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
Sam Jethroe
October 21st, 2010
10:04 am
Jacoby Ellsbury and the Red Sox seem headed for a divorce. He could be the answer in CF.
Brave New World
October 21st, 2010
10:07 am
My Dear Phillistein: When you crawl out from under your rock, you will be faced with the hard reality that your over-hyped Phillies are about to be headed to the off season. At least our Braves gave the Giants a fight. Braves = HEART; Phils = hype. Have a nice winter!
Don
October 21st, 2010
11:32 am
Mr. Bradley,
Granted, Chipper was hitting much better in the last part of the season before he injured his knee, BUT I don’t think that any team would be “ecstatic” about paying 14 million for that kind of production – and even worse, his defense has not been good.
But even this is beside the point — After the injury and with another year of age, it is probably not likely that his hitting will even be as good as it was in the last part of the season – and especiall his defense is probably going to be even worse.
ward
October 21st, 2010
11:44 am
i forgot about jacob ellsbury, and rowand. which i think is a good idea.both could play center field. kemp would be a good idea too. i would like a good out fielder for christmas.
ward
October 21st, 2010
11:49 am
I think chipper should just retire, and save us some money. he hasn;t been healthy the last few years, and numbers haven;t been the same. retire chipper!there is nothong wrong doing that. we love you, but you put the team in danger by trying to play hurt all the time.we need healthy players. Go!!! Braves!!!!
Braves Fan 06
October 21st, 2010
11:54 am
I have a perfect outfielder for the Braves to trade for, he wants out of the team he is on, he quoted “I want to be on a team that wins” His stats in 2010 were .300 BA 22 HRs 90 RBIs and 2009 stats were .300 BA 20 HRs 86 RBIs. His defense is very great, only committed 4 errors this year. He was on a last place team.. Not to mention his contract is super cheap!! But he is the team’s best player and is under club control through the 2013 season… In conclusion is there any way the Braves can trade to get Shin-Soo Choo?
ward
October 21st, 2010
12:15 pm
stew i like those players you came up with on your list. ricky weeks would be great, and cory hart too, along with the other names. maybe us braves fans should be the gm instead of wren.
Steve Fartkowski
October 21st, 2010
12:18 pm
Cody Ross or Pat Burrell…
ward
October 21st, 2010
1:13 pm
chipper would be a great hitting coach.
BrandonW
October 21st, 2010
1:46 pm
if we had picked up Cody Ross, he would have been in a platoon…because of Bobby…so no, it wouldn’t have helped the Braves much
ward
October 21st, 2010
2:12 pm
I bet wren won;t do anything,but scratch his balls…. I hope he does some-thing,and will be shocked if he does get somebody….
Heymake it
October 21st, 2010
3:43 pm
So you’re another one of those assholes that just insists on saying te Braves traded Vazquez for Cabrera.
It’s completely false. Melky was nothing but a throw-in in that deal. The Yankees probably refused to make the deal unless the Braves would take him.
Completely ignore Melky when you think about this trade. It was all about Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino. You should know that Mark. You really are a bonehead sometimes. And such a fairweather fan dude, I swear to god. I can’t stand you. You’re worse than Jim Rome or Collin Cowherd when it comes to going with the hot hand.
When the Braves are going good you heap them with praise and act like they can win the world series. When they get eliminated you act like you can’t believe they made the playoffs.
Such a typical idiot sports journalist.
Tomahawk
October 21st, 2010
4:59 pm
excited to see what approach wren takes this year. all i can say is it’s one of the great crimes in the history of sports that we have such talent, such great leadership and absolutely zero backing from the front office to give them what they need. wren proved he can build a winner no matter what. let’s see if the owners can follow suit and add that one last piece to win a world series title. i mean, come one, guys, we don’t want a $200,000,000 payroll, we just want a left-fielder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i want ted turner back!
ward
October 21st, 2010
5:17 pm
tamahawk: it was bobby who got the Braves to the play offs: not wren. tell me that next year if the Braves do the same thing.don;t get your heart to set on wren.
ward
October 21st, 2010
5:57 pm
i wan’t the braves to win like everybody else.i’m hoping wren does’t dink around.he waited to long, and let all the good players go.i just don’t believe wren, when he say’s he’s going to do some-thing. i’m not sold on wren like so many are.
