You sign a guy like Gomes who will jack him up. And BTW what clubhouse was their to destroy. Who's feelings in the clubhouse were they concerned about? Freddie?
The whole bad clubhouse guy only makes a difference if the negativity is harming the teams ability to win. Those teams weren't going to win anyway.
Bad excuse.
they didn't cut Johnson because that would have been a sunk salary and they were able to trade some money in the short term for quicker payroll flexibility later. That was a good trade. You created quicker payroll relief at short term cost. The Braves then could hold out some hope that the return would be more productive than expected and possibly even flippable if that happened.
I have no objection to that trade and think it was good.
They could have eaten the Upton contract and we know that he never recovered any value really. The Padres ate his deal to ship him off after he was minimally respectable as a fourth OF. He was then cut and possibly out of the majors permanently pretty quickly after that.
It seems apparent that Atlanta valued a shorter term flexibility of payroll at the very least. And if he was a cancer then that was another reason to move him. Real life intruding on numbers there.
Eating his salary or attaching him to Kimbrell is certainly a valid discussion. No one at the time as far as I can tell thought the Braves made a bad decision. Several observers thought it was a clear win.
The clubhouse stories are typical ex-bravesitis
BJ legitimately did suck in the clubhouse. Whether or not that should have been a reason to trade him is debatable. I don't think it really should have been. But as always, these discussions fail to consider what we were then able to use his money on elsewhere.
But BJ sucked in the clubhouse.
While you are not wrong, another way of looking at that might be... If you move an old expensive guy to bring in a young guy who may or may not be any better... but you might catch lightning in a bottle, is the kind of risk that might be worthwhile for a rebuilding team. I don't remember who took their places immediately, but if it was guys who were later traded, or were young and inexpensive then it is not so bad.
If it was Markakis (who came the following year) then at least you got a good clubhouse guy who didn't kill you.
The idea should have been to bring in as many Adonis Garcia's as possible, and use the playing time to find a late bloomer.
Finding one single solitary late bloomer would have been infinitely more valuable than all the contributions from all these old "steady veterans" combined.
Chris Johnson was in good graces because of connection to Larry Wayne Jones Sr. and recommendation from Chippper. Opinions from message board loiterers did not receive careful consideration.
That said, isn't this supposed to be an Acuna thread?
"Yes, I did think Aldrich was good UNTIL I SAW HIM PLAY. "- thethe
It's all conjecture. I remember a couple of times when Fredi pulled him from games and he was visibly upset. That could apply to a lot of guys. I think one of the problems is the team didn't seem to respond to Gonzalez' leadership, but, again, that's all conjecture as well. Melvin just never seemed to be a fit for whatever reason.
It is not conjecture.
thewupk (08-22-2017)