No Griffey? Be happy, Frank! Be happy!
The guess is that one or two folks will regard this latest incompletion as further evidence Frank Wren doesn’t know what he’s doing. The belief here is that Wren keeps getting lucky like a … well, if not quite like a fox, then certainly like the luckiest dog this side of NASCAR.
Twice now an object of Wren’s affection has done an about-face. The belief here is that the Braves are better off without Ken Griffey Jr., just as they’re better off without Rafael Furcal. (As you know, I had deep reservations about Griffey and even deeper ones about Furcal.) But Wren wanted both, and what does that say about him?
It says he’s trying too hard. That’s understandable. He succeeded the matchless John Schuerholz and proceeded to put together a roster that fell apart due to injuries. Now Wren is trying to recapture all lost ground in the span of one offseason. Pursuing Jake Peavy made sense because Jake Peavy is 28; pursuing Furcal and Griffey, both on the back nine of their careers, made infinitely less.
Wren needs to step back, take a deep breath and do nothing. He has made the one move he had to make by signing Derek Lowe. Everything else can wait. The Braves don’t open until April 6. Let’s see what happens in Florida after the exhibitions begin.
This week Matt Diaz was asked how he felt when he hears Wren say — and Wren has said it time and again — that the Braves need another bat in the outfield. “As a player, you want the chance to provide that bat,” Diaz said, and we all know the man can hit lefthanders and at worst be half of a left-field platoon.
More Diaz: “I think we have a pretty adequate outfield. Jeff Francoeur drove in 70 runs last year, and that was the worst year of his career. We have [Josh] Anderson and [Jordan] Schafer and [Gregor] Blanco in center field, and when I was down in the minors doing my rehab last year I saw Schafer take over a couple of games. And in left, hopefully you’ll have me as part of a platoon. That might not strike a ton of fear into opponents, but it’s a capable outfield.”
If the pitching is as good as the Braves hope and the infield/catching is as good as Wren claims — “As good there as any team in our league or in baseball,” he said last month — a capable outfield would more than suffice. This team went into the offseason lacking players, but in Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami and Javier Vazquez the Braves have found most of what they needed.
The belief here is that Wren could do far worse than to trust his farm system and give Schafer and Anderson and Tommy Hanson a shot. (Really, who would you rather see as the Braves’ fifth starter in the year 2009 — Tommy Hanson or Tommy Glavine?) There’s no cause to chase every aging player who might come on the cheap. There’s no reason to mess with what is shaping up as a solid club just for the sake of messing.
Frank Wren has been around baseball for a long time, and he knows the game and the business. All he lacks is a dollop of patience. He should take the Griffey fizzle the same way he should have taken the Furcal fiasco — as a sign that sometimes less is more.
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101 comments Add your comment
varoadrunner
February 20th, 2009
8:55 am
Hey **Mark**
What “reporter” was it that Hudson got so irritated with? I have to agree with Tim, maybe during a decision making time in which the Braves were looking to at least increase ticket sales by acquiring Griffey, articles about what he WAS and what he would have been NOW, should wait until after the decision was made by the player. Clearly the Braves wanted Griffey and for a$$hole reporter to assist in potentially ruining it, truly sucks.
Please pass along my sentiments to the a$$hole reporter.
Thanks
Tuffy
February 20th, 2009
10:04 am
**Let me get this right…We are paying Francouer (.239 11 hr) 3.4 million, Diaz (.244 2hr, 14rbi) 1.5 million, David Ross (.230 3 hr, 13 rbi)1.6 million, would have paid Griffey (.249 18 hr) more than 2 million, just signed Glavine (43 yrs old,2-4 5.54 ERA)to what might amount to 3.5 million…i could go on. But you people think Orlando Hudson would be too expensive???!!!….hey why stop here, there are plenty of over the hill free agents that would love to pocket 4 million or so for about 15 games worth of production, take your pick Frank Wren……..http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/12/2009-mlb-free-a.html**
varoadrunner
February 20th, 2009
11:10 am
Mark
If you notice my 8:55 post, there was a question there. Can you please answer it?
peedie mac
February 20th, 2009
11:26 am
I don’t beleive Frenchie’s training,fitness, or lack there of had anything much to do with what we saw last year. I remember what Dale Murphy looked like when all the teams figured out how to throw that low and away curveball, and Frenchie didn’t look much different. He has to learn to adjust his swing, now that the pitchers have figured him out. The day the Braves lost Smoltz, I felt like there was no longer a reason to follow them anymore, but I now realise Wren has adjusted and has made offers commensurate with the potential benefit. When the offer was marginal, that was because he didn’t see a high % to the benefit.I feel better about him, since I saw him come off the hip with Lowe and others. Thanks Mr. Wren
ChopShop860
February 20th, 2009
11:43 am
Mark, does Tim Hudson have a temper that fans don’t see that you guys might? He’d probably be the 25th guy..actually, 26 after Bobby, that I would have guessed would need to be restrained. And who else has secret anger issues on the team? I’m guessing Moylan.
