season): P Mark Redman, 1B Craig Wilson, OF Willie Harris, UT Chris Woodward, C Corky Miller, RP Royce Ring, RP Mike Gonzalez, RP Rafael Soriano

Acquired (mid-season): 1B Mark Teixeira, RP Ron Mahay, RP Octvaio Dotel, RP Wil Ledezma, 1B Julio Franco

Notable Call-ups: RP Manny Acosta, SP Jo-Jo Reyes, RP Jeff Bennett, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, OF Brandon Jones

The TC Hate Machine: Mark Redman, Andruw Jones, Thorman/Wilson/Salty/Franco 1B platoon, Ryan Langerhans, Kyle Davies, Chuck James, Macay McBride, Chad Paronto, Tyler Yates.  Mike Hampton.  Mark Teixeira trade.

Everyone loved: Jeff Francoeur's discovery of right-center, Chipper Jones, Kelly Johnson's return, Edgar Renteria, John Smoltz (milestone: 200Ws), Tim Hudson, Yunel Escobar, Diaz/Harris platoon, Moylan/Gonzo/Soriano at the tail end of games.  Mark Teixeira trade.

Changes from previous year: Andruw Jones, loved-to-disliked.  Ryan Langerhans, liked-to-disliked, traded away.  Joey Devine, disliked-to-satisfied (except to Bobby), traded away after season.  Bob Wickman, liked-to-disliked, released.  Kyle Davies, liked-to-exasperated, traded away

2007 was a fun, refreshing year for many of us, and the Braves enjoyed a solid winning season.  The Braves scored a grand total of 810 runs which PythW-L puts us at 88 wins (enough to have tied for the division), but the team ended up winning 84.

The gaping wound that was the bullpen from 2006 was band-aided, with the acquisitions of Gonzo and Soriano, but unfortunately the starting pitching scar burst open, when Redman, James, Davies failed to deliver as hoped, leading to a bastardized rotation which saw guys like Jo-Jo Reyes, Buddy Carlyle, Lance Cormier, Jeff Bennett, and Anthony Lerew usurp a few starts.

It's hard to say what was the biggest disappointment: Andruw Jones or the abyss at first.  Everyone expected Andruw to have a monster year, since it was the mythical contract year where most players crank that sh*t up to eleven and make every other team in MLB want you for the next six to seven years.  Despite a horrid .222/.311/.413 line with 138 whiffs, Andruw still put up a respectable 26 taters and 94 RBI, production that we have yet to see at the CF position since he left.  Or, the logjam of garbage at first which saw at first, two guys who were all swing and no contact in Scott Thorman and Craig Wilson, before they were outed by the catcher of the future in Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a 49-year old Julio Franco.  Not pretty no matter what way you look at it.

2007 was also the season in which I started becoming a more active member of Talking Chop.  After my own stint of making outlandish fanposts and comments, I began to see the err of my ways and began betterment to educate myself a little more before shooting my mouth off. But most importantly, I got to see a whole new community of Braves fans, and how they dealt with defeat, and how happy they got with victory.

This was also the year in which I began to see what the TC Hate Machine® was capable of: every time Mark Redman got the starting nod, Mike Hampton somehow accruing enough spring training injuries to shelf him for yet another year.  Disappointment on top of disappointment at Andruw Jones whiffing with RISP, or the game ending Vidro against the Mets with the bases loaded with less than 2 outs - by the end of the year, nobody was going to miss the baseball player, the way he slumped.  It was astounding how Jeckyll & Hyde things could get here to me.

And let's not even bother to get into the Teixeira debate yet again, especially after the more pessimistic fans felt that playoff hopes were slipping.

How did the new guys fare:  Mark Redman, hated, eventually released.  Craig Wilson, hated, eventually released.  Willie Harris, loved (six-for-six).  Mike Gonzalez, loved.  Rafael Soriano, loved.  Ron Mahay, appreciated by those who realized he existed as a by-product to the Teix deal.  Mark Teixeira(‘s production), loved.

2008

Acquired  (pre-season): CF Mark Kotsay, SP Jair Jurrjens, UT Omar Infante, PH Greg Norton, OF Josh Anderson, UT Ruben Gotay, P Jorge Campillo, SP Tom Glavine, RP Will Ohman

Acquired (mid-season): 1B Casey Kotchman, RP Julian Tavarez

Notable Call-ups: OF Gregor Blanco, C Clint Sammons, SP Charlie Morton, SP James Parr

The TC Hate Machine: Jeff Francoeur, Tom Glavine's contract, Mark Teixeira's departure, Tim Hudson's TJS, Peter Moylan's TJS, season ending injuries to John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Rafael Soriano.  Blaine Boyer's inconsistencies, Julian Tavarez, Jo-Jo Reyes, Manny Acosta, Corky Miller.  The entire season.  Mark Teixeira trade.

