Melky’s gone, which tells us much about the Braves and Wren
"As long as I'm managing, you're on this team, Melky." (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Sooner or later we’ll start to ask ourselves, “How in the world did the 2010 Braves make the playoffs?” And I’m thinking that time is …
Right about now.
The Braves dumped Melky Cabrera and Takashi Saito on Tuesday, eight days after the former had made the 27th out of Game 4 of the Division Series. These were two of the bigger acquisitions Frank Wren made last winter — others were Billy Wagner, who has retired; Troy Glaus, who had nothing left after July, and Eric Hinske, who kept pinch-hitting home runs — and now they’ve been tossed aside.
The Saito move was expected. The Cabrera one was expected if you’d watched him play. And that’s kind of the point: The 2010 Braves had a lot of guys who didn’t do much — Cabrera, Nate McLouth, Yunel Escobar, Matt Diaz, Rick Ankiel, Glaus in April and August and September — and lots more who got hurt. And somehow they qualified for the postseason, same as the Phillies and the Yankees.
To say that every Wren move of the last offseason and this regular season panned out would be incorrect. Most of them didn’t. But the sum total of his tinkering was just enough to bleed out one more victory than San Diego, and that was enough. We can critique individual trades and signings, but we cannot carp about the overall effect. This team shouldn’t have been good enough, but it was, just.
Which is why the guy who traded Javier Vazquez for Melky Cabrera should be named executive of the year. Seriously.
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468 comments Add your comment
Formul8or
October 20th, 2010
12:33 pm
Melky wasn’t the main part of that trade. We got Dunn and Vizcaino, while Javier did pretty bad
TN Brave
October 20th, 2010
12:34 pm
1. The reason the Braves made the playoffs was pitching, not Wren, not Bobby. Although you have to give Wren credit for having faith in Huddy and maybe McDowell gets some credit too.
2. The reason the Braves did not go further was injuries to Chipper, Prado, Glaus, Medlen and Jurrjens. It’s not a miracle they made the playoffs, they were one of the best teams in baseball beofre the injuries.
3. A big mistake was trading Blanco. He could get on base and had speed. But I don’t think Bobby liked him.
Horner's Corner
October 20th, 2010
12:34 pm
Robert, that’s funny!
James
October 20th, 2010
12:35 pm
The Melk Man has left the building.
Ted M
October 20th, 2010
12:36 pm
Mark,
You still haven’t offered an opinion on what you would do to improve the outfield. I like hearing your opines.
Robert
October 20th, 2010
12:37 pm
Uggla’s 18 errors was the second most among all ML 2Bs, second only to Chone Figgins’ 19.
No, thank you.
HK02
October 20th, 2010
12:38 pm
Well thank goodness cox is gone. If conrad didn’t play in the nlcs, we could be up 2-1 over the phillies right now.
Mark Badley's Fan Club
October 20th, 2010
12:41 pm
Wren has been very aggressive– some of his moves have worked, some haven’t. But you have to give him credit; he tries to improve the team when there’s a need. Even if some of the moves don’t pan out, he keeps trying and usually gets it right. I’m confident he’ll get somebody to come into the outfield to improve it. The tough guy in the equation is McLouth– he’s expensive, and he’s been absolutely terrible (inexplicably). Kawakami is also a toughie, but at least he has been just mildly bad, not the complete disaster that McLouth has been. The Braves might be able to unload him.
But yeah, I think he’s done a great job with a limited budget. I agree with you, Mark.
Coach13
October 20th, 2010
12:41 pm
Our lineup is better minus Chipper. This would allow Prado and Infante to play everyday. Be honest people as injury prone as Chipper has been what are we expecting at 38 coming back from ACL surgery? Seriously.
Get UGGla and Werth, we will never be able to afford Crawford.
Coach13
October 20th, 2010
12:41 pm
The signing of Uggla would obviously negate Infante playing everyday.
Coach13
October 20th, 2010
12:44 pm
Mark Bradley’s fan club- KK has been MILDLY bad?!?!?!?!?!? Now I’ve heard everything!!!!
What moves of WRen’s have worked out? Other than Lowe finally earning his paycheck over the last month???
8dogman
October 20th, 2010
12:44 pm
I hope the Rangers and the Giants are in the world series just to show the Yankees and the Phillies that money can’t always buy the World Series. At least we may be able to see at least 3 former braves in the world series and all these players were just given away, 2 to Texas and one to the Mets. That giveaway to Texas still makes me sick.