PTBNL
February 20th, 2009
12:22 pm
Braves are the oldest sport organization in America??? Ummm You might want to reconsider that. Have you noticed that the Reds always play their first game at home and until recent years (because of some games played in other countries) they play the very first game of the season in all of MLB. There is a reason for that.
Chris, I will only respond to what you have said about A-rod. It will surprise me if A-rod pays much more of a price. If you have not noticed, the Yankee players and fans are giving A-rod the nod on his “confession”. Though it is very plain that it was a calculated decision to “come clean” based on the cost of denial as experienced thus far by McGuire and Rocket, and Bonds, etc. He was caught red handed and they even knew what specific PEDs he took. But now many, many think he “did the right thing” and “should be forgiven” since he admitted that he took steroids. His career will no longer be questioned in terms of HoF, etc.
It is strange to me that “fans” really don’t care about these things. It is strange that they tend to see it as an individual issue. Yet, it is not a matter just of an individual, it erodes the very idea of “sport”. How many games did the Rangers win because of the production of someone who was cheating? It will never happen, but I would like for MLB to tie in forfeiture of games to teams whose players use PEDs or are later found to have used them somewhere along the line since their use of PEDs affects the outcome of the game. Not only is PED a team and “sport” issue, it is also a legal issue. Again, people seem to just look over this. It is against the law to use the PEDs that A-rod used. Yet nothing will be done to him legally. Notice that Bonds and Rocket have not been threatened with legal issues because of their possible use of PEDs, but because of their lying about it. (Yet another reason for A-rod to “confess”.)
But to get to the basic response to your posts, “fans” are growing weary of hearing about steroids. Baseball is depending on it. Baseball has hidden the problem for a long time. They will sit on it as long as they can. It probably will never get cleaned up. If anyone knows anything about PEDs the testing will not expose as much as people are led to believe. Testing is not the answer. If they want to know, there are ways to know. But there are too many ways to get around testing. HGH doesn’t even have a test yet… and other PEDs are being developed all the time. Testing will not keep up with it. But because “fans” don’t want to hear about it, it will not be stopped.
PTBNL
February 20th, 2009
12:22 pm
Btw, Patience, good post yesterday @ about 5:30pm (can’t remember exactly).
PTBNL
February 20th, 2009
12:25 pm
Hudson was not restrained, according to the reporter that he argued with. It was raised voices and someone stepped between them. That is different from restraint in my mind.
Mark Bradley
February 20th, 2009
12:33 pm
I flew home from Florida on Wednesday night. I wasn’t at Disney on Thursday, so I’m not sure what did (or did not) happen.
Chris Broe
February 21st, 2009
8:24 pm
Maybe, PTBNL. I think if we disqualify for life, Mr. Aroid’s bid for the hall of fame now, then that will be the first step in our country’s rise from this era of total mistrust of our institutions. Including baseball.
We have to act decisively. Time’s a wasting. Just disqualify him. Ban him now, from baseball, or force him to play for the braves, (same thing). . I dont think we’ll miss him.
We’ve got to get serious as a country soon, now, tomorrow, or we’re finished. The markets are holding at the lows of the last crash. But unless we can see trust rebounding, then no vague bank fix is going to assure is. Ban Aroid. Prosecute Cheney. And maybe people start realizing their role in the concept of personal responsibility. Sports is larger than the diamond. All of Americana is connected. The best thing that happened to baseball and this country was when Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned the great Blacksock, Shoeless Joe Jackson. The country realized that there’s a price to pay for your actions, and we entered the roaring twenties.
We’ve lost that cause/effect notion of personal responsibility. I think Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis was a great American. Make the media stars pay. The word gets out.
Frank
February 23rd, 2009
4:44 am
Nice Braves site, lots of minor league stuff:
http://minorsandmajors.com