Braves fire GM Wren; Gonzalez’s fate to be determined

One day after being eliminated from the National League wild-card race, the reeling Braves fired general manager Frank Wren on Monday, the first time in nearly a quarter of a century that the organization known for stability fired a GM or manager.

Braves president John Schuerholz fired Wren and assistant general manager Bruce Manno in the morning, and a few hours later sat between longtime former manager Bobby Cox and interim GM John Hart at a news conference at Turner Field, where Schuerholz talked about a desire to get back to the “Braves way” of doing things.

“We just felt like for the well being of our organization, for the well being of our major league team, that the time had come for us to change direction with our baseball operation leadership,” Schuerholz said. “We made that decision to do it today.”

Also Monday, Schuerholz fired Wren’s brother Jeff, a Braves scout and special assistant to the GM.

Cox and Hart, the former Indians and Rangers GM, will serve with Schuerholz on a transition team to hire a new GM and possibly others to lead the baseball operations department. The Braves want a new GM in place before the major league general managers meetings in early November.

Fredi Gonzalez, who has drawn heavy criticism during the second September collapse of his four seasons as manager, was spared the ax at least until a new GM is hired. At a minimum, there are expected to be changes made to the coaching staff.

“It’s common practice that the general manager has a big say in who the manager will be,” Schuerholz said. “… Whoever the new general manager is ought to have that opportunity and that responsibility.”

Cox made it clear that he would be in Gonzalez’s corner. Asked if he would give the next GM a vote of confidence for Gonzalez, Cox said, “Yes, absolutely.”

Wren, 56, was in his seventh season as GM, after serving eight years as assistant GM to Schuerholz before the latter moved into the president’s post following the 2007 season. The Braves fired Wren one day after being swept by the Mets, with Sunday’s loss their eighth in nine games and officially eliminating them from the wild-card race.

“I can’t tell you exactly what period of time, but as we began to examine things in our farm department and our scouting department, our major league club, it was a cumulative thing,” Schuerholz said of the decision to fire Wren. “I made the recommendation and (Braves CEO Terry McGuirk) agreed with it.”

Hart, hired by the Braves as a senior advisor in November, will handle GM duties until one is hired. Hart said the Braves haven’t put together a formal list of candidates yet, but already had 20-25 names to draw from.

Braves assistant GM John Copollela, skilled in scouting and advanced metric statistics, will serve as Hart’s top assistant until a new GM is hired. Copollela also is expected to get at least some consideration for the permanent GM post.

Wren was in his 15th season in the Braves organization. He was fired from his previous major league GM position with the Baltimore after one season in 1999.

Hart, 66, also works as an analyst with MLB Network and said he’s comfortable in his current roles and planned to help pick the next GM, rather than pursue that job himself. Schuerholz smiled and said the door was not closed on Hart possibly being the next GM, but Hart made it clear he doesn’t intend for that to happen.

Wren got a contract extension of unspecified length during spring training. It was believed to have been for two years.

The Braves’ offense has struggled mightily with the roster Wren assembled, which has too many swing-and-miss hitters who haven’t been willing or able to change their approach in situations that demanded it.

With a 4-14 record in September, the Braves have plummeted to 76-79, a year after winning 96 games and the NL East title. Before Monday they were 15 games behind Washington, which clinched the division title last week at Turner Field.

The Braves were a half-game behind the Nationals on July 29, but at that time there had already been discussions among top officials about the direction of the organization under Wren.

“It’s fair to say that by then even, we had some concern,” Schuerholz said. “Bobby and I talked more often about it than anyone else, because we were together in it, in the Braves way, and understand how valuable and important it is, not only for our major league team but for those who helped us build our major league team at the scouting, amateur scouting and player development level.”

Some Braves officials say the team suffered from a lack of veteran leadership, after failing to acquire any players with personalities like recent Braves David Ross, Eric Hinske, Martin Prado, Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones, guys willing to step up and call a meeting if necessary, or to straighten out a situation with another player behind closed doors.

As Braves GM, Wren made several successful trades, waiver claims and low-priced free-agent signings. However, most of his biggest-ticket moves have been major disappointments: He signed center fielder B.J. Upton to a five-year, $75.25 million contract; traded for Dan Uggla and gave him a five-year, $62 million contract extension before the second baseman had ever played an inning for Atlanta; and signed Derek Lowe to a four-year, $60 million contract.

There were also personality clashes between Wren or Manno and other Braves officials over the years, and several valued employees from the baseball operations staff and Braves minor league system left for other organizations. Cox, in his last three years as manager, didn’t have the same harmonious working relationship with Wren that he had with Schuerholz.