Scotty Boy
October 20th, 2010
12:45 pm
Mark,
Can you please confirm this for me. I believe I recently read somewhere that Crawford does that want to be a leadoff hitter (because he does not want to steal as much) and would rather be a middle of the order guy. That being said, all you bloggers should stop wanting him to leadoff because quite frankly it aint happening and now for more reasons. With the Braves budget issues and dire need for a table setter the guy that HAS to be signed ( this is non negotiable) this offseason is Scott Podsednik. He is cheap, he has speed and he is an outfielder.
Mark (a different one)
October 20th, 2010
12:45 pm
As much as I like Wagner, the loss of Soriano and Gonzales for Wagner, Saito was a step down. I especially didn’t understand the trade of Soriano unless it was a salary dump. Add in the KK and McLouth decisions and the money lost, and I have problems annointing Wren.
Gonzales (Alex) is a long time major league SS and he has years left in the tank. I didn’t understand his struggles defensively after the trade but he also hit 23 HRs this year. A SS that gives 20 HRs and plays the position is valuable.
Infante’s original worth was that he could play all over and provide offense. I know he played a lot of infield, but he has the speed and arm to play center, and he can hit leadoff. Utility players are vauable but so are starters.
With Gonzales, Prado (2nd), McCann and Infante (CF), I believe the 2011 Braves would be strong defensively up the middle. They can also hit. The decision on RF and 1st are made, so the questions are:
LF (or CF and move Infante to LF): I don’t believe Diaz is the answer.
3rd: Either to backup Chipper or replace him should his injury linger.
Infield Bench: Conrad is a 30 year old rookie and we need someone that can play SS and 2nd. He can do 2nd but not SS. We also need some bench power.
Outfield Bench: Heinske plays both but I list him here. We also have McLouth but we are thin here.
Closer: Two candidates but neither has done it.
Wren needs an outfielder with power, and a utility infielder. He potentially needs insurance at 3rd. That said, he shouldn’t give up an arm that figures into our future.
1eyedJack
October 20th, 2010
12:45 pm
As long as Liberty Media holds the purse strings the Braves will be confined to growing their own or picking retreads off the trash heap.
Coach13
October 20th, 2010
12:46 pm
Cabrera? Nope
Gonzales? Nope
KK? Nope
Lee? Nope
Glaus- 6 weeks, is that why we make trades so they will work for 6 weeks out of a 6 month season??
McClout- haven’t given up on him yet. He was good player when we got him.
Ted M
October 20th, 2010
12:46 pm
8dogman – its likely
Najeh Davenpoop
October 20th, 2010
12:47 pm
Frank Wren gave Bobby Cox a handful of good players along with a pail of rotting excrement, and Bobby turned it into a playoff team. Bobby is the guy who deserves credit for this season, not the guy who traded an innings eater with a sub-3.00 ERA for a fourth outfielder.
JacketBacker
October 20th, 2010
12:57 pm
Hope Chipper would go and retire…he has nothing left in the tank! That money would free up and we could cut loose all these other bums who are only taking space on the roster and making more money than they deserve!!
JDHGT
October 20th, 2010
12:58 pm
Chipper is not going back to the outfield. EVER.
I like that lineup, Nut Job. You’re right…there may not be a need to keep Chipper in the 3-hole. We’ll see.
Nelson, you and Nut Job should switch names. How are you going to sign all of those players? Where did Freeman go?
Lil' Barry Bailout
October 20th, 2010
12:59 pm
The Braves made it to the playoffs, but the Braves didn’t BELONG in the playoffs.
11 for 6? How about 1 for 6.
Embarrassing. And it will be even more embarrasing when we figure out that the National League teams that did even better than the Braves are sooo much weaker than the American League after the WS.
JDHGT
October 20th, 2010
1:01 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout,
The Braves played better against the Giants that the Phillies have so far….
Lil' Barry Bailout
October 20th, 2010
1:02 pm
At least we have the same-ol’ same-ol’ Hawks to look forward to.
face palm
October 20th, 2010
1:02 pm
Robert, how many of Uggla’s errors lost them the game? How amny of his HR/RBI won them the game?
Lil' Barry Bailout
October 20th, 2010
1:04 pm
Yeah, losing game 3 was just excruciating.
Warren Spahn
October 20th, 2010
1:04 pm
Bring Andruw back. He is better than what is there now.
