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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Moore’s exit from Braves not a good sign
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
The safest bet in professional sports has been that the Braves will finish first over 162 games, but suddenly an air of uncertainty hangs over this sure thing. Key people are leaving for jobs with lousy franchises. Both organizational linchpins are 65, and no succession plan exists. With ownership subject to change any minute, how could it?
Dayton Moore, the man atop the famous farm system, just became Kansas City’s general manager. This comes seven months after Leo Mazzone, the most celebrated pitching coach ever, bolted for Baltimore. Yes, there are mitigating circumstances galore — Mazzone doubled his salary to work for his longtime pal; Moore is a Kansas native — but the cold reality is that the men chiefly responsible for pitching and player development, the twin staples these past 15 years, are gone.
“He’ll be missed,” manager Bobby Cox said of Moore. “He’s just super. Everything runs smooth when he’s around.”
Nothing lasts forever: We on the periphery keep saying as much, and somehow the Braves keep finishing first and making us look silly. While the end of the run of consecutive division titles might not be at hand — the Mets have come back to the pack — the signals suggest they’re much closer to the end than the beginning.
Cox and John Schuerholz, the best in their business, are under contract only through next season. Nobody seriously believes that any manner of new owner would sweep either man aside, but it’s unclear how much longer these two will choose to stay employed.
Would Mazzone, who reveres Cox, have left for any amount of money had this manager been 10 years younger? Would Moore, who apparently had nosed ahead of Frank Wren in the in-house Schuerholz succession sweepstakes, have been open to offers if Time Warner wasn’t itself accepting bids?
Said Moore: “I know a lot’s been speculated, but this had nothing to do with the ownership change or how long John Schuerholz is going to be the GM.”
Maybe it didn’t. But when two fixtures of a franchise in conspicuous flux reach what is for many retirement age, those around them have to wonder what’s what. And nobody knows, not even the men themselves.
When someone suggested he and Schuerholz can’t go on forever, Cox scrunched up his face. “Why can’t we?” But all he’d say about his vocational plan was, “I honestly don’t know. … I’m good through next year.”
And the GM’s exit strategy? “I’d like to go out feet-first,” Schuerholz said. Then, seriously: “I keep having to remind myself that I’m 65 and I should be slowing down and should be growing weary. But I’m not, and I’m not.”
Schuerholz insisted Moore didn’t seek an assurance that he’d be the next general manager here if he stayed. “It’s dangerous to make those kind of promises,” Schuerholz said. It’s doubly dangerous when a team isn’t sure who (or what) will be paying the freight.
“The team’s being sold,” said Jeff Francoeur, who was drafted by Moore and has become a close friend. “Anything can happen. You hear that people are looking at us as an investment. … You’d hate to think what’s happening in Florida would happen to us.”
The good news: It won’t. The Marlins are a struggling team housed in a football stadium in an iffy market. The Braves are proven winners in a spiffy ballpark in a city that has proven it will support them. Even so, the question of ownership only deepens the intrigue. For 15 years, the Braves have worked under clear and inspired leadership. Beyond the horizon, who knows?
Sounding as if he were preparing the PowerPoint presentation for the Braves’ next executive retreat, Schuerholz shrugged off the loss of Moore and projected “a seamless transition from today’s Braves to tomorrow’s Braves.” Over the past 15 years, Schuerholz has seldom been wrong — OK, there was Albie Lopez — but he’s wrong about this.
Those seams? They’re showing.
Permalink | Comments (39) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Mark Bradley
Cuban the ultimate Maverick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
No question, these are the most interesting NBA playoffs in years. For instance: You’ve had LeBron James continuing his habit of maturing and impressing every moment. You’ve had the Clippers forgetting that they are the Clippers.
Now you have this wonderful track meet between the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks that will last until the final seconds of Game 7. Plus, Pat Riley and Shaq are trying to relive their old glory with the Miami Heat, and the Detroit Pistons are trying to show that their greatness isn’t just a figment of their imaginations.
Here’s another reason these playoffs are so riveting: Mark Cuban. You don’t know what the owner of the Mavericks will do next. Go nose-to-nose with a referee after a bad call. Order lobster for all those watching the next Dallas home game. Arrive at midcourt in a space ship.
Although Cuban’s nemesis, commissioner David Stern, won’t admit it, Cuban’s unpredictability is good for the sport. No, great. Just as long as he doesn’t land that space ship on somebody’s head.
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
