AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2005 > December > 19
Monday, December 19, 2005
A few mill could have helped a lot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When Terry McGuirk says the Braves have found a “sweet spot” with an $80 million payroll, I understand what he’s saying. But I also cringe a bit. And this offseason illustrates the cringe part.
It’s hard to argue with McGuirk’s assessment of that payroll figure as a “sweet spot” — the Braves have continued winning division titles with a payroll that’s $20 mill below what it was a few years ago, and McGuirk says the reduction forced them to better utilize their rich farm system, which resulted in several Atlanta-area rookies arriving and recapturing the fans’ interest. What part of that equation can be disputed? It’s sound reasoning.
But this winter we’re witnessing the major downfall with that self-determined payroll limit. And that is, it’s just low enough to handcuff the man many experts and most peers consider the best GM in baseball, although John Schuerholz would never say so publicly (that he’s the best or that it’s handcuffed him).
Just imagine what Schuerholz could have done this winter with merely another $10 mill (I say merely because it’s easy to spend others’ money, of course), or another $15 mill (still wouldn’t have put the Braves’ budget as high as it was four years ago). To Time Warner, $10 million or $15 million isn’t a drop in the bucket; it’s a drop in the ocean.
To Schuerholz, however, another $15 mill probably would have allowed him to have all the Braves’ priority needs filled by now. They could have raised their bid to Kyle Farnsworth by another couple mill and matched the Yankees’ offer (and if Farnsworth still turned down the opportunity to close for the Braves in order to be a setup man for the Yankees, then we’d know for certain that mentally he wasn’t up to closing anyway).
Or he could have added $5 mill to an offer for another closer, be it Trevor Hoffman or Bob Wickman or whomever. Perhaps they could even have made a competitive bid for Billy Wagner, who was openly longing to pitch for Atlanta (though I think they’d have needed more because the Mets so overspent on Wagner in terms of contract length).
If the Braves wanted to keep Furcal bad enough, they could have added $7 mill or so to their original offer, got it to four years and $39 mill, and probably had him signed before the Dodgers ever even made their over-the-top $39 mill, three-year proposal. As it turned out, I really think the Braves ended up recovering impressively, thanks to Schuerholz and asst. GM Frank Wren’s work in getting Renteria for a ridiculously low $6 mill per year for the next three seasons.
But it still doesn’t answer their leadoff question, and now they might end up crossing their fingers and hoping Marcus Giles can excel at the top of the lineup — he very well could, but you’d sure prefer to go to spring training with a proven leadoff man, right?
Finally, if the Braves had another $10 mill or $15 mill, they could have added another bat this past week, either by topping the $6 mill-plus-incentives offer that Nomar accepted with the Dodgers, or at least by merely topping the $1.5-plus-incentives offer that it looks like Jeff Conine will sign with Baltimore. No, Conine’s not a starter anymore, but look at his numbers last year, and you realize he’d be a nice complement while splitting time platooning with LaRoche and playing left field.
Nomar could really have helped a lot, since he seems determined to have a rebound year so he can hit it big with one last huge free-agent contract after this season. Imagine if he stayed healthy — OK, it might take a lot of imagination — and hit over .300 with 20 homers and 80-90 RBIs. Nothing out of the realm or possibility, certainly. But wouldn’t that have been a big boon for the Braves, with him splitting time at LF, 1B and being able to back up 3B, SS and 2B?
But we digress. Fact of the matter is, a $90-95 mill payroll entering the offseason would have allowed Schuerholz to do a lot of things, instead of missing out on one free agent after another.
Which brings me back to the “sweet spot” logic. While it’s hard to argue with the results, it’s also dangerous to assume that all those kids who stepped up and surpassed expectations last season — Francoeur, McCann; even Betemit, Orr, Boyer and McBride — can all repeat or improve upon those results. To me, the sweet spot worked for the Braves for one main reason — Bobby Cox. Plain and simple.
(An aside: Don’t even start with the infantile stories about Cox or the emotional criticisms of the man who’s won the NL Manager of the Year award each of the past two years. Outside this blog and the vocal minority of Cox critics, those who might know a little more about judging a manager — past and present players, GMs, Hall of Fame baseball columnists and agenda-pushing, ink-stained baseball beat writers from other towns — shake their heads or laugh uncontrollably when I tell them, with a straight face, that there are some in Atlanta who would fire Cox for losing in the first round of the playoffs so many times.)
But that’s another story (should be enough to get a couple of particular bloggers going though; boys, please just try to come up with something original this time before you spew forth your bile until they shut down this blog post).
(Oh, and what’s-your-name, you know who you are, please try to refrain from any not-so-subtle hissy fits, veiled racist comments or inane bring-back-Rocker references, just this one week. Please).
OK, now quickly to the hottest topic in Braves Nation, as it were: The sale of the team. We’ll just open it up for more conversation and opinions, since so many of you feel strongly about this and don’t really need any more prodding. I thought Jeff Schultz wrote a damn fine column on the subject last week, and Tom Stinson and some of our business writers wrote some strong stories quoting experts, pointing out how the track record for dual ownership of NFL/MLB is very limited and not very good — Wayne Huizenga, anyone? — and how individual ownership isn’t always the ideal situation. But I also understand the infatuation some Atlantans have with Arthur Blank, and fully expect dozens more of you to assert here that he’s the answer to getting the Braves back to the World Series, etc.
(And to the person in these blogs who’s convinced — to the point of obsession — that the team’s already worked out a deal with Blank, sorry, but we still have to report what’s actually being said — or not said — by the parties involved, rather than dismissing it all because someone wrote or said that Blank’s been talking to the Braves about buying the team.)
I do wonder, though, on the subject of Falcons ticket prices — because this was pointed out by a few bloggers last week — whether those who still point to Blank’s immediate slashing of Falcons’ tix a few years back as the greatest thing any Atlanta owner ever did … do you folks realize that he’s raised them two or three times since, back to the original level and higher in many cases? Just wondering.
Also, just so I’m clear on the walks-on-water view of Blank: Would it be OK for the Braves to make the playoffs every other year? To get to the NLCS one year, then finish at or just above .500 and out of the playoffs the next?
Or are we still in the Blank ownership honeymoon with the Falcons, where going to the playoffs every other year is fine because they were so awful for so long? Again, just curious. Because as I watched every minute of the Falcons game last night, I was just thinking, is that it? That team right now represents the resurgence and rags-to-riches story that Atlanta fans are so enamored over? OK, I guess. I just don’t quite get it. But maybe that’s me. Seems like it’s been a pretty mediocre and uninspiring season, but hey, maybe I’m just a cynic.
