ATLANTA -- The moment the opening salvo of 'Crazy Train' hit, Turner Field erupted.
Braves legends, Hank Aaron, Bobby Cox, Dale Murphy and Phil Niekro among them, took to the field for a pregame ceremony Friday, but it was that group's youngest member, Chipper Jones, that set the fans into a frenzy.
Jones spent his entire career with the franchise after being taken with the No. 1 overall pick in 1990. He would go on to play a Braves' record 2,499 regular-season games on his way to a presumed spot in Cooperstown.
He's proof how strong the franchise's lower levels once were, so Jones sees the big-picture value in the offseason trades of Evan Gattis, Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Jr. and Justin Upton.
"I think one big, huge thing that the Braves wanted to accomplish was rebuilding that minor league system," Jones said. "We used to have such a great minor league feeder system up into the big leagues and they kind of lost that the last couple of years."
The flurry of deals, which culminated in the Easter Sunday shipping of Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. to the Padres, saw the Braves bring in 11 of the players ranked in their top 30 prospects via MLB.com (along with Jace Peterson, who has made three starts at second base).
Atop that group is right-handed pitcher Matt Wisler, who is now No. 2 on that list, and was part of that six-player trade.
Of course, there was more to trading Kimbrel than seeking to upgrade the minor leagues. While Atlanta was losing a closer who has led the National League in saves each of the last four seasons, it was able to rid itself of the remaining $46.35 million remaining on Upton's contract.
"Unfortunately, there were a couple of (signings) that the Braves were having a hard time getting out from under and it took a chip like having a Craig Kimbrel to be able to get out from under those (signings)," Jones said.
This offseason's trades weren't popular.
A scan of fans at Turner Field for the home opener revealed plenty of No. 8 (Justin Upton), No. 22 (Heyward), No. 24 (Gattis) and No. 46 (Kimbrel) jerseys, but Jones is putting his support behind president of baseball operations John Hart in making those tough decisions.
"I think the one thing that I tried to get across to the fans and the media is that John Hart is in charge," Jones said. "There's nothing any of us can do about it. Might as well embrace it and get behind the 'rebuild.' ... It is what it is and I think it probably had to be done. If you're going to 'rebuild,' you might as well do it all the way. Don't do it halfway, because you don't want to get caught in the middle."
While Jones stood on the field, highlights played of some of the Braves' greatest moments from their 50 seasons in Atlanta. Adding to them this season, at least from preseason projections, won't be easy. As for the future ...
"I like the direction in which we're headed," Jones said. "I think we're set up for long-term success a lot better now than when wee were four or five months ago."
