Assessing the last month of a bewildering season

The Braves fully explained the long-term nature of rebuilding that John Hart and John Coppolella have undertaken since the front-office regime change last fall. Many agree it has been the right approach and necessary for the longterm success of the franchise, if it is going to contend for World Series titles again instead of wild-card berths.

Did they go a bit too far with the last couple of deals?

Who really knows who “won” the threeteam trade that sent Alex Wood, Jose Peraza, Jim Johnson and Luis Avilan to the Dodgers and brought 30-year-old Hector Olivera to the Braves. Because honestly, it has yet to be seen what kind of player Olivera is and how long he can play at a high level. It has yet to be seen if Wood becomes a consistent, long-term major league starter or Peraza develops into the player the Braves and others once projected him to become.

Until then, that trade can’t be rated with any authority.

The Braves came into this season insisting that they were “walking two paths” — trying to build for the future, particularly for 2017 and beyond in the new ballpark, while also remaining competitive this season. When they traded Wood, Johnson and Avilan and later Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe to the Mets, they ended any semblance of remaining competitive or even respectable this season.

Olivera probably won’t be the player this month that he will be in the future because of missing so much time for his hamstring injury. So when fans get excited about seeing Olivera when he’s recalled (expected to be this week, probably Tuesday, and he doesn’t look like a big-impact guy right away) they’re supposed to understand that he’ll be better in the future.

It will be easy to be skeptical until he proves otherwise.

Braves fans have heard things that haven’t quite come to pass. Such as trying to remain competitive this season.

The Braves surprised everyone in the first half, playing a scrappy, solid brand of baseball to overachieve in the view of many and post a .500 record through 84 games.

But once closer Jason Grilli went down during the four-game Colorado sweep just before the AllStar break, the club really began to shake things up, regardless of what it meant for the present.

And that’s fine, as long as you don’t think losing so much might turn off a lot of fans.

But this isn’t Houston, a market that is likely to accept 100-loss seasons with an eye toward the future. Not after the past quarter-century of mostly excellent baseball in Atlanta.

The kind of baseball the Braves were playing in the first half is one thing. Fans will accept the Braves losing, as long as they’re in most games and competitive and never embarrass themselves.

Last weekend was embarrassing for the Braves. This second half of the season has become embarrassing.

Since the 42-42 start, they opened the Marlins series at 12-34 with a 5.42 ERA and 144 runs in 46 games (3.13 runs per game).