Well, this sucks

So, it appears that the cancer, which was gone or hiding, has come back. I guess I spoke too soon. Next week, I will be checking into the hospital for chemotherapy. My doctor is very optimistic that this will take care of things.

Sorry for being a bummer on Thanksgiving Week.

140 thoughts on “Well, this sucks”

  6. Mac and FBF,

    My thoughts are with you. I’m pulling for you every step of the way. Let’s get everybody well in time for next season.

  10. What everybody else said… Thoughts are with you, best of luck, all that jazz. One of my best friends has gone through 3 surgeries for Breast Cancer, done a 4th surgery to remove other things with new increased C-risk, and is finally starting radiation in early December. Cancer sucks.

  12. Mac,

    I ask for God to look over you and your medical treatment force.

    You have done well to maintain such a good attitude (well, actually you are plenty snarky, but only in a fun way and no more than you used to be anyway).

  13. Rumor is Red Sox will eat half of Lowell’s salary in a deal. What about Lowell at half price (6.25 m)? (Not that I figured they could move him without doing something like that).

    At third he probably is worse than Chipper and his home road splits make me wonder if he has been a little overly fond of Fenway. But, he has an OPS of 835 through 3 years of play in AL East seeing Halladay, Sabathia, etc. And his hitting against righthanders is excellent.

    He might start the year at first and, mid season, if Chipper went down for 20 days, you might be able to bring up Freeman and you might be able to platoon Lowell out some when Chiper got back.

    How “shot” is Lowell’s hip?

  18. #13
    I like the best-case scenario. Still, it strikes me as a gamble & I’d guess that Wren is done gambling on these types of players.

  19. Best wishes, Mac. Let’s get rid of all the bad stuff this time, and we’ll have something extra special to be thankful for. God speed and Roll Tide!

  21. Good luck Mac. Best wishes. Hope you don’t mind them coming from an Auburn grad:) Just for you: Roll Tide Roll!

  24. 20 – Eh?

    No trade can be judged only by what one side gives up, but if the Braves are not getting a good haul for Schafer, that would be a mistake.

  27. Mac, sorry to hear that news. Our prayers are with you. I do hope this won’t mean a delay in the Who’s Worse competition. (I know I don’t post often enough for the good folk here to understand my attempts at humor.)

  34. Best of luck from France, Mac. My people might be a little bit trigger happy with the white flag, but we’ll never surrender to cancer. Hopefully you’ll recover quickly!

  39. According to K-Ros, Dye’s agent has told the Braves and others that he is open to playing 1st base. Sounds to me like he really wants to come back to Atlanta, or is it that the 1B FA crop is that thin?

  41. FBF,

    I think Dye is just looking at the obvious. He is having trouble playing the outfield. As a DH he has the wrong platoon split (prefer lefty ALL OTHER THINGS EQUAL because about 70% of pitchers are righty). And half of the teams don’t have a DH.

    On ajc.com somebody commented on how was that (putting Dye at First) different from moving Chipper (and / or McCann). It wasn’t worth a reply there.

    Chipper has fielded infield ground balls and hot shots for years. He has worked around a base having to get his foot positioned for force plays and his glove positioned for tag plays. He has made lots of throws from 40 to 130 feet in length. Those throws almost have to come in a circle no more than 2% bigger than the throwing distance. It is VASTLY different.

    I think Braves ought to pay Hubbard his winter bonus and offer fielding school for Dye, gratis. Then, we get first look and first foot in the door. But until I KNEW he could play at least passable first base, it would not sway me.

  42. I think he has played a total of 5 innings in at 1B between minors and big league. I’d like to think that he could, I played several positions in High School, and 1B was far the easiest. Would you take a flyer on him for 1 year?

  46. Best wishes Mac.

    I haven’t been here at all this November, so I guess this was discussed already, but….am I crazy for thinking Mark DeRosa isn’t really a big offensive upgrade over Garret Anderson? DeRosa just seems like an expensive utility player who wouldn’t improve this team’s terrible offense significantly (especially if LaRoche leaves).

