With 18 days left before the Braves start their 2010 campaign, it is time to finish up the positional preview with the outfield. Last year, the Braves began the season with a 4-1 win over the Phillies. The starting outfield was Garret Anderson in left, Jordan Schafer in center, and Jeff Francoeur in right. Schafer would get hurt and demoted by June, Francoeur was dealt in early July, and while he lasted the whole year, Anderson is gone now. The opening day outfield is not for certain just yet,...

So the Mitch Jones signing got me thinking a little bit. I spent much of my day at work pondering what it could mean.

Initially, I felt as if Jones represented a Plan C to signing a stop-gap free agent like an Xavier Nady (Plan A) and backing that stop-gap with another stop-gap like a Chad Tracy (Plan B; a platoon). I had almost decided to take it for it's face value; a minor league signing for fodder and a contingency plan for failures of Plans A and B, but I before posting my thoughts...

Two nights ago I posted the first part of my GM Hot Seat series and we discussed the starting pitching situation that Frank Wren has been presented with heading into the off-season. In part two, we'll move on to the offense....which was, at times, quite offensive to the Braves fan base around the world.

In a quick review, these write ups are not about what should be done this off-season, rather they are about what I have personally observed and feel I would attempt to do if I were...

So, it may not seem to be so painfully obvious now that Matty D and Project GAnderson are rolling in the right direction, but I can still see a glaring weakness in the Braves outfield and it threatens to slowly chip away at our playoff chances day by day. Centerfield.

Sure, we have Nate McLouth working his way back from a hammy strain, but he has recently suffered a setback in his rehab. His replacement, Ryan Church, has also been sidelined with a balky back of late.

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Well, a little over a week ago I hoped for some significant changes to the Atlanta Braves 25 man roster after Kris Medlen was called up to take Jo-Jo Reyes' spot in the starting rotation. Well, surprise surprise.... got it.

Glavine's gone, Hanson's here, McLouth's mauling and Chop Nation has changed. Wait. What? You got that right. Wholesale changes, indeed. All of it for the better as well! Like the Atlanta Braves, us Chop Nationers enter an exciting new era. One that will hopefully...