Everyone loved: Brian McCann, Chipper Jones (milestone: 400HR), John Smoltz (milestone: 3,000K), Tim Hudson, Jair Jurrjens, Jorge Campillo's surprising effectiveness, Mike Gonzalez return from TJS.  Mark Kotsay(‘s wife)

Changes from previous year: Jeff Francoeur, loved-to-loathed, Rafael Soriano, liked-to-skepticized.  Blaine Boyer, exasperated, Jo-Jo Reyes, disliked even more.  Manny Acosta, dreaded.

Without question, this was the worst year in Braves history since the pre-90s.  On the troublesome offensive side, the Braves scored a total of 753 runs which is good for a PythW-L of 79 wins, due to a year where both the band-aids on the starting and relief pitching fell off and started bleeding profusely, the Braves only won 72.

Pitching injuries were the story of the year as both John Smoltz and Tom Glavine pitched their last pitches for the major league Braves in their careers, Tim Hudson and Peter Moylan both took trips to Birmingham for the dreaded Tommy John, and Rafael Soriano was shelved with a phantom shoulder problem for the rest of the year.  

It was actually pretty early in the season that many here at TC threw in the towel, said "FML" and disappeared for the remainder of the season, leading to a very quiet blog atmosphere for 2008.  Which is actually kinda sad, because 2008 was the year that Talking Chop moved to the SBNation family and adopted its peripherals that allowed users to join the blogs of other teams, comment in real-time, and really get to interact with your fellow fans.

Jeff Francoeur regressed severely, and the fans here, and at the park most certainly let him know of it.  The white flags of the season were officially hung with the trade of Mark Teixeira for Casey Kotchman (and Stephen Marek), which pretty much caused the TC Hate Machine to pretty much explode.

The only bright spots of the season was Chipper Jones's flirtation with .400 all the way into June, en route to his 400th career home run and his first batting title, and John Smoltz notching his 3,000th strikeout on Felipe Lopez before missing the rest of the season.  After those though, it was a pretty quiet and miserable ride to the finish line.

How did the new guys fare:  Jair Jurrjens, loved.  Omar Infante, loved.  Will Ohman, appreciated.  Greg Norton, surprisingly good.   Mark Kotsay(‘s wife), really really loved.  Casey Kotchman, resented.

2009

Acquired  (pre-season): SP Derek Lowe, SP Kenshin Kawakami, SP Javier Vazquez, C David Ross, LF Garret Anderson, RP Eric O'Flaherty, RP Boone Logan

Acquired (mid-season): CF Nate McLouth, 1B Adam LaRoche, OF Ryan Church

Notable Call-ups: SP Tommy Hanson, CF Jordan Schafer, RP Kris Medlen, SS Diory Hernandez, UT Brooks Conrad, OF Reid Gorecki, 1B Barbaro Canizares

The TC Hate Machine: Jeff Francoeur, Casey Kotchman, Garret Anderson, Greg Norton, Kenshin Kawakami and Derek Lowe's contracts; subsequently, them, Jeff Bennett, Jo-Jo Reyes, Manny Acosta

Everyone loved: Brian McCann, Yunel Escobar, Matt Diaz, Javier Vazquez, Tommy Hanson

Changes from previous year: Greg Norton, loved-to-dreaded

Oh, we had such high hopes for 2009.  A lot of new blood brought in to revitalize the pitching staff, the bullpen was getting back to health and seemingly patched up.  But the story of the season was simply, inconsistencies all around, and mostly a lack of offense.  For the third straight year, the total amount or runs scored by the Braves dropped, this time at 735, but due to excellent run-prevention from good pitching, the PythW-L had us at 91 wins.  But due to a late-dismissal from the playoff race, the Braves phoned it in and lost their last six games, ending the season with 86 wins, the most since 2005.

As mentioned, a lot of new blood was brought in to shore up the squad; Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami were to bolster the starting pitching.  David Ross was signed to fill the void at backup catcher that black holes such as Todd Pratt, Corky Miller, and Clint Sammons were the previous years.  And probably the most criticized, skepticized, and hated move of them all, Garret Anderson was picked up after a long-tenure with the Angels to hold the fort down in left field for whomever the Braves were waiting on at the moment.  Jordan Schafer pushed the envelope in Spring Training and won out the starting CF job, forcing Gregor Blanco back to AAA, and the trade of Josh Anderson.

