The Braves: Serious about saving $$$, less so about winning
Melky Cabrera: The latest in a series of cost-cutting imports. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)
The Braves just traded the man who might well have been their Opening Day starting pitcher for an outfielder who might not start on Opening Day. Think about that.
Think also about this: The Braves just traded a man who finished fourth in the National League Cy Young voting because he was making too much money. And here’s how much Javier Vazquez is scheduled to make in 2010 — $11.5 million. That’s not even half what CC Sabathia, his new Yankee teammate, will earn. And that tells us all we need know about the Braves.
They keep making noises about contending for division titles, but it’s just noise. They can’t afford to do real business any longer. From the day the 2009 season ended they were looking to dump a starting pitcher, ostensibly to add a power hitter, but Melky Cabrera isn’t a power hitter. He was the eighth-best position player on the Yankees. He might not beat out Nate McLouth in center field here. He might wind up in a platoon. And he’s what the Braves got for the man who was their best pitcher last season.
“A perfect fit,” Frank Wren called Cabrera, speaking on a teleconference Tuesday, but the only thing perfect about this trade was how completely it detonates the Braves’ claim to being serious players. You don’t trade an ace unless you get a big bopper in return. The Braves got a guy who hit 13 home runs with 68 RBIs last season.
Yes, there’s more to the trade than Cabrera. Mike Dunn should help in the bullpen and Arodys Vizcaino is a young power arm, but the cold truth is that the Braves just played what they deemed their trump card — a surplus of starting pitching — without improving their run production one whit. And don’t fool yourselves: That $11.5 million they saved on Vazquez won’t allow them to splurge on Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. Those guys are out of price range, out of sight.
“We’re very fortunate to be able to make a deal like this,” Wren said. Then this: “We’ve been focused on [finding a run producer] all offseason, and we were waiting on the right match. And we’re still waiting.”
But Vazquez is gone. Can’t trade him twice. And the Braves can’t trade Derek Lowe because they’re down to five starters. So the best that can be reasonably hoped is that they find a Marlon Byrd or a Xavier Nady or — knowing as we do that the Braves love recycling old favorites — a Mark DeRosa or a Jermaine Dye. Except none of those players will make them better in the way that losing Vazquez makes them worse.
Loading ...As someone who has defended Wren in the past, I have to say I’m stumped. Obviously the Braves’ salary constraints are worse than we’d been led to believe if they had to make this sort of deal so soon — Santa Claus hasn’t yet come and Javier Vazquez has left the building — but even more puzzling is Wren’s contention that this enabled him “to improve our club.” Maybe it improves it in 2012, when Vizcaino is ready to join Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens. But the way the Braves operate those pitchers will have been sold off by then.
Nothing about this offseason suggests that the new Braves are any better than the ones who finished third in the NL East. Is Billy Wagner an upgrade over Rafael Soriano? No. (But he’s cheaper. And also older.) Is Takashi Saito better than Mike Gonzalez? No. (But he’s cheaper. And also older.) Is the new first baseman … oh, wait. They don’t yet have a new first baseman.
For all this motion — Wren is forever in a hurry — the Braves will enter January 2010 a lesser team than in September 2009. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. But that is, sad to say, the way it works here, where $11.5 million for a big-time pitcher is considered too much, where the drive to win is trumped by the need to scrimp.
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748 comments Add your comment
There goes the season
December 23rd, 2009
7:11 am
Wren has basically written off this season with this trade. The Braves badly need a power hitter. I can’t believe that’s all they could get for Vasquez. So I guess we have to wait to 2011 for a fresh start with a new manager, and the arrival of Freeman and Hayward.
jacob
December 23rd, 2009
7:14 am
you do realize it’s december, right? you say wren is always in a hurry, but you’re in a pretty big hurry to judge the offseason. we all know the money situation for atlanta’s payroll– good, but not new york/boston/los angeles good. so wren must get creative. i think that’s what he’s doing here. at least, i hope.
i will agree with your article if this is the big move made during the offseason, but again, it’s DECEMBER. come talk to me in march or april…call me crazy, but i still have some faith in wren. he did a pretty good job with the pitching staff last year.
