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
scott
December 23rd, 2009
11:12 am
Glaus at 1b.
Glaus??
Really? GLAUS???????
Wow, to think that we went from Teixeira to Glaus in two short years.
Raleigh Brent
December 23rd, 2009
11:15 am
Mark, for the love of God, man, please continue to make clear that Liberty Media is cutting payroll. All the comments from the front office about how moving Vazquez was necessary to free up payroll for the team to acquire a “big bat” was just a smokescreen. Wren will continue to spin this with statements about how he’s just trying to improve the team, or he is happy with the way the team is constructed, but PLEASE don’t allow the Braves and Liberty Media to pull this charade on Braves fans. Call a spade a spade.
Vazquez was a salary dump and the Braves are cutting payroll.
Really?
December 23rd, 2009
11:31 am
Glaus huh? Another cheap hasbeen who is getting old and his stats have declined every year over the past 5 years. Not to mention he barely played last season due to injury.
Really? Melky and Glaus are going to carry this team to the World Series?
Rick
December 23rd, 2009
11:34 am
I think Liberty should be able to trade Frank Wren for some additional tax benefits, shouldn’t they? I’m a season ticket holder. I should be able to get my money back, right? When somebody puts a worthless product out there, don’t we have a right to reject it? Javier Vazquez for three pieces of absolute scrap. Melky Cabrera is a pinch hitter and fourth outfieldsr. Dunn is Boone Logan, but with a different hat. Vizcaino is a 19 year old pitcher not even in Class A yet. The chances of any young pitcher making it all the way to the top are 100 to one. What’s left? Jermaine Dye – can you play left field in a wheelchar? Johnny Damon – looks like Jesus, hits like Mary? Xavier Nady – seriously? Dan Uggla?? He has no position to play, and might become to first player in history to have more strikeouts than at bats. The Braves ought to be honest, grin like con men, and stuff that money in their pockets.
Yurtle_the_turtle
December 23rd, 2009
11:40 am
Let’s put things in perspective:
1) Vasquez’s value will never be higher than it currently is and we traded him for a .274 hitter with 13 HRs in a HR-producing stadium (one year, mind you but still). We obviously had a salary dump here. If the salary dump was so important, we should have been able to get more value for Vasquez than just a utility player. So, all of you who are staying “wait, patience”, need to understand that we traded a valuable commodity for someone not even guaranteed to make the starting line up. THAT is the reason to dismayed by this trade…not “let’s see what else is going to happen”.
Secondly, we just added a 1st Baseman today..TROY GLAUS??? THAT is supposed to help us? We’ll see. He needs to stay healthy. If that is all the moves we’re going to make, then we’re still in trouble and I agree with Mark B.
Finally, for all you losers who have nothing more in life to do than to try to be “first” with a blog…go away. You’re just annoying and stupid.
Old Fan
December 23rd, 2009
11:42 am
Hey, old, broken-down guys need a place to land while they’re waiting to retire. So why not Glaus? The Braves are the best in the business at paying rehabbing players big bucks while getting nothing in return. I could name a certain pitcher but I won’t.
crackbaby
December 23rd, 2009
11:54 am
Glad to hear that other Braves fans object to this trade. It sickens me that we traded JV. With him, we had 3 power pitchers who could win in postseason (Hanson, Jurrjens & Javi). That’s what the “dynasty” teams lacked was enough power pitching.
Honestly would have preferred to keep the 6 starters rather than this trade. I don’t agree with trading for has been veterans either. Braves need young studs – at the plate and on the mound.
Not sure I understand the Billy Wagner deal (haven’t seen teh economics). Trading Soriano and Gonzo and getting Wags is puzzling. Liked Soriano a lot.
Noah
December 23rd, 2009
12:01 pm
Some people just don’t pay attention. Hello, the Braves got more for Vasquez then Seattle gave up to get a cy young pither in Cliff Lee. Furthermore please don’t say they don’t compete when their payroll is in the top 11 in baseball.
Noah
December 23rd, 2009
12:02 pm
Love to have Vasquez but did you want to get something good for him or let him walk and on top of that not get a bat.
Noah
December 23rd, 2009
12:03 pm
BTW, given that Glaus has been one of the best defensive 3rd baseman if healthy I’d love to see him at 3rd and Chipper at first.
