OK, a little time to discuss Rick Ankiel

Because just like Stale Gum, I haz a noo laptop. In the long run, this will help greatly with posting and doing videos and such, but right now I gotta get it all set up. So I unfortunately have no time to discuss how a hurt Ankiel is still better than Nate McOut. Well, I have time to mention one thing...

Good news, everyone! Jesse Chavez is no longer in the Braves' bullpen!

(So long, Blanco. We hardly knew ye)

UPDATE:
Ok, so I found time. Recovery disks take a long time to burn. Here's what I posted on Waxaholic's rant about the trades. In short, I'm not thrilled with the moves, but I do acknowledge that they make the team stronger in the short term.

Allrighty, I've got recovery disks burning, so I've got some time to discuss now.

Yunel would still be here if he had done ANYTHING this year. He was our team MVP last year, but inexplicably regressed to Francoeur levels in 2010. The man completely forgot how to hit and when he nearly got Glaus killed at first with a lollipop throw a couple of weeks ago, that was the last straw, because he obviously wasn't the best defensive shortstop anymore with his mental lapses. He's not a prospect anymore at age 27 and the Braves couldn't wait around for him anymore. Not crazy about Seabass, but the Braves have been stockpiling infielders in the minors for the past few years so we'll see if one pans out. We should really be more mad about Elvis anyway.

Now to the Royals trade. Ankiel is the new center fielder, at least against right handed pitchers. Basically, our outfield is Heyward and four other guys right now. Diaz can hit lefties, Ankiel can hit righties and Melky can now bounce around the outfield (like a 4th outfielder is supposed to do) whenever Hinske isn't filling for an obviously injured Glaus at first. Rick is actually a very good defensive outfielder so that helps. It's not an impact bat, but Liberty Media won't pay for one, so Wren has to patch the best he can. It slightly improves an outfield that was left in shambles by McLouth losing all ability to play baseball.

Losing Blanco right when he figured out how to play baseball sucks, but we replaced him with Wilkin Ramirez, a similar player we got from the Tigers today. He might be good, he might suck, but Frank is at least working to keep the depth in the organization.

Kyle Farnsworth I'm somewhat bewildered by. I thought he turned into a gasoline can since signing with the Yankees, but apparently he's had a decent year with the Royals. The last time he pitched this well was with the Braves in 2005 where he was great in the regular season and SUUUUCKED in the postseason. Luckily, he's going to be the 5th option in that bullpen after Wags, Saito, Moylan and Venters so he adds some really good depth. I still think he's most likely to pull a Leibrandt if the Braves get into the playoffs.

Jesse Chavez sucks. Flat out sucks. Throws up meatball after meatball even if they are pitched fast. He was given a job over Venters out of spring training even though he was awful and didn't earn it and due to injuries ended back up as the last option in the pen (Not counting Kawakami who may as well be in Japan at this point). The guy is not good and will not be missed. Sucks we gave up Soriano for him, but that was another business move by ownership just waiting to sell the team when they are able to do so without taking a tax hit.

I too am disappointed by trading Tim Collins, but look who we didn't trade. We didn't trade Freeman, we didn't trade Minor, we didn't trade Teheran, Vizcaino, Delgado or Hoover, we didn't trade Kimbrel or Hyde, we didn't trade any of the catchers or infielders that are looking good in the minors. If we had gotten an actual impact bat like Fielder or Dunn, or any of the fake impact bats like Hart, Ross or Willingham, we would have had to give up some of those guys and could end up with Teixeira part 2. Wren improved the team (albeit slightly) and kept all the major kids expected to produce for us in the next 5 years. It's not very exciting, but he did a decent job.

Now it's time for the players to step up and get into the playoffs. Chipper needs to step it up or get out of the 3-spot in the lineup. Glaus needs to admit he's injured and sit for a while. Lowe needs to not suck. The whole team needs to stop freezing up whenever the bases are loaded. There is no excuse for not getting more guys home with so many opportunities. And EVERYBODY needs to quit sliding into bases goddamn head first.  Wither that or make the idiots wear mittens when running the bases, first Heyward and now Prado with broken fingers from sliding head first. Damnit.