DawgNation
December 23rd, 2009
8:04 am
He did it to the Marlins in 98, again to the Orioles in 99, now we are seeing what the Braves hired as a General Manager in 2007 is doing to the team in 2010. Here we go again. Its the 70’s and 80’s all over again.
Kenny J
December 23rd, 2009
8:06 am
Bradley, I too am disappointed in your level of journalism. Whine after one Wren move when you know this winter isn’t over re the Bravos intentions? I guess you’ve never had to manage a corporate payroll that’s second tier and try to put the pieces together to compete with the first tier. Anyone with a pen can take a shot, which you’ve done. And with it you’ve given us a glimpse of your experience and wisdom. When the time comes that you’ve taken on a higher role of responsibility, which requires more guts and a whole different worldview than it takes to trash leadership from a laptop, we’ll listen more closely. Unless your point was to incite people halfway through the boss’s job being done. If that’s the case, you’re a success.
I don’t know any better than you do where Wren is headed. We’ll see, and we’ll know a lot on August 1. In the meantime, why aren’t you upset that a guy like Chipper is eating up so much payroll and dragging down the middle of the order where we need a bopper? He’s been great, we love him. But in the business of the game, he’s a 2010 drag. Where’s your poison pen there? That would take some guts, wisdom and experience too. But if you’re writing about the 2010 Braves,its payroll challenges, and how to field a potential world champion, don’t you think that’s worth a contemplative article?
dvj
December 23rd, 2009
8:06 am
Frank Wren ,what is he doing?Your best pitcher,Chipper please retire now,nothing to play for.Frank going trade you next!!!Watch
Jason
December 23rd, 2009
8:10 am
I never thought I would see the day where the Braves were relegated to being a minor league team for the Yankees. This sucks. I will not be making my way to Atlanta for any games this year and I have cancelled my season tickets for the Mississippi Braves.
William
December 23rd, 2009
8:22 am
Frank Wren is an idiot who is being hamstrung by owners who only want a tax write off. This trade is a joke which shows that Wren knows less about baseball than the writers who cover it. The Braves have become the laughing stock of MLB with this trade of a potential Cy Young winner for a utility outfielder. He may bring energy to the team but not much else.
Frank Wren needs to call the police as he got robbed with this trade.
ChillyMutt
December 23rd, 2009
8:24 am
This just the latest in a quickly growing list of poor moves by Frank Wren.We traded from a position of strength and got essentially NOTHING in return.
YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING
December 23rd, 2009
8:31 am
I think I’m gonna trade my Braves hat for, oh I dont know maybe a Phillies hat. Braves wont even be in the playoff’s…
OrlandoGeorgian
December 23rd, 2009
8:32 am
Terrible trade, you can’t tell me this is going to lead to another “big” deal…
59bulldawg
December 23rd, 2009
8:37 am
How much longer will Braves fans have to put up with their team being a tax write-off?
ChillyMutt
December 23rd, 2009
8:42 am
Signs Derek Lowe so far above market price that he is now un-tradable.
Signs an aging and quickly declining once superstar who can’t field his position to a 3 year extension. Chipper Jones.
Signs an aging and quickly declining once superstar who can’t field his position. Garrett Anderson.
Bungles the Rafael Furcal deal. Actually providing Furcal’s agent the ammunition to get a better deal from the Dodgers.
Misleads and mistreats two long time Braves and future HOFers – Glavine and Smoltz. Angers them so much that they don’t attend their good friend Greg Maddux’s number retirement ceremony at Turner Field.
Trades away Javier Vázquez who in 2009 was …
6th in the NL in ERA
2nd in K’s
5th in innings pitched
…. for a 4th outfielder.
FIRE FRANK WREN
Let's Go
December 23rd, 2009
8:48 am
The same people that are calling this trade bad are the same people that called the trade last year from the White Sox that brought this miracle pitcher to Atlanta a bad trade. The same junk was being said then; Washed up pitcher, over paided, what is Wren thinking, Wren sucks.
