Bobby Cox on the 2010 Braves: ‘We can do some damage’
Frank Wren and Bobby Cox greet the young-looking Troy Glaus. (AJC photo by Phil Skinner)
The world’s most optimistic man wants it known that there have been a few times he headed south for spring training without a figurative spring in his step. “You’ve got to have some common sense,” Cox said Tuesday, meaning that not every team has a realistic shot at winning.
His final Braves team, their manager believes, has a realistic shot. “We’ve got a chance to do some damage and compete and maybe even win,” Cox said.
Maybe it does, although it must be said that more than a few Braves-watchers were underwhelmed by the team’s offseason maneuvering. Their closer is Billy Wagner, who’s 38 and who had arm surgery in 2008. Their first baseman is Troy Glaus, who has barely played first base and who missed most of last season due to injury. Their best pitcher from 2009 is a Yankee.
You won’t be shocked to learn that Cox sees the upside of all the transactions. “I think we’re good,” he said. “Our pitching looks good, and I think Troy Glaus at first base looks good. He’s very impressive. He’s a young-looking 33. And when he plays, he [produces]. If he in fact makes it back, that’s a pretty significant deal that went under the radar.”
Perhaps, a visitor suggests, the reason Glaus’ acquisition wasn’t more trumpeted was because it came the day after the Braves traded Javier Vazquez, who finished fourth in the National League Cy Young voting in 2009, to New York for Melky Cabrera and two prospects. Not surprisingly, Cox defends that move, too.
“It would have been hard to use six starters,” he said. “Somebody would have had to go to the bullpen. And we got a left-handed pitcher in [Mike] Dunn who’s highly thought of, and [Arodys] Vizcaino was the No. 3 prospect in their organization at [age] 19.
“You never like to lose a pitcher, but we were dealing from a little bit of strength. We got a nice return. And Cabrera is a pretty good ballplayer.”
The Braves will open 2010 with a bullpen largely remade — Wagner, Dunn, Takashi Saito and Jesse Chavez are new. “The bullpen looks good,” Cox said. “We lost two excellent guys [Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez, both of whom left as free agents] but we got some good guys.”
Is the team done dealing? Said Cox: “I think so.”
A year ago the Braves left Lake Buena Vista with Casey Kotchman as their first baseman, Kelly Johnson as their second baseman, Jeff Francoeur as the right fielder and Jordan Schafer as the center fielder. The first three are no longer in the organization, and there’s no guarantee Schafer will make the big-league roster. But there’s a bigger prospect than Schafer — bigger even than Francoeur — at the ready.
Loading ...His name is Jason Heyward, and he’s the Braves’ biggest non-pitching prospect since Ryan Klesko. Said Cox: “We’re going to give him a chance to compete [in spring training]. Everything we hear about him from upstairs has been great. He’s got a great head on his shoulders. He might not be a guy who has to go through the usual channels. There’s no reason not to give him a chance to compete.”
If Heyward isn’t with the big club on Opening Day 2010, he’ll have other years. For Cox, this is it. He’s retiring at season’s end, and he’s hoping the end arrives in the World Series. And here Cox is asked one of those hoary questions that sports writers love and sports figures hate: Does he expect his men to dedicate this season to winning one for the skipper?
“It’s funny,” he said, and let the record reflect that he was actually smiling, “just how that does not work.”
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162 comments Add your comment
Chief pitchanono
January 31st, 2010
12:32 pm
Oh and on the Glaus thing, bobbys grimace in the pic is great! ha ha, but i agree with taking a chance on him over Laroche. The braves know from last year they cant wait until june or july to get the offense going, and for whatever reason Adam’s bat can’t be relied on in the first half of the season. Plus if its gonna take close to 90 wins to just get the wild card they have to start hitting as a team right out of the gate, we have no one to pick up the slack for a second half guy. Yeah Glaus may be a complete bust, but I take my chances on him being the difference maker over the whole season vs. trying to play catch up waiting on Laroche’s second half surge. Glaus doesnt even have to have a great year to make a huge impact on this lineup, just staying healthy and being in the lineup most of the year with the protection he will give to chip & mac & company could make this a very dagerous offense.
Robert
January 31st, 2010
1:01 pm
“They can say all they want about Bobby, but the numbers speak for themselves”
Let’s just set straight what the numbers say. They say that if you give Bobby Cox the best team in baseball ten times, then he will manage to win one championship.
That’s – well, I dont know what it is, but impressive certainly isnt the word
And let’s settle another issue. The playoffs are NOT, a priori, a crapshoot.
Putting a superior team under the guidance of an idiot can TURN a playoff series into a crapshoot. The Braves had this happen pretty much on a yearly basis for over a decade. But it doesnt have to be that way
The all-time playoff crapshoots were the 1995 World Series and the 1999 NLCS.