Mike McDonald
October 21st, 2010
10:18 pm
I vowed to stay mute and post no blogs, no more. But “Here I go again” as the song goes. Don’s assessment of the Braves’ roster going into 2011 is, in my opinion, spot on. Others have added to and subtracted important bits and pieces. Since there’s not much value in wishful thinking that a complete fruit basket turnover at the management level from McGuirk on down is possible, here’s my take on what should be done at the player level.
A holistic strategy for the future, if you will.
Fix the farm system starting with the scouting staff. Suggest that perhaps they focus more time in East Cobb, Atlanta and Georgia and southeastern environs, thus finding gems like Buster Posey, et al. Leave Latin America and the Caribbean to the Mets, for the nonce.
Start with a blank piece of paper and an annual player payroll of $80 to $90 million. Then begin plugging in salaries for the up and comers such as Kimbrel, Beachy, Ventners, Dann, Minor, Terheran, etc., up through the Hansons, Rosses. (Double-check the bona-fides of Hayward, Freeman and C. Martin on a future valuation basis vs present valuation and assumptions. All are suspect under combat conditions of the run for the roses and may be worth more now than their speculative future deliverables).
Adroit packaging of Chipper @ $15 M for 2 years, Hudson @ $9 M for 2 years, D. Lowe @ $15M for 2 years and the lovable McCann @ a bargain basement price of $5.7 for 2 years are the assets that should be leveraged and blended with the low cost Jair Jurgens, sidewinder Aussie Moylan and shaky lefty O’Flaherty and selected prospects.
After Prohibition and at the advent of WWII, Scotch Whisky was at a premium. So wise marketers packaged low-cost, readily available rum in tandem with the highly desirable, scarce but expensive Scotch for a combined attractive value. The Braves should pursue this packaging strategem. For example: Kawakami + Lowe + McCann. Or Chipper+ Jurrgens + Moylan. Or Hudson + O’Flararty + C. Martin. Or Conrad + McLouth + Hayward. Or Freeman + Farnsworth (if, under contract ) + Infante (Oh, that hurts). In any mix and match desirable combination to prospective buyers such as NYY, BRS, CC, etc.
Anyway, you get the idea, which is to dump salary big time,and quickly, willingly giving up some now-performers (actually the players pool in 2010 was puny: McCann (albeit beaten down), Prado and Infante plus Hudson, Hanson, Lowe, (of late), and the magnificent Ventners, and the promising Beachy, Dann and Kimbrell. Hayward completed the roster of no-shows in the outfield and is destined to be another Francoer in LF.
As we said in the Navy, we need a clean sweep down, fore and aft.
This could be a recipe for a true resurgens in MLB Atlanta, And we could mount a credible club with a payroll well under $40 M giving great flexibility for opportunistic cherry picking of bona fide, long-distance performers over the years ahead.
It’s not rocket science. It’s basic management, common sense, without the hang-ups of the personal bias and pettiness of the Cox era.
So much for vows.
Necromancer
October 21st, 2010
10:24 pm
Liberty Media needs to stick to, well….Media!
Owning a major league franchise is not their thing.
Churchy
October 22nd, 2010
4:15 am
Anyone that thinks that Wren traded Javy Vasquez for Melky Cabrera knows nothing about baseball. Melky was a throw in.
atlborn
October 22nd, 2010
4:27 am
When are the Braves availble to be sold? Arthur Blank had some interest and Ted Turner said he would like to own the Braves again. How about a Blank and Turner ownership.
Bubba Joe
October 22nd, 2010
7:54 am
The Braves are going to name Chipper a playing hitting coach. To the Doofers coming down on Brooks,He did a good job coming off the bench. He was pressed into action due to injuries. If it was’nt for him they might not have gotten as far as they did.
dub366
October 22nd, 2010
10:44 am
don’t dump chipper just get rid of him
Bobby's Blunders
October 22nd, 2010
10:57 am
Have not followed developments in recent days. Has he named his coaching staff yet?
Chad
October 22nd, 2010
11:02 am
Here is the problem. We have to many average players and while you can win with them you still need someone like Chipper in his prime to produce significant runs. The braves do not have that in anyway shape or form. Wren has spread himself thin with little hope of getting out of this. Lowe is ours for two more years. Infante needs to play but at who’s expense. We need a left fielder with power and Infante needs to play. I hate to say this but Infante is the most likely tradeable player. I know may of you like to package up a 5 borderline players for a superstar but GM’s aren’t stupid. They are not going to give us a good player without something in return. Unfortunately Infante is going to be the only player anyone will want. Heyward sure isn’t going anywhere and I would expect about the same production. NO ONE is going to take McClouth, he will have to play, no other option for him. We are stuck with him sink or swim. So unless Chipper retires, not going to happen, then Infante is the only likely person to be traded.
