LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Braves' contract-extension spree continued Wednesday, only this time it was the guys who make out the lineup cards and the personnel moves getting re-signed.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez and general manager Frank Wren each signed contract extensions, the terms of which the Braves said they won’t disclose. The two were entering the final year of their current deals, and president John Schuerholz said the Braves wanted to get them extended now. It means both are signed through at least 2015.
“They’ve done wonderful jobs for us and we’re glad we were able to get that done,” Schuerholz said, standing in front of the dugout at Champion Stadium as the Braves stretched before their first full-squad workout. “We’re not going to talk about the terms. But they have been extended.”
In the past two weeks Wren signed four young of their young players to contract extensions worth a guaranteed $227.7 million, including a club-record eight-year, $135 million deal for first baseman Freddie Freeman. The increased spending is part of a big plan to secure their core players to multi-year deals as the team prepares to move to a new ballpark in Cobb County in 2017, where they anticipate significantly increased revenue streams.
“I love being here, and I love being a part of what we’re doing,” said Wren, 57, who is in his seventh season as GM after previously serving as Schuerholz’s assistant GM. “I’m excited about it.”
The Braves won 96 games last season and their first division title since 2005, and Gonzalez was third in balloting for National League manager of the year.
“I’m excited about it,” Gonzalez said. “Getting a chance to stay here, place you like to be, place you want to be for a long time. I’m really happy with the whole thing.”
In three seasons since replacing legendary manager Bobby Cox after Cox retired, Gonzalez’s teams have a 279-207 record. They’ve increased their wins total each of the past two seasons since a September collapse in 2011 cost them a playoff berth on the last day of the season.
“Freddie’s done a good job,” Wren said. “I continue to see him growing. You win 96 games, and we’ve won more games over the last three or four years than any team in the National League, so I think it’s all a function of people doing good jobs. And Freddie’s done a real good job.
“I continue to see (Gonzalez) get more and more comfortable. It was a hard spot that he was put in, following Bobby. It’s gotten to the point now where I think people really recognize what a good job he’s doing.”
The Braves were beaten in the NL Wild Card game in 2012 and lost to the Dodgers in in the 2013 division series, when Gonzalez drew criticism for not using All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel in the eighth inning of the decisive Game 4. Reliever David Carpenter blew a one-run lead when he gave up a Yasiel Puig double and a Juan Uribe homer in that inning, as Kimbrel stood on the bullpen mound, warmed up and visibly upset at not being brought in.
Gonzalez, 50, was a former third-base coach under Cox and has a 555-486 record in 6-1/2 seasons as a major league manager, including 3-1/2 seasons with the Marlins before he was fired in June 2010. He replaced Cox that October.
Schuerholz was asked if the Braves wanted to avoid having their manager and general manager as “lame ducks” in 2013, hence the extensions before the season began.
“That’s not something we wanted to avoid, it’s just not the way to run a company,” he said. “And these guys deserve more than that, better than that, and that’s why we did it.”
When asked about the Braves not disclosing the contract lengths, Wren said, “We chose not to discuss any of the details because we didn’t want that to be the story, whether now or in the future. We’re not the story. The story is right there on the field with the players. And so, you don’t want those types of distractions going forward. So I think everybody’s happy – we’re extended and looking forward to the season.”
Perhaps, but there is also the possibility that not disclosing the length of the contracts will only lead to speculation about it and have the opposite effect — making it a bigger issue than it might otherwise have been.