At first, the year started off great, Lowe's 8.0IP stifling of the defending world champions, Schafer's bomb in his first plate appearance, and even Jeff Francoeur went yard, making people think that THIS IS THE YEAR that he got it together.

But it didn't last long, as Lowe failed to perform nearly as well as he did in the opener throughout the remainder of the season, Kenshin Kawakami was plagued with little run support, Jordan Schafer hurt his wrist and ultimately had to be demoted, and Jeff Francoeur regressed back to being a bad baseball player and was ultimately shipped out of town.  Casey Kotchman was pretty much all-glove and no-bat, Garret Anderson's lazy style of play and slow start that resulted in his first home run coming almost into the third month of the season didn't impress any fans, and Greg Norton seemingly forgot how to play baseball.  But for as much bad as there was, there was plenty of good in 2009 - the Braves enjoyed quite possibly Javier Vazquez's finest year, David Ross was a blessing backing up McCann as well as off the bench, and Yunel Escobar was Mr. Clutch for pretty much the entire year.  And then there was the long-awaited call-up of Tommy Hanson, who delivered all as advertised with a strong campaign for the big club.

The roller coaster of inconsistencies plagued the club all season as they would sputter for runs on some nights, and then pitching would rob them of a well-scored night for another.   Such dynamic change was no better apparent than here at the Chop, where the fans' opinions and emotions were as quick to change as the team's fortunes were.

Despite some positive moves that pushed the Braves in the correct direction, the timing of such moves along with the inconsistencies and the holes created by them were too much to overcome.  But with a memorable furious run that had all of the Braves fanbase seeing playoffs for the first time in four years that just fell a hair short, there was plenty to be positive of, looking into 2010.

How did the new guys fare:  Garret Anderson was loathed with the hatred of 50 Talking Chops and essentially set the bar for how much hate a newcomer could generate.  Kenshin Kawakami failed to excite many beyond his legendary duel with Roy Halladay, despite poor run support.  Derek Lowe had his moments but failed to make anyone believe he was worth $15M a year.  Javier Vazquez dazzled everyone in his one year with the Braves.   David Ross was adored for his ability to bring positive production from the backup catcher position for the first time in ages.  Nate McLouth saved the Braves from the black hole that was an injured Schafer and Gregor Blanco, but was overall slightly below average in line with his career numbers.  Adam LaRoche generated a ton of excitement and adoration for showering the Braves with yet another monster second-half season, and Ryan Church simply relieved fans of Jeff Francoeur.

Present-Time

Which brings us to the present; I know the season is hardly started, let alone over, despite what sarcastic pessimistic remarks you guys have in store, but here's how we stand now:

Acquired  (pre-season): 1B Troy Glaus, OF Melky Cabrera, UT Eric Hinske, CL Billy Wagner, RP Takashi Saito, RP Jesse Chavez

Notable Call-ups: RF Jason Heyward, RP Jonny Venters

The TC Hate Machine: Slow starts from Troy Glaus, Melky Cabrera, Nate McLouth, Matt Diaz.  Jo-Jo Reyes, Derek Lowe, Chipper Jones's stubbornness to not sit out.  NO OFFENSE AKA Terry Pendleton.

Everyone is loving: Jason Heyward, Eric Hinske ≠ Greg Norton, Tommy Hanson, Martin Prado

Changes from previous year: Nate McLouth is taking a beating despite Matt Diaz having a comparable slow start.  Many are looking for whom to blame for Chipper's constant insertion into the lineup despite desperately needing to sit out and rest.

How are the new guys faring:  Despite the defense of the level-headed, it's safe to say that the vast majority of the Braves fanbase is hating Troy Glaus and Melky Cabrera with the hatred so far of probably 100 Talking Chops.  Kind of like money, and win-values, the hate value of a single Talking Chop tends to fluctuate.  They can't wait for Freddie Freeman, and really resent the trade of Javier Vazquez.  Eric Hinske is still living on the safety net he built up from his debut triple and that he is still being compared to Greg Norton's 2009 futility.  And sadly, Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito just simply haven't seen enough work to really give many a read on them, despite that they've both had pretty good outings compared to way fewer poor ones.

Conclusions and the point of this post

Braves fans are critically skeptical of any newcomers to the team.  Newcomers are expected to wow and dazzle the fans immediately and often in order to not get pegged as bad deals.  Failure to do such results in a season-long wet blanket over them to where they will likely not recover.  Renteria, Vazquez, Gonzo and Soriano are good examples of veterans who came out of the gate strong and quashed immediately the skepticisms and critics.  Garret Anderson, Mark Redman, and sadly two guys currently on the team in Derek Lowe and Troy Glaus are prime examples of veterans who will likely never be truly liked by Braves fans as long as the live.