  47. 46, offensive upgrade no but defensive yes…. Prayin for ya Mac. You make the bad stretches that us braves fans go thru bearable…

  48. @46
    the braves were 6th in the nl in runs scored. they werent awful, but they could have been beter.

  49. @46
    the braves were 6th in the nl in runs scored. they werent awful, but they could have been beter.

  51. Mac, I’m sorry to hear that, me and my wife will be praying for you. Keep a positive attitude and don’t give up. Keep your faith, it will give you strength. You have an opportunity to br truely thankful this Thanksgiving. Yours truely, Rick and Marizza Gladney

  61. Hang in there, Mac. I’m confident you’ll finally be able to put this behind you. Chemo is rough, but you can do it.

  63. Longtime reader, very rare poster here. Mac, my sincerest hopes that you beat this thing flat. Hang in there through the chemo.

  64. Attack it right back, Mac. Stay strong.

    Get better by October when we’re celebrating a championship.

  70. so, olney thinks we could be in the running for miguel cabrera. i dont see how it works because the tigers are looking to shed payroll. if they would take lowe, it would be like we would get cabrera for 6/81 million (13.5 mil/year). would you guys do a schafer + lowe for cabrera deal?

  71. I seriously doubt they have any interest in Lowe. And Freeman would have to be a part of any deal with them, I’m sure.

  72. yes, i dont see them having interest in lowe either. i just dont know what olney was thinking. i mean, unless the tigers took lowe’s contract, there’s no way we could afford cabrera. i guess i dont know what olney is thinking a lot of times.

  73. It would have to be a deal with Lowe/Vazquez ( to even out salary concerns )plus Schafer/Medlin and maybe Kimbrel or Redmond. I think If I were Wren, I would have to give it considerable thought. We would have the RH impact bat we needed, he can play 1B and spell Chipper at 3rd…..Just my 2 cents, I’ll sit back and wait for the criticizm of my post!

  74. I think they’d be more likely to chip in some money—even the sort of money we still owe Lowe—and take a younger pitcher.

    The thing is, if they don’t chip in money, I don’t think we should have to give up much more than Freeman in a deal. Cabrera is awesome, but he’s not worth a whole lot more than what he’s paid.

  75. olney thinks we could be in the running for miguel cabrera

    Olney also believes in productive outs. I don’t think so.

  82. FYI – Matt Pouliot projects us signing Aubrey Huff to play 1st base for a year ($3.5M) and Mike Cameron ($8M, 1 year).

    He has LaRoche going to the O’s for 3 years and $21M.

  84. I’d do Cabrerra for Freeman + Schafer. I imagine *somebody* would take Lowe off our hands for nothing in a seperate deal.

    McLouth
    Prado
    Chipper
    Cabrerra
    McCann
    Escobar
    Heyward
    Diaz

    That looks mighty tasty.

  86. Mac,
    Let me add to the comments & best wishes here. You are in my prayers. Thanks for keeping your sense of humor through some tough times (yeah, I mean the Francoeur era, as well as all the health stuff).

  88. 82,

    He also predicts the Braves giving Jose Valverde a 3 year, $30 million contract. Which is not only a move reserved for stupid and lazy teams (the Braves are neither), it runs completely contrary to the philosophy of the FO. When have the Braves ever paid inflated market rate for a FA closer?

    I used to like Pouliot’s work, but I’m becoming increasingly annoyed by his foolishness.

  89. 84—I’d only want to give up both of those guys if the Tigers were sending some serious cash (at least $30 million) along with Miggy. But, man, that lineup does look awesome.

  90. was aubrey huff hurt last yr? last 4 months BA of 09 season

    .189, .141, .246, .143

    no chance we pay a closer $10 mil, We’d offer Wagner 1/$5 Id think

  91. Echoing all the other sentiments- Best wishes Mac.

    Did anyone notice that Huston Street and Jeremy Affeldt got a vote for MVP when neither Javy nor Jurrjens got one? I know that doesn’t mean squat, but still.