The Teixeira trade was the worst in the history of the franchise and it will look worse with each passing year. However, I agree that Harrison (injuries have held him back so far- not a lack of talent) and Jones would have never gotten a chance with the Braves. Of course, neither would Andrus or Feliz have gotten a chance. They escaped to a far better situation- as did Wainwright.
reckingball
October 20th, 2010
1:04 pm
I don’t think that Wagner and Saitio over Sorryanno and Gonezo was a step down.
Sorryanno and Gonezo blew quite a few games too, Sorryanno always looked like someone had taken a leak on his birthday cake, and Gonezo was wild as heck, a lot.
Lil' Barry Bailout
October 20th, 2010
1:05 pm
So which washed-up reclamation projects do the Braves bring in next year?
Mark (a different one)
October 20th, 2010
1:06 pm
Wren’s 3 best:
1. Vazquez and Logan for Melky, Vizciano, Dunn and enough money to resign Hudson.
2. Renteria for Jurrjens and Hernandez, opening the SS position for Escobar and saving money.
3. 3 minor league pitchers not in our long term plans for D. Lee. Played 39 games, 24 RBIs, .287 avg. 3 HRs and solid defense at 1st. We don’t make the playoffs without him.
Lil' Barry Bailout
October 20th, 2010
1:07 pm
Or as Hedley Lamarr would say “Bring in the usual suspects!”
Appalachia Brave
October 20th, 2010
1:08 pm
Frank couldn’t manage a Waffle House in North Georgia! Every deal Frank made ended up in the scrap pile.
Supes
October 20th, 2010
1:09 pm
Actually Dan Uggla would be good…but he probably would be a butcher in LF. You weaken yourself considerably with him out there. If Chipper doesn’t make it back, you could play Prado at 3B, UGGLA at 2B and Infante in LF, that would be great but again Chipper would have to be done for that to happen.
Dan Uggla is a legit 30HR right handed hitter, he strikes out a lot, doesn’t hit for a high average but does hit the long ball with consistency. He also wouldn’t break the bank and would be a better fit (in the club house than that hippie wannabe Werth from Philly).
Lets face it…Crawford is going to the yankees, where they will bury him in money. Braves don’t have a shot at him.
Scott
October 20th, 2010
1:18 pm
Magglio or Vlad could make our line-up look a bit formidable. Neither are great in the OF but right now we need to worry ourselfs with a big bopper who hits RH for the clean-up spot. Also, I would put Infante in CF until he is needed at 2nd when Prado goes to third. Plus Infante is our best option at leadoff, so he needs to be in there.
Infante CF
Prado 2
Heyward RF
Ordonez/Guererro LF
McCann C
Chipper 3
Freeman 1
Gonzalez SS
When Chipper goes down or doesn’t make it back from rehab… then shift McLouth into CF move Freeman and Gonzo up and McLouth in to the 8 hole.
BravesRule
October 20th, 2010
1:21 pm
Same story every year…holes in the lineup and holes in the SP. To say we have good SP is retarded. Lowe is not that good and Hanson is ok. We have no closer which a good one cost around 8+mil a year. Our lineup sucks and as long as McCain is in the 4 hole we are in trouble. Chipper in the 3 hole = braves suck. 3 Things guaranteed to happen with chipper if he’s with us next year..1. He will get hurt several times, 2. his bat is way slower than years past, 3. He will Steal 10mil from the Braves payroll. McCain should be batting 5th behind 2 legit 30hr 100 r.b.i guys to have a GOOD line up. Look at every playoff team that dominates what do they have? 3 stud SP or 3 Stud hitters period! When the Braves were awesome they had 3-4 stud SP and good hitting. Or like Texas 3+ stud hitters and good SP. You can’t have 1 good SP (Hudson) 1 good Hitter McCann and the rest be “I hope he does good” type players. Come on hire me as a GM ill get this ship turned around!!!
jp
October 20th, 2010
1:23 pm
Everyone overlooks the Vazquez trade was a salary dump with Dunn and Vizcaino being the key pieces. Cabrera was a throw-in at the last minute
jfreak13713
October 20th, 2010
1:23 pm
Wren should not win Exec of the year. Too many of his trades did not work out well. However, I don’t think he did a poor job either when you consider the budget he had to work with. Although, Lowe and McLouth are a big part of the payroll issue. Wren was active and trying to improve the club and I’ll take that over a guy who is afraid to take chances.
