The air inside the Braves clubhouse used to be that of inevitability and invincibility. Injuries occurred but reinforcements kept coming, either from the minor leagues or from trades the Braves were able to make with their deep pockets.
Both options stopped a few seasons ago, but it took until the 2008 trade deadline for that dispiriting reality to hit the individual players. Team leader Chipper Jones was the go-to guy after last season's trades of Mark Teixeira and Mark Kotsay.
"It's a first for all of us," Jones said then. "We've never been sellers before. Usually we're the ones adding, not subtracting. It's tough to come to grips with.
"We certainly felt like, coming out of spring training, that we were going to be in the middle of things all year. This is a tough pill to swallow, knowing that Tex isn't going to be with us the remainder of the season. And number two, that we have no chance of signing him."
The younger players appeared especially dazed. None of them knew of the trades until asked about them by reporters, and they were obviously bewildered.
"You can see the disappointment in their faces," Jones acknowledged. "We come to play every night. We grow a bond with these guys. We're like brothers. It's hard to see one of your buddies go.
"I know what's going on. You have to do what you have to do as far as having to get something for Tex. It's not something that completely shocked me, but some of these guys are going through losing a teammate and a brother, a big part of our team, for the first time. Some of these young guys, I don't think, were really ready to handle this move. But hopefully what we're doing now will enable us to be better down the road."
Jones was referring, in part, to getting first baseman Casey Kotchman in return for Teixeira. Kotchman had a rough start with the Braves, but general manager Frank Wren is convinced that was because Kotchman was pressing to prove the trade wasn't a total loss for the team.
