Be warned. We’re about to embark on a Braves season unlike any we’ve known since … well, since never. We’ve seen the Braves be really bad and really good, but not since they arrived in Atlanta in 1966 have they cared so little about being good in the here and now. Tomorrow might well be better. Today stands to be lousy.
As a concept, retrenching/retreating sounds OK. The Braves’ farm system had gone barren, and the new management — much of which looks like the old management, it must be said — spent the winter working to spruce things up. If you’re a fan of the Rome Braves, you’re in for a treat. If you’re a fan of the actual Atlanta Braves, you might want to tune out until 2017.
As you’ve heard, the Braves are moving to Cobb County. Drive north of Cumberland Mall on Cobb Parkway and you’ll see the wire fences and the cranes and the dirt and the signs proclaiming this parcel of real estate the future site of SunTrust Park. Every week the Braves announce another spiffy innovation that will take hold once they settle into their new digs. Trouble is, they won’t settle until 2017. There’s a ways to go before then.
The trouble with targeting 2017 as the date for both relocation and rebirth is that the 2015 and 2016 seasons — 162 home dates in lame-duck Turner Field — must be negotiated. The Braves have given their constituency every reason not to buy tickets for the next two years, and it’s not as if all that many folks were buying in the first place.
The Braves ranked 18th in attendance last season, a drop from the 13th of 2013. That’s not surprising: The team went from winning 96 games in 2013 to losing 83 last year. But ranking only 13th with a team that finished with the third-best record in the majors was fairly chilling. Even as the Braves won the National League East by 10 games, they remained a mid-table draw.
That’s one of the reasons they’re leaving Atlanta. Not enough people cared enough to come watch them at Turner Field. From 2004 through 2014, here’s where they finished in attendance: 14th, 16th, 14th, 14th, 14th, 15th, 13th, 15th, 15th, 13th and 18th. That’s 11 years of almost no growth but no real decline — until last season, which didn’t turn awful until the end. (The Braves were tied for first at the All-Star break, let’s recall.)
It will be no shock if attendance falls off the figurative table this summer. The Braves have divested themselves of Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Evan Gattis, Kris Medlen, Ervin Santana, Aaron Harang, Brandon Beachy and Tommy La Stella. Most of the players they’ve received in return aren’t major-league ready. With barely two weeks left in spring training, it was unclear who would start at second base and how the Braves would fill out a starting outfield.
As ever, Melvin Upton Jr. — the center fielder formerly known as B.J. — became a flashpoint. He hurt his foot and was scheduled to miss the beginning of the regular season. Not so long ago, news that the outperforming Upton couldn’t play would have set fans to rejoicing; with this depleted roster, he’s actually needed.
Even when Bobby Cox was the general manager rebuilding around young pitching, the Braves never knowingly rendered themselves so flimsy. There was always Dale Murphy as a cornerstone — in the winter of 1988, Cox tabled a Murphy trade that would have brought Lenny Dykstra, Howard Johnson and Rick Aguilera because the GM wanted pitcher David West, too — and the Braves would buy the occasional big-ticket free agent.
Bruce Sutter arrived in 1985, having signed for $44 million over six seasons (and many years in deferred payments); he developed a sore arm and managed 40 saves as a Brave. Nick Esasky signed in November 1989 for $5.7 million over three years; he lasted nine games, his career ended by vertigo. Cox also traded Steve Bedrosian and Milt Thompson for Ozzie Virgil and Pete Smith; two years later Bedrosian won the Cy Young with the Phillies.
We remember the famous Doyle Alexander/John Smoltz deadline trade of 1987 as a case study in short-term benefit (Alexander helped Detroit win its division) against long-term gain (Smoltz will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer), but that was really the only time Cox as GM authored a hugely profitable sell-off. When finally he traded Murphy, it was 1990 and the Braves could get only Jeff Parrett, Jim Vatcher and Victor Rosario in return.
The point being: Those Braves were terrible, but they weren’t terrible by design. They were actually trying to win. With these Braves, the emphasis isn’t on winning. (When you hire retreads Jonny Gomes and A.J. Pierzynski and laud them for “grit” and “intangibles,” you’re scraping the bottom of ye olde barrel.)
This team has basically told its audience, “Check back with us in a couple of years.” Left unclear is how much of an audience will remain.
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