Grade: B+
Mostly for his effort not because of the results.
mr baseball
October 20th, 2010
1:24 pm
The Vazquez trade was a salary dump, plain and simple. The Braves had the money to retain either Hudson or Vazquez and made the right choice. When teams engage in salary dumps, they get a prospect, in this case Vizcaino.
Don’t include Dunn in that category. He & Logan were essentially a wash, leaving the trade as Vazquez for a third rate, one year rental and a prospect. No matter how Vizcaino turns out, the trade was a good one from the Braves’ standpoint, although it would have been nice if Cabrera had resembled the player who wore a Yankees uniform.
Anyone who thinks Wren hasn’t made a good trade since he’’s been the GM is a total, certiafiable idiot.
Jurrjens. Infante. O’Flaherty. Unloading a malcontent SS for a quality major league SS. Acquiring Vazquez for a prospect who was never going to play in Atlanta. Bringing LaRoche back for the stretch drive last year. Even the maligned Farnsworth/Ankiel deal got the Braves their only win in the NLDS.
And the person lamenting the trade of Blanco, really?
Everyone on here is demanding that Wren acquire a middle of the order hitter, but there’s a catch that no one seems to have picked up on. The Braves don’t just need a hitter, they need a RH hitter.
The middle of the order (assuming Chipper is healthy) will have 3 lefties and a switch hitter. Plus a lefty at the bottom (McLouth, the CF by default).
Somewhere out there is an affordable, RHI hitting OF, preferably a CF. Clearly, the best option is Kemp, but I don’t see the Dodgers dealing him unless they are going to sign someone as a replacement.
Lots of talk about Rasmus, but do the Braves really need another lefty hitter in the middle of the order?
If the Braves put Freeman and one of their better pitching prospects in a package that might also include McLouth, maybe they could pry McCutchen away from the Pirates. Pittsburgh has been known to make really dumb trades, maybe they could be talked into another.
With McCann & Heyward in the lineup for the forseeable future, if the Braves can get a comparable talent for Freeman who bats from the other side of the plate, it wouldn’t be out of the question to entertain offers for him. First basemen with power are a lot more plentfiul than CFs with power, speed and a glove.
Mark (a different one)
October 20th, 2010
1:25 pm
Soriano 2010 stats (30 years old, Salary of $7.25 mil):
47 saves out of 50 changes, 1.73 ERA, 0.80 WHIP 4:1 ratio Ks to BBs.
Gonzales 2010 stats (32 years old, Salary of $6 mil):
24 innings in 29 games. 1-4 record with 1 save. 31 Ks, 14 BBs
Wagner 2010 stats (39 years old, Salary of $6.75 mil):
7-2 with 37 saves in 44 opportunities. 104 Ks and 22 BBs in 69 inn.
Saito 2010 stats (40 years old, Salary of $3.2 mil):
2-3 with 1 save and 1 blown save. 69 Ks, 17 BBs in 54 inn.
Soriano and Gonzales will be playing in the majors next year. Wagner and Saito are probably done.
NEW CARS
October 20th, 2010
1:26 pm
Coach,
Wagner and Saito were better than Soriano and Gonzo of a year ago. Hudson was resigned and has been excellent. Wren didn’t mortgage the future to get Peavy. He got Juurjens and Gorky for Renteria. McLouth was fair in 09 after the trade and none of those players have made an impact in Pittsburgh. He bought low and sold high on Vazquez and now has two good trade chips in Dunn and Vizcaino. He didn’t overspend for headcase Burnett. He selected Minor, who has outperformed all prognosticators. Glaus earned what they paid him and there weren’t a lot of alternatives to him out there.
There have been some missteps, but who has he really overpaid for. Maybe Lowe by giving him an extra year at his age. KK pitched well his first year and wasn’t terrible last year, just seemed to get caught up in a snowball situation. Most pundits spoke highly of the McLouth deal and the trade of Escobar was something that had to be done, and I don’t believe that was all on Bobby. I think the whole team had tired of babysitting a 27 year old man. And by the way, Escobar didn’t exactly light it up in that so-called hitter’s haven in Toronto with a .696 OPS. Remember, we also got Pastornicky in that deal.
