For the Atlanta Braves, the Regular Season Can't Come Soon Enough.

It had already been a bad off-season for the Atlanta Braves when the first full squad practice of Spring Training began on Wednesday, but there was still some hope to salvage that.

Tom Glavine was no where to be found as his contract negotiations are still being worked out, but the idea of Ken Griffey, Jr., one of the best players in the history of the game, coming to be a Brave was hot on everyone's mind.

Griffey has long wanted to play for Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox. Cox even scouted Griffey out of high school, calling him one of the best ball players he had ever seen.

Wednesday night, though, the bad off-season continued as Griffey informed the Seattle Mariners that he will be returning to where it all began.

Now, as a lifelong fan of the Braves, probably a stronger emotional attachment than my beloved Crimson Tide based on the fact I only get to see the Braves once a year, at best, I was ecstatic about the prospects of Griffey going to Atlanta. Sure, he may be past his prime, but it would bring people back to Turner Field in what has seemingly turned into an apathetic sports town.

Nonetheless, the loss of Griffey just adds to the long laundry list of tough off-season happenings for the Braves organization.

Before the 2008 season even ended, Mark Texiera was shipped way out west to the Angels because the Braves weren't going to make room for him on their roster. Texiera, who played his college ball in Atlanta at Georgia Tech, barely stayed for a year before moving away.

It was bad enough that the Braves pitching staff hobbled their way to the finish line, but things started looking bright at the beginning of the off-season.

For starters, Jake Peavy was one of a few key names being tossed around to come to Atlanta. Peavy, only 27, has been a great starter for the Padres, where he has spent his entire seven year career. He is a career 86-62 in 199 starts with an ERA of 3.25. The ERA is even more impressive when you throw in the fact Peavy has been under the 3.00 line four of the last five seasons.

Instead, Atlanta traded four prospects, including Brent Lillibridge, who contributed in Atlanta last season, to the White Sox for Javier Vazquez. Not only is Vazquez older, 32, but he has a career losing record of 127-129 in 353 career starts with an ERA of 4.32. The ERA gets worse when you see that Vazquez has been above the 4.00 line four of the last five seasons, having a losing record in three of those years.

Over the next week, the Braves turned their attention two places: A.J. Burnett and Rafael Furcal.

Burnett was a free agent possibility after his contract was up with the Blue Jays (seriously, who wouldn't want to leave Canada). Burnett may have not been the ultimate answer for Atlanta, but he was a consistent pitcher for Toronto along with B.J. Ryan and Roy Halladay. The Braves offered him four years, but when the Yankees offered him five, the Braves would not match the offer, so Burnett went to the Evil Empire.

The very next day, after sources had stated that Rafael Furcal would be returning to Atlanta and a contract had been agreed upon, Furcal re-signs with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Furcal, who has blazing speed and an even faster arm from shortstop, was loved in Atlanta during his six seasons there. Instead, he decided to stay out West, and the Braves were spurned for the second time in as many days.

After the calendar changed, things got somewhat better for Atlanta, as the Braves signed two pitchers in mid-January.

The first was Kenshin Kawakami, a Japanese pitcher from the Chunichi Dragons. Kawakami only throws around 90 mph, but he has an accurate fastball and a filthy 70 mph 12-to-6 curve ball that he can throw in the dirt and for a strike. In 214 career starts in Japan, Kawakami is 112-72 with a 3.22 career ERA. In his nine seasons of posting 20 or more starts, he has double-digit win totals in six of them, with a seventh season consisting of nine wins.

Two days later, the Braves signed Derek Lowe from the Dodgers. Lowe, who is already 35, started his career as a reliever and closer, but moved to the rotation when he was with the Red Sox in 2002. He had four up and down years with the Dodgers, but consistently won an average of about 13 games a year.

Then last night came the news about Griffey, which may actually be a good thing that he isn't coming to Atlanta, but the continued failure of Atlanta to win battles with other teams for players is not promising.

The Braves are not getting any younger, and by signing older players, the front office is only putting a temporary fix on things instead of going to their highly rated farm system. Another problem is that the Braves often trade away their young talent, with many high profile players in the majors having once been a part of this organization.

For once, it looks like the Braves will go to the farm system this year, because it seems Atlanta is done shopping the market before the season begins. By doing this, Atlanta may actually work to keep some of their home grown talent and hope that first game against the defending world champion Phillies yields some promising results.