Braves fans will turn on you pretty quickly.  See: Jeff Francoeur, Bob Wickman, Greg Norton, Nate McLouth.  Last year's contributions mean absolutely nothing for some guys.  Jeff Francoeur delivered 200+ RBI over two full seasons to a squad that was having great difficulty scoring runs, but the year he regresses, everyone's jumping all over him (myself included), preaching that they knew it all along, and that he needs to go.  Bob Wickman almost single-handedly out saved six different failed closers (Wicky-18sv, six guys-20sv) in the tail end of 2006, but after blowing two Huddy saves in 2007, he went on the DL for sucking, and the fans practically had a parade when he was cut, allowing Soriano to take over the closing duties.  Most of you remember how happy we all were with Greg Norton's 2008, and how satisfied we were with his extension for 2009, but when he batted .145, people said some nasty stuff.  Beer goggles and rose-colored glasses are a harsh mistress sometimes.

Only a few guys are truly exempt from the fan-turns, and it generally requires a very high and good reputation as being a charitable humanitarian.  Jeff Francoeur and Greg Norton were two guys that did a lot of good things for Atlanta in their tenure with the team, but all was forgotten when they're slumping.  Tim Hudson, who is the Mohandas Gandhi of the Braves and a repeat candidate for Roberto Clemente Awards, on the other hand can pretty much get away with a sub-par season (2006) without many people questioning him.

Braves fans are happier with more runs but less talented pitching than less talented pitching but scoring fewer runs.  2006 was a good example of this.  The team scored a ton of runs fairly consistently, but the bullpen blew about 20 games.  Easy scape goat there.  Where as 2009 (and this year so far) had awesome starting pitching, a pretty decent bullpen, but the team was getting blanked way too often.  Maybe this conclusion also helps that TC and the internet wasn't what it is today, but in general, things were cooler then, than it now.  Perhaps this is the most obvious of the conclusions, since yes, Joe Morgan, the key to tonight's game, is to score more runs than the other team.

Now the point of this post is pretty simple - it gets pretty ugly around here, when the losing starts to happen.  And with the losses that mount, the ugliness rises.  The higher the ugliness gets, the less civil people become, no players, no fans, and eventually each other, is safe from the vitriol and bitterness of the sore losers.  People swear off TC, and disappear, while in the place of one displaced member signs up five trolls who want to do nothing but bitch about the Braves. 

People lash out at us moderators for trying to censor free speech and negativity - it's not that we're trying to prohibit negativity, but we're trying to get you to maintain a cool head and turn it into somewhat of a potential for stimulating discussion.  Not make you question the first amendment and create a debate that has nothing to do with baseball. 

Hone your writing abilities, and use words of logic and reason to state your case, instead of defensive-to-offensive words of attack to simply argue.  I've said it many times, no matter what people think of your ideas and opinions, a well-written post/article still commands respect.

If it is your prerogative to only wish to show up when you've got criticisms about the Braves, just keep in mind that you're already starting in the red when you do so.  You may get called out.  Nobody, sports fans/non-sports fans, likes when the negative obvious is being stated.  We're all aware of how bad the Braves are playing right now.  We're all aware of the offensive woes at various levels of the organization.  And we're all aware that there is no easy fix for the situation that the team's created for itself.  Is it really necessary to drop a comment about how the Braves suck,  TP needs to be fired, or Glaus is a piece of garbage, without good reason? 

Sometimes, sure, it may seem like fans are being delusional, and who knows, maybe some are.  But for the most part, many are just simply trying to keep their heads held high, even at the lowest of lows, because maybe, if not us, then who will?  It's not delusional, uneducated and mindless to cheer for a team when they're playing poorly, it's called being supportive (and/or drunk).

Just remember always, even when the Braves are losing, when you're arguing with justin another member, or see someone at the park booing Troy Glaus - in the end, we all want the same thing, which is to see the Braves win.  There's already enough hate around the internets, and especially here when we're slumping.  There's no reason why the TC Hate Machine should ever creep beyond the product on the field.  I'm actually quite impressed with you guys, for not making me regret putting up the Thunderdome.  Hell, gondeee wants to keep it up, so up it will remain.  Hopefully this team will turn it around and shrink the TC Hate Machine and eliminate the need for future Thunderdomes in the future.