Frank Wren is out as the Braves’ general manager, not because he failed to make some nice trades, or struggled to sign good players amid budget constraints, or oversaw a minor league system that produced no talent. He had degrees of success in all three areas.
Wren is out simply because he wasn’t good enough. His big-picture failures outweighed his little-picture successes.
Former general manager John Schuerholz (now the team president) and former manager Bobby Cox (still an adviser) believed the organization they helped build had eroded — from the on-the-field product at the major league level, to scouting and player development, to something as basic as human relationships with front-office staff.
It seemed many people who worked for Wren really didn’t like him. So if there was going to be uncertainty about his future, he probably wouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt.
There also were more tangible factors. The Braves have failed to reach the postseason for the fourth time in Wren’s seven seasons. They never won a playoff round during his tenure. The roster wasn’t bad but clearly had structural deficiencies, like a house built with four bedrooms and one bathroom.
In the view of those who mattered, Wren hadn’t earned the right to fix the problems.
“I’m an empowerer and a delegater and I trust the people I hire,” said Schuerholz, who promoted Wren from assistant in 2007. “If it works, great. If it doesn’t work, you try something else.”
Wren didn’t work out. He inherited a difficult situation — an aging and bloated roster, with a payroll ceiling that had been lowered by ownership. He had to deal with the fallout of the Mark Teixiera trade and rebuild the pitching staff. He had to move the Braves from their past to their future.
He did a lot right. But the mistakes he made were significant and expensive. This isn’t Los Angeles, New York or Boston. There is going to be a ripple effect when a team overspends on B.J. Upton, Dan Uggla, Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami because, unlike with the Dodgers, Yankees or Red Sox, the general manager can’t just go to Nordstrom and continue shopping at full retail to make up for it.
"You can make a mistake," Braves CEO Terry McGuirk said recently. "You just can't make a lot of mistakes. Small-market teams can make very few mistakes. The big guys … can afford to make big mistakes. We don't have that luxury."
Schuerholz acknowledged the decisions this winter “are big. They’re crucial.”
They’re well beyond whether Fredi Gonzalez should be kept as manager. Should Justin Upton or Jason Heyward be traded a year before free agency? Should catcher Evan Gattis be dealt or moved to a different position to make room for Christian Bethancourt? How should this strikeout heavy, on-base-percentage-emaciated lineup be fixed?
“It will be the leadership position that guides and takes this organization to where it needs to be,” Schuerholz said.
It became clear Monday that Schuerholz, Cox and interim general manager John Hart have been concerned about direction for some time. Schuerholz called the reasons for the firing “cumulative.”
The fact the Braves hired Hart in November as an adviser after a long career with Cleveland and Texas should be a hint
Schuerholz and Cox frequently touched on minor league development in the news conference. The usually talent-rich Braves don’t have many top prospects left in the system. In Wren’s defense, several players have been called up, and the Braves have one of the youngest rosters in the majors.
Schuerholz believes the “Braves way” of doing things has been dinged.
“It needs to be reinforced, reinvigorated,” he said.
He defined the “Braves way” as identifying and developing young players “who want to become part of your organization with great comfort and expectation that they’ll be taught well, instructed well and fill the pipeline of this organization.”
Just a hunch though: If the parent club was more successful, Wren would still have a job and the Braves would find another way to fix the organization’s other perceived problems. But when B.J. Upton is $30 million into a $75 million contract, hitting .197 as a Brave, and the team is 76-79 and assured of its worst finish since Wren’s first season (72-90 in 2008), it makes the decision easy.
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