Let the season play out and then judge the trade then. What I really find funny is that most so called Baseball experts think the Braves made a good trade but here in Atlanta we have a hack writer and a bunch of half wit fans already talking about how bad it is. How many of you were actually at the winter meetings? How many of you have facts as to what teams were willing to offer for Derek Lowe? The free agent pitcher market right now is not that bad so teams were not willing to take on Lowes contract when they can sign a decent pitcher a lot cheaper and no one is parting with a power hitter. Also, the 2 big name free agents, Bay & Holliday, are asking for too much money.
Ralph
December 23rd, 2009
8:49 am
We Yankee fans aren’t necessarily as ecstatic as you are glum. Vazquez, after all, dished up a grand slam in the 2004 playoff collapse against Boston. And Melky is a gritty, gutsy player who’s always exceeded expectations. I’m sorry to lose him.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
8:51 am
If the Tigers are so enamored with Mike Dunn, maybe we can trade him and Melky Church to the Tigers for Wilken Ramirez.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
8:53 am
Ralph,
We already have lots of players with low expectations.
CTim
December 23rd, 2009
8:53 am
MB: What took you so long? I decided about three years ago the Braves were done contending for championships….It actually started a decade ago, when Time-Warner took full control…and has only gotten far worse under Liberty Media… The trend is baseball is very clear…the consistent winners are all owned by individual or private family owners…the Yankees, Boston, Angels, Phillies, etc. Corporate owners, like Liberty, are concerned about programming and restricting losses. This team will never be back to what it once was until it reverts back to private ownership. I am no longer the die hard fan I was once, because they clearly show they don’t deserve that devotion, and they’re not trying to win…the holes are so obvious, and so is the lack of fixing them. I’m done with the Braves, until they change ownership.
sidslidkid
December 23rd, 2009
8:55 am
See ya CTim! You won’t be missed!
Random
December 23rd, 2009
9:01 am
MB: “For all this motion — Wren is forever in a hurry — the Braves will enter January 2010 a lesser team than in September 2009.”
January 2010 is a preposterously bogus milestone.
Let’s see what the team looks like as it enters April 2010 before we get ourselves all worked up.
Shall we?
Let’s.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:02 am
If all you people are done with the Braves, cancelling my season tickets, not buying anymore shirts and hats, etc……why are you here? I’m as disgusted as anyone, but I was a Braves fan in the days of Darrel Chaney, Pepe Frias, Luis Gomez, etc. i’ll always be a Braves fan. It’s just that now I am a disgusted one.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:03 am
And our big bat that we saved all this money for will be………….Xavier Nady. yawn
tkecraig443
December 23rd, 2009
9:03 am
Yeah this was the worst trade of Wren’s short career. We would have been better off with 6 starters than without Vasquez. Figures the Braves would fold in their efforts to dump Lowe and settly for crud in a trade for our best starter.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:04 am
mlb says the Yanks are excited that Javy will likely be a Type A FA after this season and they will get draft picks.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:05 am
tkecraig? were you a tke? where?
sidslidkid
December 23rd, 2009
9:07 am
“For all this motion — Wren is forever in a hurry — the Braves will enter January 2010 a lesser team than in September 2009.” – Mark Bradley
MB, Leave the Braves to DOB. The offseason isn’t over yet. In fact, it’s not even Christmas yet. How do you know “the Braves will enter January 2010 a lesser team than in September 2009″? There is plenty of time to build the roster up. Quit being such a negative writer. No Braves fan wants to read this garbage. It’s writers like you that make the AJC the laughing stock of the country.
Man… I just can’t believe you got paid for writing this. What a waste.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:09 am
sidslid- unless we trade somebody like Hanson or Heyward, a top flight bat ain’t coming here. We will have lesser pitching and equal hitting to last year. Instead of losing a lot of 2-1 games, we will lose them 3-1
sidslidkid
December 23rd, 2009
9:10 am
“MB: “For all this motion — Wren is forever in a hurry — the Braves will enter January 2010 a lesser team than in September 2009.” January 2010 is a preposterously bogus milestone. Let’s see what the team looks like as it enters April 2010 before we get ourselves all worked up. Shall we? Let’s.” – Random
Agreed 100%!
