The 2017 Braves of the White-Flight Cobb County Outskirts of Atlanta

AJC's DOB takes no prisoners.

Batten down the hatches, this is getting torrential. Stay in your homes. #NationalsRainDelay approaching 1 hour. No rain yet. Not a drop. pic.twitter.com/vG9Ru0Ivul

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 6, 2017

Rain delay officially passed the 1-hour mark with nary a drop. Hey, wait long enough, it'll rain. #NatsRainDelay.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Don't worry, fans here at #NationalsPark, just keep consuming. It'll eventually rain. Maybe.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Hey, great work: Tarp goes on the field 1 hour and 15 minutes into the rain delay. Guess it might finally start raining. Drive safely.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

That was the worst mishandling of a weather situation that I've ever seen at a baseball game. Just total bush league. #NatsRainDelay.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Fans leaving in droves. What an experience for them. "Went to the #Nats game last night. Left after 1 1/2 hrs of rain delay w/ no rain."

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

8:35 p.m. Rain delay has reached 1 1/2 hours without so much as a drop of rain. #NatsRainDelay. What a circus.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

MLB needs to step forward and send a directive to teams making it clear they won't abide by the kind of garbage the #Nats pulled tonight.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Will epic failure of rainless delay reach 2 hours without a drop of the wet stuff? Stay tuned. 12 more minutes. #NatsRainDelay. #ClownShow.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Light rain has begun to fall 2 hours into rain delay. Light enough that it wouldn't even stop a normal game if it were being played.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

We need Tanner to run out onto the cruddy field here at #NatsPark. https://t.co/hKLoNPtKeF

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

There are about 300 people left in seats at #NatsPark. No truth to rumor that Nats front office is throwing them crumbly pieces of cake.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

because of #Natitude. https://t.co/DDez19Cl58

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

The next time someone from north of Georgia busts on ATL for our gridlock in icestorms, let's show footage of this rain delay.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Un. Be. Liev. Able. Message on scoreboard for few hundred fans here says it's "our sincere hope that we will be able to play this game"

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Un. Be. Liev. Able. Message on scoreboard for few hundred fans here says it's "our sincere hope that we will be able to play this game"

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

They are pulling dry tarp off the field at 9:40 p.m. Seriously, this could not have been handled worse by #Nats officials. Total, epic fail.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Your remaining crowd after the 3-hour rainless delay debacle at #NatsPark pic.twitter.com/amZX2rZAH0

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) July 7, 2017

Deadspin has a story up about this already, the Braves booth is delivering a steady stream of mockery, and the Nats just said water, soda and "ice cream novelties" are free for the rest of the game for the people who stuck around.

Rizzo says he wanted to be "proactive."

If this was shenaniganistic by the Nats, what were they trying to achieve?

six 'finalists' for the triple-a team's new name

• Gwinnett Buttons: The Buttons honor Gwinnett County’s namesake, Button Gwinnett, signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
• Gwinnett Big Mouths: Named after the state fish of Georgia, the Big Mouths is a tribute to bass fishing on Lake Lanier.
• Gwinnett Gobblers: The Gobblers celebrates the outdoors, hunting, and eating all the foods we love.
• Gwinnett Hush Puppies: Our stealthy hunting dog is sneaking through the weeds, about to rustle up some ducks. But don’t think we’re all that serious. You can expect a “corny” fan experience at the “Puppies” game!
• Gwinnett Lambchops: A chop off the old block, the Lambchops marries the region’s love of home cooking with the Tomahawk Chop of the Atlanta Braves.
• Gwinnett Sweet Teas: It’s a regional icon “to a tea!” The Sweet Teas celebrates the laid-back lifestyle of Gwinnett County while displaying a real sweet look.

If I had a vote in that, I'd go with Hush Puppies. Sweet Teas would get shortened to Sweeties in about five seconds.

aside from the wtf lambchops description those are all good minor league names

Gobblers imo

Kurt Wagner should change his band's name to the Nashville Lambchops.

barves are being super-aggressive promoting their prospects and it seems to be working?

yesterday they promoted 19yo ronald acuna to triple-a; he homered in his second at bat. he's hit .317.366/.516 across three levels this year, the lowest of which he is four years younger than average

19yo pitchers mike soroka (and to a slightly lesser extent) kolby allard are doing *really* well in double-a

if dansbae stops sucking they're gonna really have something

.500!

weird

https://www.talkingchop.com/2017/7/17/15986998/benching-dansby-swanson-is-a-mistake-atlanta-braves-sigh

p sure the Mets will take him

Dansby demoted!

Eagerly awaiting "Dansby to play his swansong" headlines in the future

albies (and sims) up!

poor dansby

Straight into the frying pan for Sims.

albies will be the first mlb player born in 1997

ffs

wait...matt adams has been playing in LF again? i always thought he seemed like a nice guy, what did he do to deserve this? freddie freeman is arguably the better option at 1B though

.500!

― Cannibal Adderley (WilliamC), Sunday, July 16, 2017 5:58 PM (three weeks ago)

lol

This might be the smallest crowd Gohara has ever pitched in front of. And it's his MLB debut. #Braves #Rangers pic.twitter.com/fFqBVBr8Wl

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) September 6, 2017

Resignation of Coppolella believed to stem in part from issues with #Braves’ talent acquisition in Latin America.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 2, 2017

further...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/10/mlb-investigating-braves-kevin-maitan-signing.html

wtf, Coppy, it's MLB not NCAA

Illicit activity in the international market is rampant enough in baseball that contract agreements with players as young as 15, technically illegal, are accepted as industry standard and signed when the player is 16. Bundling of bonuses and bringing players to the U.S. to work out before signing are considered egregious enough for the league to crack down with sanctions . . .

Agents across the game said Coppolella is particularly aggressive in trying to cut pre-draft deals with amateur players, a practice in which other teams engage but is frowned upon and, taken in concert with other violations, could deepen the team’s penalties. (passan)

lol 'accepted as industry standard'

idk it kind of sounds like coppolella pushed the envelope but that his main problem was being an asshole whom no one liked

yeah, guy sent 2000-word texts

who knew the two front offices that made acquiring Matt Kemp a priority would be the most fucked up

— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) October 3, 2017

At least one or two other team officials were believed to be in the crosshairs of the investigation. It’s unclear if more heads will roll either before or after MLB announces its findings and levies penalties that could include a heavy fine for the Braves, potential loss of players if rules were broken in their acquisition by the team and major restrictions on dealings in the international free-agent market, where the worst of the Braves’ alleged offenses occurred.

Meanwhile, word spread around the Braves’ offices soon after Coppolella’s forced resignation that he has hired a lawyer (or lawyers) and that lawsuits might be forthcoming. That’s surely caused plenty of sweating in certain departments with the Braves, as some fear that Coppolella might bring down others while attempting to show he, or he and Blakeley, didn’t act alone.

Underscoring that concern was a weekend report by the Macon Telegraph’s Bill Shanks, who wrote that he was told Coppolella was offered severance pay by the Braves. If true, that would seem a highly unusual step taken by a company with an employee forced to resign due to allegations of wrongdoing – even if, as president of baseball operations John Hart said in announcing Coppolella’s resignation, the offenses strictly involved MLB rules and not a criminal matter.

http://atlantabraves.blog.ajc.com/2017/10/16/plot-thickens-in-braves-scandal-investigation-nearing-end/

https://deadspin.com/cobb-county-proposes-cutting-libraries-after-dumb-decis-1822781704