Unfortunately the Braves are in a place with no money, and no deferring money is not going to help. You still have to pay him sometime and companies like Liberty are tightly run and deferring money is not in the plan. So you go what you got. Trade something of value to get value or live with a team of punch and judy hitters who will compete and that’s about it. I say let it run it’s course continue to develope young players and let the chips fall where they may. Building for the future should be valued over the short term success of the team. See Texeria trade!!!!!!
j
October 22nd, 2010
1:14 pm
go braves
ward
October 22nd, 2010
2:38 pm
chad: would the yankees, philles do what your suggesting? they are in the post season,because they are not afraid to make bold moves. the owner ships have done this over, and over during our 14 sraight championship run,and they would not make any moves to take the next step farther.just think how many world series we could’ve won if wren or john s. would have taken the next step.all those teams made moves that got into the post season.wren promised,but he did not deliver..be bolder like the yankees,and phillies, and we shall go farther. wren grow some nuts….. Go!!! Braves!!!!
ward
October 22nd, 2010
3:19 pm
those 14 straight division runs are something to be proud of. which i’am being a Braves fan. bolder moves could’ve won us 3 more world series championships. that’s the point i’m trying to make. we can’t keep on cutting, and be araid of the money situation, or we could be bolder like the yankees, or phillies. who aren’t afraid to take chances.Go!!!! Braves!!!!! baseball is a game of chances, and right now the owner ship is afraid of chances.
nashvillewill
October 22nd, 2010
3:35 pm
Mark,
You sound like an apologist for Wren and Cox. I believe this team was mismanaged by both. In mid-season when the Braves had indeed exceeded expectations, Wren traded a serviceable CF and pitcher for two players who did not contribute (one Ankiel HR exception) and will not be with the team in 2011. Glaus’s production in May was a contributing factor to the Braves’ success, but before and after May his worth was zero. The only reasons the Braves got to the postseason were Prado, Infante, and the pitching staff. And Cox mishandled Infante until he was forced to play him every day. And continued to mishandle the infield, leading to errors that cost the postseason. I will not miss Bobby and think Wren’s moves are, at best, a wash: Gonzalez was terrible, Lee was awful, etc. Wren’s best moves were not trading young pitchers for rent-a-players.
nashvillewill
October 22nd, 2010
3:52 pm
Moving forward, Mike your comments are too radical for this franchise and, I think, too drastic, for a team with two holes and a decent manager short of a NLCS. Here’s my proposal:
Keep Infante, play him every day in LF. He’s earned it.
Find a backup for Chipper to groom at 3B–surely there’s a prospect out there somewhere.
Find a CF! Ask Chipper to take a salary cut. Ask Lowe to take a salary cut. Somewhere, somehow find the money for a CF who can play and hit.
Keep as much of the pitching as possible, unless packaged in a trade for the above. In any case, Venters, Kimbrel, Hudson, Hanson, and Lowe are untouchable.
Other desireable changes: Ross is not a defensive upgrade at catcher. Find a defensive catcher to back up and spell McCann. (Is there any possibility McCann could play some at 1B? I’m concerned about his longevity). I don’t care for Gonzalez. He did not help down the stretch. Find another SS!
Dropping Pendleton from hitting coach was necessary. I think I like Fredi, I want to see him at work.
In short, keep the heart of this team–Prado, Infante, McCann, Heyward, Chipper, and the pitchers–and let’s see what Fredi can do.
Go Braves!
Chad
October 22nd, 2010
10:41 pm
Ward there is an enourmus difference between the Braves and the Yankees and Phillies. The Yankees have unlimited cash and the Phillies are in the neighborhood of a 150 million budget for salaries. Both these franchises are way ahead and the Braves just can’t do what they do, it has nothing to do with boldness. Frank Wren can only spend so much money.
By the way lets clear something up here about the old Brave of the 90’s. the Braves did not have the money that some of you think they had because of Turner. In 92 the Braves singed Maddox for 5 to 6 million a year. It barely fit under the budget and John S. was forced by Stan Kasten to trade Charlie Liebrandt. The differnece was only a couple of million but they had to stay under a budget. This is one of many situations where the Braves had to demonstrate fiscal retraint. The reason they have never spent big in the off season is they just have never had the money people think they did.
