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Friday, January 9, 2009
Braves need to spend, or else
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It comes as no shock or revelation to any of us that the Braves’ is a troubled house, and it didn’t begin with Frank Wren. He is the man in the cross hairs because he bears the title of general manager, bestowed upon him by John Schuerholz, who merely assumed the title of president and moved down the hall — if he moved at all.
It was Schuerholz who gave us three years of a useless Mike Hampton, who made the trade for Mark Teixeira that cost the club five young prospects, then was traded away for a minor leaguer and Casey Kotchman, now the first baseman.
This not to assume the role of apologist for Wren, but it does lead into the rage that has consumed us since learning that John Smoltz has been allowed to slip away to the Red Sox.
The Braves were left with egg of their face when the story broke Wednesday night that Smoltz was taking leave for Beantown. It was a shock to even those who know him best. Chipper Jones was outraged, the proper term, I think. The town was in mourning, that part of it that wasn’t taking the whip to Wren, labeled “penny-pinching” in a headline.
Not taken into consideration is that investing in Smoltz as a productive pitcher in 2009 was a business risk. He had missed the better part of two seasons in the ’90s after Tommy John surgery. Then the old soupbone went again last season after 28 innings — for which the Braves paid him $14 million. Back to the surgeon’s table again, for repairs on an arm now 41 years old.
I had imagined that on his return, the Braves might have made him an offer of $8 million, with conditions. After all, they’d squandered around $40 million on Hampton, the ingrate who had taken flight after the season. Instead, the Braves low-balled him, so Smoltz and his agent felt, about which Terry McGuirk, the club president, had this to say:
“We wanted to make sure he would be able to pitch, and that wouldn’t be until sometime in May. We felt we made a pretty good offer, and in the long run, if all turned out well, he could have had a prosperous season. We had to know if he could pitch or not. It really revolved around what he was going to be paid for not pitching, should it turn out that way. And we already had another pitcher [Tim Hudson] on the sideline until late in the season.”
In effect, Smoltz would have been in line to earn $10 million, had he pitched like the Smoltz of old. Two and a half million guaranteed wasn’t enough, so he and his agent went shopping. It’s free enterprise at work, but the Braves felt as if they had been left holding the bag.
And, let it be said here, that it was not a Wren decision, it was a decision by committee, including McGuirk, Schuerholz, Wren, and, Bobby Cox. Yes, Cox, too. This was sort of a replay of Tom Glavine’s hike to the Mets, when Schuerholz said one thing about an offer he said he had made and Glavine said another. This leads me to say that Braves management sometimes likes to feel that to be a Brave should be considered a blessing. You might say it was at one time, but that time has expired.
It’s a different world now, one in which the Braves are short on experience, as McGuirk pointed out. “We haven’t been active in the free agent market for years. We are now in position to bolster this team, but we have to do it judiciously. It’s a new twist for us.”
It’s not my privilege to be out of sorts with either party. It’s not my money, but it isn’t easy to understand why the Braves’ high command couldn’t have made Smoltz an offer that he didn’t consider “insulting.” Look at the Phillies and how they dealt with Jamie Moyer, 46 years old and a 16-game winner last season. Forty-six and still going — but no surgical risk.
These aren’t Ted Turner days. That’s when Braves were spoiled and Atlanta looked like paradise. Headquarters are now in Denver. They’re media folk. They’re apprentices in the baseball business. I have no inkling of how much they know of the John Smoltz trauma.
Terry McGuirk is their boss on the scene. Frank Wren is their baseball office manager, and the impression has been that since Liberty Media became owners, the Braves had money to burn. OK, fellows, burn some of it before Turner Field becomes the scene of a revolution.
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