Cecil34
December 23rd, 2009
9:11 am
Boy, I sure will enjoy driving the 5 minutes over to Gwinnett stadium next year, kinda like I did this year. prices are right too.
No incentive to do much of anything else…..
Wren reminds me of that idiot Paul Richards, GM of the 60’s and early 70’s who traded for and trotted every known baseball retread and never-was’s through Atlanta, at the cost of prospects, solid players and the standings.
He was a cheap b*stard and the Braves were a slip-shod operation back then, and low and behold I am now having flashbacks.
Next thing you know, I am going to start seeing hippies hanging out down there at 10th street and the Cheetah moving back up to Peachtree with Mother Tom as the comedy act.
No, excuse me, Mother Wren will be taking over….
Winkasdad29
December 23rd, 2009
9:17 am
I’m a baseball fan first, Mets fan second. With apologies to Mel Brooks, what in the wide, wide, world of sports is goin’ on here?! $96.5M is not enough to field a team that has a chance to go deep into the playoffs and/or win the World Series. I have the feeling that even if the Braves were to spend more money on high level free agents, they would still be screwed because Bobby Cox is still manager. His way of playing the game is boring, uninspiring, unaggressive, lacks enthusiasm and counter-productive.
What kind of blackmail info is Bobby Cox holding over the heads of the rest of Atlanta Braves management that he has been allowed to remain as manager when he should have been fired after the 1999 season?
There ain’t much hope for my Mets, either. Depressing.
sidslidkid
December 23rd, 2009
9:19 am
“unless we trade somebody like Hanson or Heyward, a top flight bat ain’t coming here” – Baba O’Riley
I doubt we are getting a “top flight bat”. However, it is possible. Maybe a package of McLouth, Arodys Vizcaino, and Craig Kimbrel could get a big bat for right. Again, I don’t think it’s ever going to happen, but it’s possible. I’m still hopping for LaRoche myself. I know he’s not the big bat most fans want, but we need to be realistic and realize we aren’t getting a Pujols, Howard or Adrian Gonzales… who are “top flight bats”.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:19 am
You mean the same 1999 season that he knocked the Mets out of the playoffs and reached the World Series?
JB
December 23rd, 2009
9:20 am
Thank is why I did not go to a game last year and will not this year. Sell the team Liberty. Nothing will be done until people stay away.
Camacho
December 23rd, 2009
9:21 am
What are the Braves doing? Who owns them and why? We are going to end up like the Marlins. No one is going to watch a AAA team for a premium ticket price. I hope Melky is on roids and can hit 20-40 dingers. Yea right.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:21 am
“I don’t think it’s ever going to happen, but it’s possible.” That’s like playing the lottery.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:23 am
Sid- I just noticed you included McLouth in that possible deal. That creates another hole…and dpn’t tell me Melky Church will fill it.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:25 am
“I’m still hoping for Laroche myself”. Listen to yourself. How far have we fallen when we are HOPING our big off-season acquisition is Laroche? Are we the Nationals? The Pirates?
Ike
December 23rd, 2009
9:26 am
Braves have really ticked me off on this one. Ridiculous trade! Vazquez was unbelievable last year, gave us a chance to win every time he took the mound. Should have won 20 plus but had no offensive support. Looks like no chance they’ll sign LaRoche. No way they are better than last year.
Never forgave the Braves for releasing Phil Niekro when he was still very productive and this ranks right up there in stupidity. Sign of the times, when one is deemed to make too much money, he’s gone in Atlanta.