Noah
December 23rd, 2009
12:04 pm
Really — Wow, getting old, stats declining. If 30 hrs is declining stats the Braves will take it anyday
Jonasty
December 23rd, 2009
12:04 pm
There’s all the big talk about how this was a terrible move….how the Braves are doing nothing but dumping money and don’t care about winning. You need to think before you speak Bradley….First of all to suggest that the Braves don’t care about winning is an ignorant statement at best. But to say the things you do and then come with….”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….”
Do I need to say anything else? You are stumped by the move and can’t understand why they would do it, yet you get the fact that the Braves are not the Yankees or several other teams who have much higher payrolls to work with. Give some of us some credit too by the way, “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”. Really? I had no idea!(SARCASM) Frank Wren made that clear awhile ago. This is not breaking news.
You don’t get the move….I don’t get the column!
Wren A Player
December 23rd, 2009
12:05 pm
Liberty Media has told me to “RENT” players instead of getting good ones locked into long term deals.Cabrera’s contract is up after this year so this is a good way to dump payroll!If you want a “GOOD”team talk Ted Turner into rebuying the Brave’s.Until then just call us Pittsburgh South !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Troy Glaus to the Braves? To play 1B? Whatever, dude | Mark Bradley
December 23rd, 2009
12:07 pm
[...] who’s coming off shoulder surgery merely underscores the prevailing thought from yesterday: That the Braves can’t operate at a high-dollar level. They have to find guys on the cheap — post-operative guys — and shuffle them [...]
Cecil34
December 23rd, 2009
12:08 pm
Yup, another Paul Richards-like special …..
Glaus…..
Bring back Luman Harris, 1970 is here again….and check it out, we were 76 and 86 that year.
You heard it here first, folks…..
Ex Fan
December 23rd, 2009
12:11 pm
Welcome to the Atlanta Braves, the best AAA team in baseball!
Ex Fan
December 23rd, 2009
12:12 pm
So when is everyone else going to wise up and stop supporting this organization?
Ex Fan
December 23rd, 2009
12:14 pm
Damn Liberty Media! Just Damn them all!
Ex Fan
December 23rd, 2009
12:15 pm
Congratulations Bradley. You finally saw reality. It took you long enough.
Rob
December 23rd, 2009
12:15 pm
I’ve been saying this for years. The Braves haven’t cared about winning a title since ‘99. In the HISTORY of ALL professional sports, the teams the won championships PAID for them.
Noah
December 23rd, 2009
12:16 pm
This Blog is so funny. AAA team. Yeah, if thats what one of the best pitching staffs in the game gets you, a 90+million payroll puts you in the top 10 in the game. Do you remember where we were 2-3 years ago, this is a great time to be a fan. Your upset because they arent signing Bay. No one else is eager to sign him either.
charles
December 23rd, 2009
12:19 pm
pitching is what wins baseball games i dont know how frank wren can justify a trade such as this just proves to me hes even worse than the idiot he replaced with all the dumb trades that have been made how the braves won so many division titles is very perplexing but the way of the past when all those cy youngers were here proves my point you win with pitching wren shld hang is head in shame on this one
SC
December 23rd, 2009
12:20 pm
Good god, I agree. Hopefully Glaus will work out. Just glad Wren didn’t try to coax Jeff Bagwell back into playing.
Noah
December 23rd, 2009
12:25 pm
Have any of you looked at Glaus 2008 numbers. Sounds pretty good. He almost made Bay money last year, if he comes back from his injury he will be good.
bookguy
December 23rd, 2009
12:30 pm
Is there any way to block the lightweights whose only contribution is to tout being “first.”?
King of Stone Mountain
December 23rd, 2009
12:46 pm
…yet they wonder why the Ted has so many empty seats, year after year… Does Frank Wren not realize exactly HOW MUCH WE’VE LOST, by letting Soriano & Vazquez get away???!!! ;-/ How stupid can he be??? The Braves will stink up the NL East this yr & finish DEAD LAST. I hope the Phillies, Mets, Nationals, & Marlins take turns kicking their azz, each & every game. Don’t waste your $$ on Braves’ tix for the 2010 season. Take your kids to see THE HAWKS. At least they’re finally winning on a consistent basis, after a 20yr lapse…
Dave
December 23rd, 2009
12:55 pm
Mr. Bradley, did not report the good news of the trade the Yankees have agreed to give the Braves $500.00 in the deal .hey Frank don`t spend all on one player.
Fire Frank Wren
December 23rd, 2009
1:26 pm
MB, it’s about time you saw the light. Frank Wren is destroying the Braves just like he tried to destroy the Orioles. This man isn’t smart enough to tie his shoes (which is why he always wears loafers), much less run a professional baseball franchise.
Mr. A
December 23rd, 2009
3:05 pm
DHD… please tell me this is not the big news that you said was coming! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nathan Hurst
December 23rd, 2009
5:14 pm
Yo Mark, your like Ray Ramon, come on dude, you sit behind a desk and dog Wren without looking at the big picture…..I bet you dogged Wren when he sent Renteria to the Tigers for JJ…You’ll eat your words, watch and see. Everyone dogged wren last year but he actually did a pretty good job. stop being a Wren hater and try to be a fan….and for all you other pukes that continue to bash Wren, you probably cant even spell baseball you morons.
Mark Bradley
December 23rd, 2009
5:31 pm
I didn’t question the Jurrjens trade. Not once. That was a great move.
Andy
December 23rd, 2009
6:12 pm
I live in Spokane, Washington and I can smell the crap coming from the front office after this trade. just horrible, totally horrible. I have loved the Braves since they were losing 100 games in the 80’s and I was a kid and every game was on TBS. Now…..wow…..what has happened to my second favorite team?
Frank Wren needs to be fired, he reminds me of Bill Bavasi who just about single handedly destroyed the Seattle Mariners. Hopefully when Wren does leave you will be able to find a GM like the Mariners who rebuilt the team in one season and then continued doing so this winter by trading for Cliff Lee.
Bravezilian
December 23rd, 2009
6:31 pm
This is ridiculous. Might as well have dug up Barry Bonds and had him in our outfield. This was worthless. I want Javy back.
Matt
December 23rd, 2009
6:31 pm
You guys are a bunch of frickin WHINERSSS!!!!! I loved JV. However, I GAURANTEE you his stats will drop next year. he will probably have a 4.5 or higher ERA. Braves got some bucks from the trade that MANY of you DO NOT see. you think , “oh great, we lost a big pitcher for 3 worthless candidates”.. boohoo! Milky is gonna be a great utility player. Vizquiano is going to be a great prospect and i’m sure we can fit the other guy in there somewhere. but what we did get was some money and I promise you we are not done with aquiring player to the braves organization. Wren is smart. He knows what he’s doing. Just wait it out a few more days and let it play out. If Gaus is healthy, we get a guy like Derosa, and we somehow find a strong 5th starting pitcher out of the loop. WE ARE GOLDEN! so stop your whining and start reading up on the hot stove before you think some bs media is truth. you really should question yourselves as braves fans.
Reginald
December 23rd, 2009
8:22 pm
The problem with the braves is absentee ownership.There will be more stupid moves down the road.The owners are trying to operate the braves totally from a business perpective and does not have or just refused to make the proper investment to be competitive.Liberty Media like Time Warner view the braves as a tax write off.Baseball need a commissioner with strong power like former boss Bowie Kuhn who nix the deal the Yankees made with Oakland back in the seventies involving Vida Blue and Joe Rudi for 1 million dollars per player.The braves are so cash poor until the $500,000.00 they got appears suspicious with what they gave up.MLB should ban corporations if possible from owning a majority share in any team.Years ago this was the rule.Bud Selig should have denied liberty Media from buying the braves and allowed Arthur Blank to buy them.He is local and we would not see this crazy dealing that Frank Wren is doing.He and Schuerholz are just employees forced to operate like this.The best answer to this regime is for fans to stay away until the braves are sold or Liberty start making a real investment in the braves.
Bobby Bowden Cox
December 23rd, 2009
9:47 pm
It appears Wren is to Scheurholz what Ray Goff was to Dooley, i.e., a weak successor picked so people will overvalue the predecessor. This move makes no sense. Sorry, that Wren doesn’t have the coconuts to sell the math to the new owners. Most owners want to make money, and are willing to take a risk but you need a GM who can sell that it in and explain the upside. Wren is not the guy.
Edward Oliver
December 24th, 2009
10:18 am
Ok Guys ! I know do not like this trade. But look at the briight side of this Jason Heyward will be ready for this team in 2010 . However, Melky Carbrea knows how to win and plus he is a good outfielder plus names or names some of these free agents like Hoilday -bay can come here and be dispointments . So, let see how the season is before we start talking about the team because the Braves and Mets can be and will be better then the phillies . Remember that injuries do happen in Baseball and that’s why they play the games .
I am Demetry Young and I am available Frank
December 24th, 2009
2:36 pm
This organization has been in the middle of the road for 5 years. One minute we trade 4 prospects for Texiera, then we can’t resign him and trade him for Sid Bream the next generation. Then we sign Lowe and trade for Vasquez, then trade Vasquez for prospects. If the owners don’t want to spend money then that is fine. Start acting like a low mid market team and stock pile draft picks and play young guys. Just pick a strategy and stick with it. We have wasted 5 years of prospects to try and win one more for Bobby and Chipper. Yet we really never had the full financial backing to do so. We needed a Jimmy Johnson – Jerry Jones combo to come in and say thanks Smoltz, Glavine, Chipper, Bobby for the memories but it is time to move on and build for the future like they did with Tom Landry, Randy White, Ed Jones, Danny White etc.. in Dallas. Hey Mark, did Melky bring his treadmill with him?
Mr. Thomas Anthony "The Taxman Cometh" Jones, SR (Waf-SS, ret.)
December 27th, 2009
1:19 pm
The Bravesare a cheap outfit. They do not pay their workers a fair salary. MLB would do fine to tell the Braves either pay the players more or we will rescind the franchise. There is no excuse for the silly trading they just did. Either spend money or get out of my city, Frank Wren. You cheapskate. Cut your salary and give the players more monyey
OKGA
December 28th, 2009
6:24 pm
Wow. The fact that 74% of these readers think the Vasquez trade was “lousy every which way” doesn’t really say much about Braves fans does it. I mean, did anyone actually bother researching Arodys Vizcaino? While this trade may not directly address the need of a power hitter, it is not a bad trade for the Braves at all.
Hetch Hetchy
December 28th, 2009
9:49 pm
Anyone that buys a ticket to see this train wreck of a baseball team is only perpetuating its current culture of nonperformance.
Gary
December 29th, 2009
12:23 am
Frank Wren don’t care about the Braves, he don’t care about the city, he don’t care about winning… he only cares about saving money. The Orioles fired Wren in his first season of a three year contract, because he was a poor GM. ok so you get Troy Glaus to play first, he’s only played six games in his entire career at first people… this man has NO common knowledge about being a GM any of you people reading this could do just as good if not better. it sounds like Mark Bradley the writer of this page could be a better GM than Wren.
Gary
December 29th, 2009
12:28 am
why are the yankees, redsox, phillies so successful? because they make smart trades, they have money to spend on good players and they don’t change players like they change underwear. I’m not a phillies, redsox or yankees fan but I do applaud them becaues at least they have sense enough to know that you gotta spend money to make money, you got to open your wallet up to get a good product. When you settle for players you get what you pay for. Frank Wren is the epic fall of the Atlanta Braves plain and simple. Frank Wren needs to be replaced before the Braves go worse than the Nationals did in 09
Keith B
December 30th, 2009
11:54 am
Wren, you’re awesome. In just less than two years, you’ve managed to piss off just about every Braves fan. You let John SMoltz go, treat Glavine with little respect, give away Vasquez for another Church-type player – - – and we’re supposed to be thrilled? Would you pass the blunt you’ve been smoking? It’s obviously some really good stuff.
Keith B
December 30th, 2009
11:57 am
I’ve got a novel idea. How bout trade the nonproducers of last year. Start with Chipper Jones and free up, what, $12 million? Is Greg Norton still around? You could always call him a major leaguer and see what you can get. Disgusting all the way around.
John
January 3rd, 2010
11:03 pm
Wow! Can we say Atlanta fans jumping to early conclusions… like usual. I don’t get the love for Vazquez, he has ONE good year in his entire career and everyone jumps all over his jock. We get a good OF’er, a killer lefty, and a GREAT prospect and Braves fans are not satisfied. Why am I not suprised. Glaus hit 27 homers in 2008, and some idiot calls him washed up?! Wow, don’t know much about baseball I’m guessing!!! And Mark, since when do the Braves sale off pitchers??? Wait I’ll tell you….. NEVER!!!! Yes he let Smoltz go, he should have retired he doesn’t have it anymore. He let Glavine go, he should have retired for the same reason. (though I didn’t like the way Wren did it). Wren is preparing for the future, with McCann, Freeman, Escobar, Heyward, Schafer, Jurrjens, Hanson, Vizcaino, Minor and many many more YOUNG talent. Lets stop the bashing and give Wren the benefit of the doubt on this deal. I’m 100% sure we got the better end of this deal in the LONG run.
ganar
January 5th, 2010
5:56 pm
Sometimes it’s really that simple, isn’t it? I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this myself/earlier, though.
NL755
January 10th, 2010
7:43 pm
Mark Bradley? You sure your not Milton Bradley?? I hope you eat every word in this article by the all star break!