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Braves' Frank Wren Should Be Fired


paynomind

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I have to wonder myself what is going on in the Braves organization. Would Schuerholtz have been able to sign some of these guys?

I bet the house on it.

Look, I know that we got Lowe and Kawakami, and we've actually had a pretty decent offseason...but quite frankly, if JS had GM duties this offseason, we'd have Peavy, we'd have Furcal, Hampton would've hit the bricks nonetheless, we'd have Burnett instead of Lowe, Kawakami maybe, and Griffey definitely, and we'd be talking about a 3-horse race for the NL East crown this year. We also would've got some more bullpen help, but that's another story.

Instead, here I am, a Braves fan, praying for the day that Jason Heyward & Tommy Hanson (Two of the most highly-regarded prospects in the minors right now, even though oddball doesn't believe that the Braves don't have a quality farm system. :rolleyes:) hit their Major League prime. That'll probably come around 2011, and Heyward lost out on what would've been the best guy to learn from, and Hanson will probably be great, but because the bullpen has been once again ignored, it probably won't matter because they will still be blowing games by then if Wren doesn't address it.

So, I said all of that to say this: Wren's done a decent job, but the drop-off from JS to FW has been REAL STEEP. Most of these deals would've been done.

John Schuerholz had a lot more money to play with when he was signing free agents than Frank Wren does now. That's a big difference. I don't think Schuerholz would have fared much better, to be honest.

Lest we forget, Schuerholz's biggest moves during the offseason his last few years were made through trades, and not free agency. Who's the best player the Braves have signed via free agency (not first acquired through a trade) in the past six seasons? The Braves are no longer the free-spending team they used to be from the 90's until 2002-03.

Of course, the closing of the Gold Club hasn't helped matters, as far as "finishing the deals" are concerned....

They also don't have Ted Turner as the owner anymore, so that doesn't help.

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At least your GM is trying to do something...

JP Ricciardi hasn't signed a single major-league free agent this entire offseason, for a team that finished 11 games out of the lead and will be without 3 of it's top 4 pitchers from last year.

i'd be pretty happy with Lowe and Vasquez if i were you.

secondededed, although he apparently hasn't been given approval to add to the payroll by ownership

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Though the signings aren't horrendous, they show possibly bad signs for the Braves. They're becoming a team like the Astros that in order to try to keep up with the competition, they overpay mid-dollar talent and expect them to do superior work. That's not good because as you can see with teams like Toronto or Houston, it only gets so far (good enough to earn some respect, but not good enough to be a division champion or get to the playoffs). And even worse, what it does it puts teams in bad financial situations where they have all these contactual obligations that are unattractive for other teams to pick up, disabling them to keep home grown talent when grown to major league quality or make further moves to improve the on-field team product. The Braves were better off rebuilding then trying to fix/patch up their team by overpaying players money they don't deserve. You guys should be happy they didn't get some of the players they tried to get because not only are some coming off of injury or are mediocre, they would hurt the Braves' future.

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College sports as we know them are just about dead. The lid is off on all the corruption that taints just about every major program and every decision that the schools or the NCAA make is only about money, money, and more money. We'll have three 16+ team super-conferences sooner rather than later, killing much of the regional flair and traditional rivalries that make college sports unique and showing the door to any school that doesn't bring money to the table in the process. Pretty soon the smaller schools are going to have to consider forming their own sanctioning body to keep the true spirit of college sports alive because the NCAA will only get worse in it's excess from here
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One thing Braves fans can say about this team and the way it was constructed: Yeah, we may have been shafted at times, thinking players were gonna sign here only to go somewhere else, but Frank Wren has had a backup plan for each player. Couldn't sign Smoltz and AJ Burnett? No problem, the Braves got Derek Lowe and that Japanese guy. Couldn't sign Griffey? No problem, Garrett Anderson was available, and is more of an everyday player than Griffey. Couldn't sign Furcal? No problem, Yunel Escobar is no slouch and Kelly Johnson is servicable.

One word can describe the Braves roster: Solid.

The starting rotation: Not spectacular, no natural #1 starter.....but solid.

The bullpen: No big name....but solid.

The projected lineup: Solid.

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One thing Braves fans can say about this team and the way it was constructed: Yeah, we may have been shafted at times, thinking players were gonna sign here only to go somewhere else, but Frank Wren has had a backup plan for each player. Couldn't sign Smoltz and AJ Burnett? No problem, the Braves got Derek Lowe and that Japanese guy. Couldn't sign Griffey? No problem, Garrett Anderson was available, and is more of an everyday player than Griffey. Couldn't sign Furcal? No problem, Yunel Escobar is no slouch and Kelly Johnson is servicable.

One word can describe the Braves roster: Solid.

The starting rotation: Not spectacular, no natural #1 starter.....but solid.

The bullpen: No big name....but solid.

The projected lineup: Solid.

That much is true. I think once Braves fans get over the fact that we missed out on a few big names, they'll realize that we've got a pretty good team that's ready to compete in the tough NL East. We'll be okay, and I still can't wait for Heyward and Hanson to come up.

 

 

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One thing Braves fans can say about this team and the way it was constructed: Yeah, we may have been shafted at times, thinking players were gonna sign here only to go somewhere else, but Frank Wren has had a backup plan for each player. Couldn't sign Smoltz and AJ Burnett? No problem, the Braves got Derek Lowe and that Japanese guy. Couldn't sign Griffey? No problem, Garrett Anderson was available, and is more of an everyday player than Griffey. Couldn't sign Furcal? No problem, Yunel Escobar is no slouch and Kelly Johnson is servicable.

One word can describe the Braves roster: Solid.

The starting rotation: Not spectacular, no natural #1 starter.....but solid.

The bullpen: No big name....but solid.

The projected lineup: Solid.

That much is true. I think once Braves fans get over the fact that we missed out on a few big names, they'll realize that we've got a pretty good team that's ready to compete in the tough NL East. We'll be okay, and I still can't wait for Heyward and Hanson to come up.

I agree. The Braves look good for those of us that follow the team. I am happy with the Anderson signing and I am looking forward to seeing what our new pitchers do. It will be an interesting season. It feels a little bit different when you no longer 'expect' to win.

 
 
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