Watching Cox match “wits” with Hargrove and Bobby Valentine – that was something straight out of Spy vs Spy
Robert
January 31st, 2010
1:05 pm
“Over a 162 game season the team on top at the end is always the best team, and nobody has been better guiding a team over the longhaul than Bobby”
You give them Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and the supporting casts those three had, an you, me, the crack dealer on the street corner, the poster child for the Special Olympics, the dead dog in the middle of Lawrenceville Highway, and the moldy piece of pizza in the back of my refrigerator could all also have won those division titles. Those teams were consistantly at the very least fifteen games better than the competition. All Cox had to do was NOT blow fifteen games outright. Just having those three pitchers eliminated enough potential decisions to keep his tally under fifteen
Not that he didnt lose some games in memorable fashion even with those teams.
Robert
January 31st, 2010
1:10 pm
““Over a 162 game season the team on top at the end is always the best team”
Yes. And 95 times out of a hundred, who is managing has no bearing on that.
Shorten the season – make it where player talent cant overcome tactical errors, such as in a short series – and then who is managing starts to matter
And, not coincidentally, that’s where the Braves go from dominant to laughable
Cox could beat (notice I didnt say outmanage) Mike Hargrove and Bobby Valentine WHEN Cox’s team had far superior talent.
Boy that there is a managerial legacy to be proud of.
Hargrove and Valentine are to managing what Varisyt food is to haute cuisine, but if they had had the talent Cox had, they wouldve run rings around him.
Equal talent, equal situations, there is not a human being on the planet who couldnt outmanage Bobby Cox at the game of baseball
mike
January 31st, 2010
4:07 pm
(braves) quit losing those one run late games….need mccann 100%…all year….need
glaus to hit 285 23 hrs 95 rbi and he can do it ….monster bat when healthy..also a great leader…
chipper needs to back up words he is quoting..starters are solid….bullben is good not great…
and our shortstop is as good as any…outfield deeper than ever….get ready we are back……
wish bobby would quit pitching to howard….but he will not….mets will be fourth in east
SP
February 3rd, 2010
9:32 am
Mark,
I’m a little late reading this one but don’t you think Heyward is the best non-pitching prospect (actually, simply “best prospect”) since Andruw Jones – not Klesko. I realize Klesko was a fine prospect but Andruw came after him and was Baseball America’s Minor League POY two years in a row – the only player in the history of their award to do so.
abudefdef
February 5th, 2010
10:48 am
a little late reading this as well, and I for one am excited about the upcoming year! A lineup that goes:
McLouth-CF
Prado-2b
Chipper-3B
Glaus-1B
McCann-C
Escobar-SS
Diaz/Heyward-RF
Diaz/Cabrera-LF
Pitcher
Seems like a pretty potent lineup, providing they don’t succumb to theinjury bug. 5 guys capable of hitting 20+ HRs (Chip, Glaus, McCann, Yunel, Diaz/Heyward) and a couple of them could go 30-40 if healthy! Starting rotation I think is one of the best in the Majors, With Hudson back, JJ awesome, Hanson (we’ll see how the sophomore year goes), Lowe returning (fixed mechanics?), and Kawakami (remember he beat some of the best pitchers in the game this past year), they has a chance to do something really special-provided the offense can support em! And the bullpen additions are going to go well too, Wags is a bonafide shutdown closer, and the setup guys look good! Losing Vazquez made me sad, but the two prospects we got in return hopefully end up making it a much less painful deal. Again, provided the Braves don’t get riddled with either the injury bug or the Greg Norton bug, I believe they’ll have a banner year and take the NL East, win the NL Pennant, and give Bobby another W.S. Ring in his last year!
KEEP THE FAITH BRAVES NATION!!!
Keep the Faith!!!
***WHOOOOOAAAAA OOOOAAAA WHOOOOOAAAA OOOAAAAA!!!***
***TOMAHAWK-A-CHOPPIN***
Bill
February 6th, 2010
2:32 am
Whatever the outcome, Booby will be gone finally, 10 years too late.
Hymie
February 6th, 2010
2:36 am
Bobby sux cox.
Robert
February 6th, 2010
2:36 pm
“Whatever the outcome, Booby will be gone finally, 10 years too late.”
Ten? He should have been fired after the 1993 season.
Truth be told, he should never have been allowed to manage in the first place.
OldTimer
February 6th, 2010
5:52 pm
The Braves are turning into the Thrashers.
BravesWillStinkAgain&IWillWatchEveryGame
February 8th, 2010
3:17 pm
It is high time that Bobby was put to pasture in Cartersville. Actually was high time
about the time we moved to Turner Field. Worst handler of bullpens ever in Atlanta.
I don’t want a manager all the players like. I want one that is tough on the players, yet
gets them to win. Come back Joe Torre! Ok maybe not. We need to start a drive for Liberty to sell the team, big time. Then the new ownership can clean house, all the
way down to the box office staff, who I HATE! BTW, just to throw in a lil positive,
Huddy is a class act, & Chipper has NO CLASS.