  92. A 5-year 9-7-5-3-1 regression indicates Cabrera is worth ~5 wins. Of course, he’s entering his age 27 season, so that’s likely to increase as he enters his peak years towards the middle of the contract, I would think. Call him a 5.5 win player and his trade value is ~$28 million. I’d guess any additional ceiling and the advantage of consolidating wins is equaled by the inherent risk and his alleged off-field issues. Then there’s the Tigers’ need to shed payroll.

    I think 2 B prospects (Freeman, Spruill. For example) is probably all I’d part with for Cabrera.

  95. I’m pretty confident he is neither the first nor the last ballplayer that will do it. I hear the Mick liked to have one or two the night before as well.

  96. dont most clubhouses have beer on ice at all times? Ive heard this before and Ive also heard that Bobby had this removed from the Braves clubhouse at all times. Guarantee you Furcal has probably been toasted a few times before a game

  97. So I guess Juan Abreu is the next Eric O’Flaherty. A scrap heap reliever that we’re all extremely skeptical of until he has a fluky good season.

  99. Who cares… the mick played every game of his career either drunk or with a hang over. IF he can mash who cares if he is drunk at the plate

  101. I don’t think Lowe gets traded for anything of value. He’s going to be a straight salary dump.

    The real addition will be at the expense of prospects. I fear we’d have to gut the top of our farm system for Cabrera.

  105. Apparently, the Mick (according to Jim Bouton) pinch hit once while hung over and hit a home run. But I don’t think it was a World Series or pennant race game and he didn’t expect to play having just come off an injury. And, of course, LT was known to knock the crap out of QBs while high on coke. Still, it’s probably not a good idea to go to work drunk in the next to last game of the season.

  106. thats funny, Parrish……i just pictured a bunch of millionaire ballplayers sitting around working on a case of luke-warm Keystone Lite…………because anyone who’d drink that stuff HAS to be too cheap to spring for a bag of ice.

  107. Thank you, Mac, for Braves Journal. Your blog adds value to my life daily.

    May your Thanksgiving be joyous and bountiful, Braves Journal peeps. God bless us each and every one.

  108. Sure, if you can perform while hungover or drunk. But Cabrera went 0-4 with a strikeout and a GIDP.

    Well thank goodness he only did it the one time then.

  112. The Cabrera rumor has been shot down. Hopefully that will spare us from further debates about his drinking problem.

  114. I hate it when people can’t hold their booze.

    Before I run off to the suburbs for turkey & such, I wanna wish everyone a great holiday and I wanna wish good health to those who can use it these days. We’re all rooting for you.

  120. Well there goes my theory that Wren would pick him up for a bench OF bat to hold things until Heyward could come up.

  127. Hey Mac, I was digging through the duffle bagle from my last hospital stay. I somehow got an XL “Cancer Sucks” t-shirt….never one and its seen my through mine, wanna give it a shot? I’ll even go rub so dirt from the “Larry Wayne Jones Jr” ball field on it……

  131. 116 – Was that really necessary?

    Better to find the Muppets version of Bohemian Rhapsody on YouTube.

    Here — MT

  134. Hey folks — thanks for the welcome. Good to see the familiar names! Hell of a day to come check on the Journal — timing is not my strong suit, I guess. Happy Thanksgiving to Mac and all Braves Journal mavens!

  135. I want to wish everbody out there a Happy Thanksgiving with a special greeting (and get well soon) to Mac….

  136. Ububba, or anyone else, I have about a 4 hour drive to the inlaws, I need some music to listen to. ANYTHING but country and gagnsta rap…any suggestions…I’m a huge REM and Tom Waits fan…so, take that for what its worth

  137. “Swordfishtrombones”? But you probably knew that already. Waits’ “Heart Attack & Vine” is a fave, too.

    Or a trip down memory lane with REM’s “And I Feel Fine,” which is a 2-CD set of their “early years” 1982-87 or so. Some of the live stuff on CD2is really great.

    I often use the the holidaze to re-discover old stuff. Last year, it was Hendrix; this year… No idea.

    Happy driving

    Happy driving

  140. sansho!

    Where ya been, dude? Good to have you back.

    Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Got a houseful of UT fans and it’s after 12:00 so I’m opening the bar.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *