Bad news for the 1st place Braves-they lost Chipper Jones to a torn ACL for the rest of the season. A common football injury, ACL tears take months to rehabilitate, although Chipper has said he plans on going through that process and returning next season. Jones isn't anywhere near what he used to be, and his last two seasons he has seen most of his power sapped by age and nagging injury. Once a consistent .200+ ISO player, Jones' has regressed to around a .160 ISO player. To combat the power outage, many aging sluggers begin to "cheat" on fastballs that they can no longer handle. In baseball when we say someone is "cheating on a fastball" we mean they're starting their bat a touch earlier than normal in order to catch-up to the fastball they can no longer get around on.
Since the injury the Braves have started Brooks Conrad, a 30-year old career minor leaguer prior to this season, at third base. Braves GM Frank Wren would be well served to try and find a suitable replacement for Jones, either by scouring the waiver wire for a free agent of placing a waiver claim on someone who can handle regular duty. Chipper may not have been what he once was, but he was certainly better than anything else they have for the hot corner.
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