The Atlanta Braves are the youngest team in the National League. They just lost veteran pitcher Tim Hudson to the San Francisco Giants. Brian McCann is also on his way out. This make the Atlanta Braves even younger! The question that every Braves fan is asking themselves is “Can the Braves overcome these losses?”

The truth of the matter is that the Braves can not replace these guys over night. B-Mac has been one of the best catchers in baseball over the past seven years and Hudson has proved that he is a legit ace. Losing these guys is going to hurt, there is no doubt about that. There is a few positives that come out of this though.

For one the Braves do not have the money to pay McCann. If they did pay him there is no way that they could also sign the younger guys who have built this ballclub. Guys like Craig Kimbrel, Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward would all have to take pay cuts. Now that we are not going to sign McCann to a big contract they have opened up their options and should be able to sign all three of these young guys to long term deals.

The craziest part about all of this is that the three players that I have listed above are currently the longest tenured players on the team. They have only been playing since 2010! This could be a problem down the road since they do not have that veteran leadership most clubs have.

One thing they do have though is a strong, tight knit group of ball players. These guys may not be “old” but they have meshed together well over the past few years and have proved that young is in. They made the playoffs last season mainly due to strong, young pitching and good, young bats.

Basically what I am saying is that this team can handle losing these guys. Frank Wren will actively seek an ace pitcher, potentially David Price. Hudson was hurt during the playoff run of 2013 and Mac was not hitting. This team basically did everything in 2013 without Mac and Hudi. So trust when I tell you Braves fans, everything is gonna be alright.