MiamiBrave
December 23rd, 2009
9:26 am
Complete screw up by Wren. Why did we sign a number 5 starter (Hudson) for $9 million and sell our number 1 starter for basically nothing who was making only $11 million? Idiotic move! Now as far as first base and corner outfiled power goes, Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye should be the guys. They both still has a ton of power and are just what we need in the middle of the order. They’re both affordable and should accept short term contracts due to their ages. That appears to be all we are willing to offer.
sidslidkid
December 23rd, 2009
9:28 am
Fans aren’t going to quit going to games. We had a good team last year. We were in it until the last few days of the season. Our starting lineup, bullpen and offense have all improved since opening day of 2009. Adding McLouth, Laroche, Hanson and Hudson half way through the year helped. This year we can add Heyward and hopefully bring LaRoche back as well. We did lose Vazquez, but he was some what expendable. We will be a better team in 2010.
sidslidkid
December 23rd, 2009
9:34 am
“I’m still hoping for Laroche myself”. Listen to yourself. How far have we fallen when we are HOPING our big off-season acquisition is Laroche? Are we the Nationals? The Pirates?
Nevermind about LaRoche. Looks like we’re getting Glaus.
MiamiBrave
December 23rd, 2009
9:35 am
Living in Miami, I’m kind of used to seeing the Marlins consistently sell off any good players because they simply don’t want to pay them. It’s kind of sad to say that’s what the Braves have become. If that’s the case, the Braves should seriouly look at Freddy Gonazalez to manage after next year. He seems to get the most production with the least talent and he is a Bobby Cox disciple. He is also experienced in terms of operating with serious payroll constraints and motivating young but inexperienced clubs. I don’t know how you’re going to attract any of the top tier managers if they know you’re going to sell their best players year in and year out.
Baba O'Riley
December 23rd, 2009
9:38 am
Troy Glaus in 2002…yes. Troy Glaus today = Nick Esasky.
ARTHUR B.
December 23rd, 2009
9:41 am
Sell the team to me
Mike
December 23rd, 2009
10:02 am
SOme thoughts for you Mr. Bradley.
1 Money does not always convert to winners. You know the list better than I.
2 Sure thay have a budget. A mid-ninties budget, that is millions. Thay just freed up 8-9 million to get a power hitter.
3. I bet there is another move to be made.
4. I would be willing to bet that Lowe has a better season than last. WOW.Better than 15 wins!!!!
5. I think Javy will have an off season just like he has his whole career after a good year.
Vince
December 23rd, 2009
10:04 am
And now they’re getting ready to overpay for an end of his career Troy Glaus at 1B. *sigh*
Tim
December 23rd, 2009
10:23 am
Yes sir, here is that mighty bat everyone was all a tingly over yesterday. A 33 year old often injured 3rd baseman they are going to convert to 1st. Even better, he was mentioned in the Mitchell Report. On the bright side I will be saving $149 this year by not buying the MLB Package from Comcast. These Braves are not going to be worth watching.
Edgar
December 23rd, 2009
10:30 am
Frank Wren is a terrible general manager. This is inexcusable. Mark, you’re right on about Wren’s offseason moves so far. Hey, remember, Wren is the same fool who signed Albert Belle to the O’s. And he started his career as a professional payroll dumper for Wayne Huizenga and the 97 Marlins.
Strike one: letting Smoltz walk over a paltry $1 million
Strike two: the Glavine insult (aka, Frank Wren spits in the face of a legend and 98-percent of Braves fans)
Strike three: overpaying an aging Derek Lowe
Strike four: Traded Joey Devine for Mark Kotsay
Strike five: the horrible Vazquez trade, signing Saito and Wagner, etc.
Tea
December 23rd, 2009
10:32 am
Assuming Wren will spend Vasquez’s $10 salary on Nady or Byrd, and that player is added to the other 3 we received for Vazquez, doesn’t the whole transaction look pretty good?
Raleigh Brent
December 23rd, 2009
10:36 am
The signing of Troy Glaus should put an end to any argument that the Vazquez trade was not just a straight salary dump. Looks like we’re simply cutting payroll. Wonderful. Liberty Media can go to hell.
Trey
December 23rd, 2009
11:06 am
Troy Glaus will be a good addition.