I was not enamored of the Ankiel/Farnsworth deal, but all we really gave up was Collins and he projects as a lefty reliever which we have plenty of. Going back a little further, I think that Anderson was a mistake, but there weren’t a lot of options, unless a guy like Abreau was willing to play left. and we did sell low on Frenchy, but as time goes by we see that it was something that had to be done. I do think we should have tried to figure out something to do with Kelly and I said so at the time.
All in all, wren has done a good job with the resources at his disposal. Not great, but certainly nowhere near the level of what went on in here in the early 80s when were trading guys like Brett Butler and Brook Jacoby and signing guys like Omar Moreno and Ken Oberkfell.
DawgDad
October 20th, 2010
1:28 pm
I give Wren a world of credit for staying focused on the prize and being willing to exit off a major highway that isn’t going in the right direction (Escobar, Glaus, McLouth, KK, Chavez). Not sure anyone who trades Vasquez for Cabrera, Dunn, and Vizcaino deserves Exec of the year, being as how Cabrera was one of the least productive players in the league with 450+ at bats. Let’s wait for Vizcaino to show some value. Watching Cody Ross hit home runs for the Giants is a little disturbing, too. No, we can’t fault him for any of the injuries. I do think he should have given Freeman a look-see back in July, and he should have picked up a veteran middle infielder when Jones went down (backfill for Infante off the bench). No one expected the magnitude and timing of Conrad’s defensive meltdown, but Wren and the brain trust are expected to understand why this kid was a career minor leaguer and they overexposed him defensively to the detriment of the team.
PMC
October 20th, 2010
1:29 pm
Takeshi had that in his deal. Melky was a tag along in a trade of an expensive pitcher for minor league stud pitchers.
Melky was never going to be around longer than this year. We have a team of 4th out fielders why keep Melky?
Frank is doing the best he can with budgetary constraints, but they won’t build a winner without gathering a more capable offense, much of that starts with the outfield. 3 millon+ to Melky would be unacceptable especially with McClouth’s ginormous deal.
mr baseball
October 20th, 2010
1:30 pm
BravesRule:
Sorry, fella, but the retarded one on here is you. Anyone who thinks Lowe, Hanson & JJ are not big time MLB pitchers probably thinks Christine O’Donnell is Grade A Senatorial material.
And the idea the Braves have no closer is equally brilliant. Did you watch Venters & Kimbrel pitch? Evidently not.
You were right about one thing. You would definitely turn the Braves around. Straight from the playoffs to the cellar. Maybe you should give the Pirates a call. They probably have a place in their organization for a genius like you.
GTSteve
October 20th, 2010
1:30 pm
Dan Uggla is already signed for 2011, but will probably be traded at the deadline next year if the Marlins are not in the race. The Marlins showed this past season that they want more than their players were actually worth, and doubt that they would trade within the division
PMC
October 20th, 2010
1:31 pm
If they can’t find a guy who can hit 46 doubles and drive in 120 they had better find a guy with terriffic range and a fantastic arm out in left.
No more old goats.
Frank Wren
October 20th, 2010
1:34 pm
This year I’m trading Jair for Brett Gardner. I love those Yankees!
PMC
October 20th, 2010
1:35 pm
People point to the Vazquez trade as the salary dump.
What about freaking Soriano? That was unbelieveably horrid. Jessie Chavez can barely pitch..and they traded him for Farnsworth…yuck.
They gave away Soriano….for nothing.
Stone
October 20th, 2010
1:35 pm
dang Mark. Thanks for such a lengthy article. 3 full paragraphs
Rick in Big D
October 20th, 2010
1:44 pm
I would trade Jair for Nelson Cruz. What about that?
Andrew
October 20th, 2010
1:45 pm
I haven’t read all of the comments on this, but saying that Vazquez was traded for Melky is like saying that Matt Holliday was traded to St Louis last year for Clayton Mortenson. The obvious key to the Vazquez deal was Arodys Vizcaino. Melky was a throw-in (if not a you-must-take-him-and-his-salary).
Steve
October 20th, 2010
1:45 pm
We are left handed (power) heavy with McCann, Heyward and Freeman so we need a right hand power guy in left field. Need a speedy CF for lead off. Bat Prado in the 2 hole (perfect for him), move Heyward to the 3 spot (power & speed). Rotate McCann and Chipper in the 4 -5 spots, rotate Freeman and new LF in the 6-7 spots, Gonzo hits 8th. Infante back to the role player position. Trade or sign 1-2 veteran relievers and I believe we’d be set for 2011. Maybe I could be a GM some day ??????