Some of you want a new owner. that is not going to change anything. Owners no matter what you may think refuse to loose money and if they do won’t for very long. Even if the Braves get new ownerhship it will not change anything. We are fans of a middling revenue team and there is nothing wrong with that. Just accept it and enjoy competing. It just so happens I live around Indianapolis and am a Colts fan. I feel some repetition in being a fan of these two teams. Both could have and probably should have won more championships, but boy is it nice to compete every year. There are fans all over sports in cities that have no hope or joy in their favorite teams.
Ward I like you enthusiasm and wanting the Braves to be bold. the problem here is that it just doesn’t work. The Yankees of the 90’s were great because of home grown talent. The Phillies right now are good because of mostly home grown talent, and a little luck with Werth coming in and over preforming in that lineup. Being bold has nothing to do with winning. Building and franchise for long term success takes patience and hard work and the Braves have always done this.
One more thing if most Braves fans had the passion shown on the board then maybe the Ted would sell out and the Braves would have a little more money to spend. If I had the Braves close I would scratch every penny I could together to see them as often as possible.
Chad
October 22nd, 2010
10:44 pm
Oh yea by the way no one on this team will be willing to take a pay cut. That is just fantasy thinking never ever going to happen so take that out of the plan everyone.
ward
October 22nd, 2010
10:56 pm
the fact is wren has always been tight, and being tight isn’t going to get you any where. ask tom galavine, and john smoltz why they didn’t win the world series. i watched espn, and during that span ,john s. didn’t do any thing to help the team much. trades happened,but nothing happened to help the Braves. good management gets players your team needs no matter what. john s was tight, and so is wren. owner ship didn’t do anything to get the players the Braves needed to win more than one world series.don’t believe wren,because he’s going to empty our farm systems for nothing. he did it with the last team,and left. until i see results from wren, he’s not going to get my supprt at all. i say put tom glavine as our gm some-one who knows our system.
ward
October 22nd, 2010
11:02 pm
chad you have a good point, but the Braves will never win the world series if wren doe’s it his way. trading jeff francour 25 years old for a 33 year old was a bad deal,and he scares me the way he talks this year.i love the Braves,but don’t like him. Go!!! Braves!!!!
ward
October 22nd, 2010
11:07 pm
i wish i could see evey game, but i live in montana. i miss watching the Braves on tbs. it was a 25 year tradition for me. i’ve been a Braves fan for 27years since 1983 and they are my team.
Chad
October 22nd, 2010
11:08 pm
WARD THEY DON”T HAVE THE MONEY!!!! They can not spend money they don’t have. Just accept that Wren is going to troll the waiver wire or bring in players like Infante and hope they overperform. I own a business and many times I have taken chances and did things for my business that was a significant risk and cost me money I did not have. It cost me more than just the money. Number one rule in business don’t spend more money than you have. I assure you if Wren worked for the Yankees he would spend every penny they gave him, any GM would. they do every thing they can to keep their job.
Wren on the other hand knows he has assets he needs to develope and he is following a plan. You can’t have it both ways and say Wren it tight and oh yea they need to be bold. To be bold as you say it takes getting ride of assets and that should not happen.
Chad
October 22nd, 2010
11:11 pm
Ward where in Montana do you live I go to Montana alot. I am a fly fishing outfitter and spend alot of time around Dillon
ward
October 22nd, 2010
11:25 pm
polson montana on the flathead lake,and near the mountains. great job rangers. you texas fan’s deserve it. you beat a great team. american l. champians great job!!!!!
MitchC
October 23rd, 2010
8:11 am
As much as I want a power hitting outfielder, and this team needs one, Mark is right about not giving up a first class starting pitcher to get him.
Who are we going to give up? Lowe is old. Tommy Hanson is untouchable. I would not give up JJ. He’s too young, and has too much of an upside.
All I can say about trades is.. I keep thiniking of Adam Wainwright for JD Drew. I shudder when it crosses my mind. Drew had one great year for us. Wainwright is one of the best starting pitchers in all of baseball, and he’s young. I’m not saying he’s there.. yet, but, he could be the next John Smoltz, or Greg Maddux, if he stays healthy, and pitches long enough.
