Will the media please let Brett Favre rest in peace? I am getting so sick and tired of all the talk of him returning.

The Hall of Famer once again extinguished the rumors of a potential return.

On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN.com reported that Favre had the "itch" to be back on the field for training camp to play for an 18th NFL season. It is a dramatic turnaround for the 38-year-old Favre, who announced on March 4 that he would retire after 16 years as the Green Bay Packers quarterback.

As of Wednesday night, there was only one public comment from Brett Favre, in a text message to his friend and Biloxi Sun-Herald sports reporter, Al Jones.

"It's all rumor."

Favre's brother, Scott, told WTMJ-TV that Favre was working out and that the odds were fair for Favre's return.

"I think it's 50-50," Scott Favre said. "There's no doubt he can play. He's in good shape, he's working out, we know he can still play, he's healthy, so, if he did, it wouldn't surprise me."

Will someone please shoot Favre and put him out of misery. Don't kid yourself, I think he's the greatest QB I've watched in my lifetime. I also think he still can perform in this league at a high-level, but the franchise is being held hostage by all of this talk. Favre just needs to file the damn papers and make his retirement official. 

According to WIFN-AM, the Braves have sent Jeff Francoeur to Double-A and are calling up Jason Perry to replace him.

Francoeur is hitting .239 with a .294 on-base percentage and .383 slugging percentage this season and has been a huge disappointment for fantasy owners so far in 2008. The power numbers (8 HR's, 41 RBI's) aren't too far off his pace last year, but the batting average is 50 points lower than his career mark.

Atlanta is taking a big defensive downgrade by subtracting Francoeur from their outfield and they don't have any great choices to replace him. Jordan Schafer isn't hitting in Double-A, and while the Braves have been hyperaggressive with top prospects before, they're not going to haul up Jason Heyward from low-A ball this year. Perry, a quad-A player with big numbers this year, gets the nod and probably would have even if Brandon Jones happened to be eligible to rejoin the team. Still, he may only stick until Matt Diaz returns.

Ideally, Francoeur would put a few good games together and rejoin the team right after the break. Owners will need to find alternatives in the short-term though.