Former Braves are likely to dominate the National Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2014 more than any team has in quite a while, and Bobby Cox could get the ball rolling Monday when the Veterans Committee announces its selections.
Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre, three of the five winningest managers in major league history, are likely to be voted in by the expansion-era committee from a 12-deep ballot that also had Billy Martin, George Steinbrenner and Marvin Miller.
The announcement will come at 10 a.m. Monday on the opening day of baseball’s annual Winter Meetings at Walt Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin resort.
Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, 300-game winners and cornerstones of Cox’s Braves during an unprecedented run of 14 consecutive division titles, also seem like locks for election to the Hall in their first year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot. Those results will be announced Jan. 8.
“(Cox) certainly deserves it,” Glavine said. “It’s something that, if it happens, those of us who had the opportunity to play for him will certainly be proud of him and know first-hand exactly why he is in the Hall of Fame….
“To have the possibility of three of us going in together, that would be pretty special. You’re not talking about three guys who were together just for a little while. We were together for a large stretch of our career. To have that opportunity to spend such a large part of your career together, then possibly go into the Hall of Fame together, that’s pretty special.”
Another Atlanta icon, the late Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer and columnist Furman Bisher, could be enshrined with the same class. He’s a finalist for the 2014 J.G. Spink Award, along with Roger Angell and Mel Durslag. The winner will be announced Tuesday, and will be recognized in the “Scribes & Mikemen” exhibit in the Library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
It’s uncertain whether the Braves will make significant trades or free-agent signings during the four-day Winter Meetings, which are attended by front-office leaders from all 30 teams, along with players’ agents and hundreds of media members.
The event might seem anticlimactic after last week’s frenzy of trades and free-agent signings, which peaked Tuesday with one of the busiest days of transactions ever outside of Winter Meetings or July trade deadlines. The Braves didn’t make a move Tuesday, but many teams did, including six-free agent signings and trades involving 18 players.
By the end of the week, when Robinson Cano left the Yankees for Seattle and the third-largest contract in history, teams had doled out guaranteed contracts worth almost $700 million to free agents in one five-day stretch that left some team executives shaking their heads over soaring prices — including lucrative deals for some undistinguished players.
“Prices in general have gone in that direction,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said. “It’s one of those markets we feel real fortunate we don’t have to be participants in. We like our club. We will add to it, but we’re not going to hurt our future.”
Wren meant the Braves don’t plan to over-spend on long-term free agent contracts this winter. He also said while they are willing to trade young talent if the right deal arose, they wouldn’t trade their “premium” young players and prospects.
The Braves are still in the market for a veteran starting pitcher and help for their bench and bullpen. “Generally those are the areas we’re looking at,” Wren said. “We’re not overlooking any posssibilities that we think can make us better…. We’ve had a lot of conversations, we’ve been busy really since the GM meetings, talking to clubs and talking to players and putting ourselves in position to add to our team the pieces we feel like would help us best.”
An influx of additional national-network TV revenue – more than $25 million per team –helped fuel last week’s spending spree. But even as early as last month’s General Managers meetings, Wren noted how trade discussions had advanced quicker than a similar point in past offseasons.
“There were a lot of people calling, talking, a lot going on,” Wren said. “There was a lot of preparation work done (early this offseason)…. And I think one of the things that’s a little different, Thanksgiving was a week later. There’s a week less between the holidays, so we really are a week later (in the baseball calendar) than it feels.”
Also, some recent rule changes, such as moving up the deadlines for teams to offer arbitration and for players to decline or accept, appear to have had the desired effect of helping speed up movement in the free-agent market this winter.
