Looking like a long summer

I had low expectations for the Braves entering this season. I thought their pitching additions would help a little but their offense would be no better than last year's punchless attack, and guess what? More than month in it looks like I was right.

Of course, it didn't take a rocket science to make those predictions. You just had to be able to read the age column on the roster. The rebuilt starting staff consisted of guys who would be 33, 34 and 36 by the end of the season, and there was no reason to believe that the only dangerous hitter on your team would get better by turning 37. But, sadly, all those gray beards are not the problem. Far from it.

Javier Vazquez, Kenshin Kawakami and Derek Lowe, the hurlers in question, have by and large done a good job. If nothing else, they've been an improvement over last year, and that's all you could ask for from such a no-name bunch. Chipper Jones isn't off to a great start, but a .280 batting average, three homers and a .467 slugging percentage isn't awful.

Much more disturbing for both this season and the future of the franchise has been the utter lack of improvement from young players. Outside of Brian McCann, currently out with a vision problem that could ruin his season, and Yunel Escobar the farm system has fallen on its face, and that's the simple reason Atlanta is 11-15 and sinking fast.

Kelly Johnson, now hitting .218 and platooning with Omar Infante in a season where he was supposed to become the next Chase Utley, is looking more and more like a streaky head case. Rookie center fielder Jordan Schafer has struck out 11 times in his last five games - including an remarkable run of back-to-back-to-back hat tricks - and leads the MAJORS with a staggering 34 whiffs in 84 at bats. He also doesn't hit for power or steal bases and appears to be overmatched to the point that the Braves may have little choice but to send him down to Triple-A.

But in my view nothing is killing the Braves' offense more than Jeff Francoeur, who still can't get on base, make contact when he needs to or hit home runs. He didn't produce last season, and he's not producing this season despite playing every, single day and leading the team in at bats (again).

Going into spring training, much was made of Frenchy's rebuilt swing and renewed plate discipline, and the nine strikeouts so far in 2009 are definitely an improvement. Unfortunately, that extra contact his resulted in little more than Francoeur becoming a below-average poke hitter considering his pedestrian .282 average and only eight extra-base hits - three home runs - in 103 ABs. He also has drawn a paltry four walks, which is the same number of free passes Brandon Jones earned in five games before he was sent down to Triple-A earlier this week.

Casey Kotchman, the decidedly weak consolation prize Atlanta got for Mark Texeira (and we'll go more into the havoc Texeira has wreaked on the entire franchise later), seems to have everything you'd want from a 26-year-old first baseman hitting .297, assuming you like your first basemen to have four - four - RBIs in 26 games with no homers or stolen bases.

Jo-Jo Reyes has devolved from top prospect to washout with a 5-14 record and a 5.85 ERA over three seasons of inexplicably not being able to get anybody out with a 94-mph left-handed fastball, and outside of Tommy Hanson there's precious little else to even hope for out of the minors.

The Braves rank near the bottom of the league in home runs with 20 and are dead last - by a lot - with just four stolen bases. Josh Anderson, banished to Detroit to make room for Schafer in the spring, has more than that by himself (6) in part-time duty (gee, I wonder if maybe Cox should have kept him around?).

In short, the Braves are average, boring and seem to have little potential. And it's only May. Oh boy.