Brooks Conrad

Spring Training Stock Watch:

The Atlanta Braves currently have a 7-4-1 record this spring and appear to be rounding into shape for Opening Day. Chipper is back at third, Uggla is in town and Freddie and Jason are providing plenty of excitement.

The baseball offseason has all but come to a close and just over two weeks remain until the Atlanta Braves’ first spring training game against the New York Mets on Feb. 26.

No Braves player is itching to get back onto the field quite like Brooks Conrad.

This past year presented Atlanta Braves fans with plenty of moments to relish.

This was the first time the Braves had reached the playoffs since 2005 and was the final season for venerable manager Bobby Cox.

But, I'm staying away from those topics for this slideshow.

Instead, I'm focusing on singular moments over the course of the calendar year that Braves fans will be talking about for years to come rather than events that involved a culmination of years/months of dedicated work to draw their fanfare.

As the fantasy baseball season has mercifully drawn to a close, I thought it would be the perfect time to dispense some wisdom and advice for those who are hopelessly hooked on this game.

Call it the Goldilocks Guide, if you will.

Too early for next year, too late for this year.

Just right for those who are wallowing in self pity because they made the playoffs riding Josh Hamilton to that last playoff berth.

Only to watch him break a couple ribs on the eve of the finals.

Poor Brooks Conrad.

The Atlanta Braves second baseman, whom the team was forced to place considerable faith in when they lost infielders Chipper Jones and Martin Prado to season-ending injuries, could not have had a harder time of it during Atlanta's four-game loss to the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS. He collected just one hit and committed four extraordinarily costly errors, including three in the team's Game 3 loss alone.

It started with blasts of Jason Heyward in Spring Training and probably the most memorable Major League debut in recent history.

One hundred sixty-six games and 725 tweets (by me) later, the 2010 season ends for the Atlanta Braves with Bobby Cox tipping his cap to the San Francisco Giants following Game 4 of the National League Divisional Series.

     The Atlanta Braves were one out away from completing another storybook come from behind victory when things fell apart in the top of the ninth. Earlier, in the bottom of the eighth, Alex Gonzalez singled and Eric Hinske hit a pinch hit home run off of Sergio Romo to the Braves up by a score of 2-1. Hinke's homer was just the fourth Brave hit of the night but it came at such an opportune time.

For a guy that was signed as a Minor League Free Agent prior to the 2009 season, Brooks Conrad sure has accomplished a lot for the Braves in 130 games.

In addition to accumulating a ton of nicknames ("Raw Dog" and "Dirt" being the most notable), the Magic Man from Monte Vista (that one is mine) has been involved in some of the more memorable moments in recent Braves history.

With the news breaking on Thursday that Chipper Jones was done for the 2010 season and, potentially, his career with a torn ACL, the Braves found themselves without some sense of certainty at the hot corner for the first time in nearly sixteen years.

Mark Twain once said: "A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away.  He must have time to modify his shape."

In the Atlanta Braves recent win over the Houston Astros, longtime third baseman Chipper Jones tore his left ACL and will need season-ending surgery to repair it.

Right off the bat, this leaves the Braves (and Jones) with many questions. While the long term question facing Jones may be about retirement (which I go into more detail about here), the short term focus for Atlanta is on finding a capable replacement for Chipper.