Atlanta Braves - All-Decade 2000-09

For all the fanfare surrounding the 1990's Braves, with their Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz trio, the Braves in the 2000's (the decade, not the millennium) won a lot of games too. All three of those pitchers returned (although with one in a different role than he had been accustomed to), and that consistency on the mound added to some star level offensive performers led to six NL East titles (in the first six years of the decade). Here's what Atlanta's roster looked like from 2000-09, organized by amount of games played by position (for the most part), with years active with the team to the right.

Supposedly the phrase "Keeping Up with the Joneses" originated with a comic strip created by Pop Momand in the early 20th century, but if you told me it had to do with the pair of perennial All-Stars who played for the Braves around the turn of the 21st century, I would not be surprised. Hall of Fame third baseman Chipper Jones, who checks in at 6th on the list of all time Braves players by Wins Above Replacement, leads the team in overall games played across multiple positions. Although the former first overall draft pick (from 1990) made only three All-Star teams during the decade in question (which started the year after he won his lone MVP award), he averaged a .960 OPS (47% better than league average), and was even willing to move from his customary position when it suited the team's needs. Curacao native Andruw Jones finished his career four spots below Chipper on the all-time Braves WAR leaderboard, but he picked up significantly more hardware while he was with the team. On top of five All-Star appearances, the defensively gifted Andruw won a Gold Glove award in all eight seasons he played in Atlanta during this decade (plus two more to finish off the previous one). While I'm trying to steer clear of astrology in this feature, I think it's worth noting that, in addition to sharing a last name, Chipper and Andruw also share an astrological sign, as they both play for the Taurus Bulls.

Continuing down the list of total games played, speedster Rafael Furcal won the Rookie of the Year award in 2000, and then held down the shortstop position for the next six years, before leaving for the Dodgers in free agency. Like Furcal, his double play partner Marcus Giles (brother of Brian) also came up with Atlanta, also stands at 5'8", also made exactly one All-Star team in the decade in question, and also left via free agency after six years, although Giles played only one non-Braves season in his career. Jeff Francoeur has a reputation as one of baseball's preeminent "good guys," and he's also perhaps the most deserving of the nickname "Frenchy." The all-decade catcher position was pretty evenly split between Brian McCann, who is currently back with the Braves after stops with the Yankees and Houston, and Javy Lopez, who had 482 games this time around after also serving as last decade's starter. First baseman Adam LaRoche is another homegrown talent who was again acquired via trade in the last year of this decade. Left field is where things fall apart for this team: after Chipper Jones's 347 games there, no one put up even 200 appearances at the position. If we listed Chipper as the starter in LF, Vinny Castilla would take over the hot corner, based on his 286 games between 02 and 03, but that's hardly representative of how the Braves actually looked. It's also worth noting that Gary Sheffield had 280 games in right field in the same two years that Castilla spent with the team, but this isn't fantasy baseball, where the two corner outfield spots are interchangeable.

On the pitching side, we all know about the greatness of Hall of Famers John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine, who finish 7th, 8th, and 9th, respectively, among all-time Braves WAR leaders. Maddux, also known as The Professor, had one of the greatest changeups of his time and was an above average fielder for a pitcher - he won three Gold Gloves in the four years he spent with the Braves this decade, before returning to his original team, the Cubs, in free agency. Unlike Mad Dog, Glavine, was a homegrown Braves product, whose last three of 16 consecutive seasons in Atlanta came in this decade in question, but the soft-tossing lefty also returned for a farewell tour in 2008 after spending five years with the NL East rival Mets. In another astrology aside, I find it fascinating that longtime rotation mates Maddux and Glavine were also both stalwarts in the Aries Rams pitching staff. I'll talk about Smoltz in the next section, because his career followed a different path than the above two career-starting pitchers. Tim Hudson was the first of the vaunted A's "Big Three" to depart Oakland when the Columbus, GA native was traded to his hometown team in the winter of 2004 (Mark Mulder was sent out two days later in a trade with the Cardinals). Huddy spent three more years in Atlanta than he did with his original team, since the Braves know how to hold on to a good pitcher when they get the chance. Kevin Millwood narrowly wins the battle for the fifth starter spot, with Mike Hampton (85 games started) and Horacio Ramirez (84) nipping at his heels.

After 12 seasons with the Braves in the 80's and 90's, exclusively as a starting pitcher (including a Cy Young award in 1996), John Smoltz missed the entire 2000 season because of Tommy John surgery. He came back in May of 2001, and pitched poorly enough over his first five starts (5.76 ERA) that the team shifted him to the bullpen, whereupon he racked up a 1.59 ERA and 10 saves. He remained in the closer's role for the next three seasons, averaging a 2.47 ERA and 48 saves per season, before returning to the rotation in 2005 and continuing his run of excellence (despite an injury-shortened 2008). The only pitcher to total more relief appearances than Smoltz in this decade was lefty Mike Remlinger, who despite his handedness was not used as a specialist until his second stint with the club in 2006, averaging more than an inning per appearance from 1999-2002. The same cannot be said of Kevin Gryboski, who was utilized as a rarely seen righty specialist (167 innings in 221 games). While Blaine Boyer technically spent parts of five seasons with the team, he totaled five appearances or less in three of those. Chris Reitsma was part of the first post-Smoltz closer committee in 2005 (along with Danny Kolb), Ibut he lost that job (and later his place on the team) in 2006 after putting up an 8.68 ERA the following year.