Christopher Chance
October 23rd, 2010
11:46 am
Jeff Francoeur is going to the World Series. And he’ll be starting against either Cole Hamels (should the Phillies make it) or Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Baumgardner (if the Giants make it).
Brian McCann and his 5-time All-Star fat A$$ (too lazy to properly block balls in the dirt) must be scratching his head and thinking…..”how did this happen? Im way better than Francoeur”?
Also, there’s a chance that Francoeur could get a raise that exceeds the $6.5 mil that McCann is scheduled to make in 2011.
Chad
October 23rd, 2010
1:44 pm
Now that Cox is out give Gonzales the same opportunity for long term success. Keep all your young talent and I mean all of it. Let contracts run their courses. If something happens to fall in your lap then by all means take advantage, don’t think that will happen.
No one will want any large contract the Braves have, unless some GM gets amnesia. The only one that makes sense is Infante and it would take him and a package of young players to even have another GM consider moving a run producer.
MLB has become something close to the NBA each team has a ceiling, in this case it is self impossed. Teams can only make a trade if it is even up in salary. Trading salary for young players is the only thing I would do. Do not trade one bad contract for another. Keep young talent, be competitive for a couple of season and I think they can be as the roster is now. I think this team is two seasons away from being able to have another good run of 4 or 5 years but the Braves must wait out contracts or just plain get lucky with another GM who thinks Lowe is back to old form, I am not sold and neither will be the other teams. I guess is he was ever going to be tradeable it would be now, but I have little hope.
ward
October 23rd, 2010
3:07 pm
i agee chad : we need to keep our young talent, and let them deveope into players. freddy was a great choice, and i think he’ll bring back the hit,and run. bunt runners over into scoring position, and bring back some balance again. freddy is young, and he’ll keep the Braves moving again.cox still is the best manager the Braves ever had. i think freddy will be even better.
ward
October 23rd, 2010
5:19 pm
did anybody watch the rangers last night? thats what the Braves need to be like. the Braves have gone away from that style of playing, and i hope with freddy, he can bring that back. i was really impressed at the way the texas rangers played. very smart, and good baseball. Go!!! Braves!!!!
Medlenfan
October 23rd, 2010
10:53 pm
I do love it when people refer to the Javier Vazquez trade as “for Melky Cabrera”. That trade was for Arodys Vizcaino with Melky thrown in. Keep the priorities straight please.
Joe Kidd
October 23rd, 2010
11:12 pm
One should note that Glaus also struggled mightily in the second half of June and all of July.
ward
October 23rd, 2010
11:53 pm
medlenfan:who cares about that trade.it was an average trade,and not a great one. san fran. i’m quit impressed. your in the world series. way to go. you dethroned the phillies in their home field. good pitching does beat good hitting. i can say no more. i tip my hat off to you, and i’ll i was wrong. i’m very impressed…….
ward
October 23rd, 2010
11:59 pm
who care about vasques . he had one good year under the sun.i can’t wait to the winter season it’s getting closer, and closer.sorry philly fan i can understand your pain right now, but you just have to tip your hat off to the san fran fans they earned it. once again . i’ll say i was wrong.my congradualations to all of you. i’m very, impressed.
Trey
October 24th, 2010
12:24 am
Mark, so you haven’t had problems with the Phillies have you!!! They won’t bug this site for a while.
Joe Kidd
October 24th, 2010
1:31 am
Recall that Adam Dunn also arrived in the Vazquez trade, along with Cabrera and the prospect Vizcaino.
Joe Kidd
October 24th, 2010
1:33 am
Ward, to return to “that style of playing,” the Braves need more speed. Guys like Otis Nixon, Deion Sanders, and Rafael Furcal haven’t been around lately.
ward
October 24th, 2010
1:47 am
joe kidd: thats the kind of baseball i like., and yes i remember the good old days with nixon sanders and rafael furcal.speed wins you ball games,and does a lot more for your offense. Go!!!! Braves!!!!
ward
October 24th, 2010
2:40 am
when i watched baseball in the 80’s to 90’s to 2000. speed was every where. you used to have 3 players over 20 stolen bases, and you would have a few with 25 or 30, and even a few with 10 or 16 at the end of the year.now you don’t see that any more,because people like the long ball, and station to station baseball. i would like to see the Braves develope speed along with their hitting.i lilke it when players steal bases. that’s the fun part of baseball. Go !!! Brraves!!!!!