The Braves do the right thing and cut Dan Uggla

Hat's all, folks. (Curtis Compton/AJC)

Credit: Mark Bradley

icon to expand image

Credit: Mark Bradley

The question posed in this space Sunday -- "Can the Braves please just cut Dan Uggla already? " -- has received its answer. They could and they did. For Braves fans, this will seem an answered prayer. But this was, in the end, less about Uggla than about the other 24 Braves and their manager.

Uggla had ceased to be a big-league player but was taking up space on a big-league roster. Ergo, he was hurting that big-league team. Fredi Gonzalez had one fewer option because -- let's be blunt -- he couldn't count on Uggla to do anything good. The other 24 Braves were trying to beat teams that, with one or two exceptions, had the full complement of big-leaguers.

This is what's called a competitive imbalance. It wasn't fair to Fredi G. or to his Braves, and ultimately it wasn't fair to Uggla, who surely didn't try to lose all his skills but somehow did. What happened today needed to happen two months ago, but finally the Braves did what they had to do. They cut Dan Uggla.

More later on myajc.com.