Is it just me or was that the longest baseball offseason ever?
Whether it was the backbreaking Brooks Conrad error in Game Three of the NLDS or the heartbreaking end of the season the next night, the offseason has done little to extract the horrible taste of another bitterly swallowed October.
Now, with competitive baseball literally just around the corner, it’s time to preview the upcoming season.
This past offseason was anything but silent for the Atlanta Braves.
The ceremonial passing of the torch from longtime manager and living legend, Bobby Cox, to the 47-year old former manager of the Florida Marlins, Fredi Gonzalez, started the offseason just days after the final out of the 2010 season.
It wasn’t too long after that when GM Frank Wren pulled off a deal to get one of Gonzalez’s former players, slugger Dan Uggla, from the Marlins.
There were other additions too. Former Orioles closer George Sherrill was added to the ‘pen and pinch-hitter extraordinaire Eric Hinske was re-signed to continue to provide pop off the bench.
Gone are fan favorites Matt Diaz, Omar Infante and Billy Wagner. Two-month rental Derrek Lee and the light-hitting/fielding Melky Cabrera are gone as well.
Season previews are not about who is gone, however.
The next thousand or so words will be all about what the team has and the questions surrounding the 2011 version of the Atlanta Braves.
And now, eight questions…