Rosenthal Argues That Wren Wasn't a Drooling Moron

[MadduxFanII]

Robothal has a new column up in which he defends Wren and says that the farm system wasn't the catastrophe it was made out to be.

[Julio3000]

Heresy. Present yourself to the Tribunal.

[thethe]

He uses a false argument in the productivity of the farm during Wren's tenure even though a large part of that success was attributable to Roy Clarks drafting.

But, Wren did produce Simmons/Wood/Gattis and should be commended for that. There are others as well but the farm needs to continually be replenished and by every reporting outlet it was clear the Braves farm was in dire straights at the same time they were about to lose a lot of top end talent from the major league club.

[MadduxFanII]

Heresy. Present yourself to the Tribunal.

I am not obsolete!

[thewupk]

He's just mad we traded Heyward

[The Chosen One]

He uses a false argument in the productivity of the farm during Wren's tenure even though a large part of that success was attributable to Roy Clarks drafting.

But, Wren did produce Simmons/Wood/Gattis and should be commended for that. There are others as well but the farm needs to continually be replenished and by every reporting outlet it was clear the Braves farm was in dire straights at the same time they were about to lose a lot of top end talent from the major league club.

Different priorities. Remember that we drafted Heyward early because we sucked in 2006. Or we drafted Minor early cause we sucked in 08.

Wren had a core in place and was trying to fill in the rest with big league pieces. If BJ and Uggla produced even 2/3 of their career norms frank is still GM likely.

[gilesfan]

He uses a false argument in the productivity of the farm during Wren's tenure even though a large part of that success was attributable to Roy Clarks drafting.

But, Wren did produce Simmons/Wood/Gattis and should be commended for that. There are others as well but the farm needs to continually be replenished and by every reporting outlet it was clear the Braves farm was in dire straights at the same time they were about to lose a lot of top end talent from the major league club.

You spent months arguing with me how great the Braves farm system was and that they always produce pitchers so need not worry.

Wren gets fired and all of a sudden the farm system was on life support.

[MadduxFanII]

He uses a false argument in the productivity of the farm during Wren's tenure even though a large part of that success was attributable to Roy Clarks drafting.

But Wren was a key part of the front office before ascending to the GM's chair. I won't even pretend to be able to apportion credit for the pre-2008 drafts among the various participants, but Wren wasn't taking tickets down at Gate 3. He played at least some meaningful role in those years, or else he wouldn't have been Schuerholz's handpicked successor.

[The Chosen One]

And unless we get an injection of money from Liberty the days of the Braves dominating farm systems like the 90s and early 2000s is done. Teams learned from the Braves model of scouting and international scouting in the 90s and now every team does what we did. The Cubs have an Academy in the Dominican so they can get first dibs on whatever they discover down there. We don't have anything like that and we could lose the monopoly on curucao players too.

[thethe]

Different priorities. Remember that we drafted Heyward early because we sucked in 2006. Or we drafted Minor early cause we sucked in 08.

Wren had a core in place and was trying to fill in the rest with big league pieces. If BJ and Uggla produced even 2/3 of their career norms frank is still GM likely.

You aren't wrong but Freeman was also a second round pick and Teheran was signed internationally. All the players traded for Bourn I believe were Roy Clark drafted players (could be wrong about that). You have to continue to produce from the farm. Even if it was a farm that was considered in the middle third of baseball that would be fine. It was almost the worst system in baseball and it all came to a tipping point because of the impending free agency of Heyward/Upton.

Also, Wren shouldn't get a pass because Uggla/Upton sucked. Thats even more of a reason to blame him. He signed those guys.

[sturg33]

You spent months arguing with me how great the Braves farm system was and that they always produce pitchers so need not worry.

Wren gets fired and all of a sudden the farm system was on life support.

This did happen

[thethe]

You spent months arguing with me how great the Braves farm system was and that they always produce pitchers so need not worry.

Wren gets fired and all of a sudden the farm system was on life support.

Hard to argue with every independent outlet. Last year was a brutal year for the farm.

[sturg33]

they might not have needed to trade for right-hander Trevor Cahill, a move that will cost them $5.5 million but also helped land them the No. 75 pick in the draft.

Did we get a pick? I thought we didn't

[thethe]

But Wren was a key part of the front office before ascending to the GM's chair. I won't even pretend to be able to apportion credit for the pre-2008 drafts among the various participants, but Wren wasn't taking tickets down at Gate 3. He played at least some meaningful role in those years, or else he wouldn't have been Schuerholz's handpicked successor.

Sure, Wren had a role in the organization but the structure was to always let the scouts and player personel guys do their work in picking the players. I think Wren should get credit/blame with mlb acquisitions and not amateur scouting while he was in the assistant GM chair.

[thethe]

Did we get a pick? I thought we didn't

They got a competitive balance pick in the deal.

[sturg33]

They got a competitive balance pick in the deal.

I thought that was initially thought but then it was determined we didn't.

[thethe]

I thought that was initially thought but then it was determined we didn't.

The portion which included Victor Reyes was not initially reported. Those "two" trades were really one.

[thewupk]

Did we get a pick? I thought we didn't

Yeah it wasn't confirmed until a few days later and actually reported in some places as a seperate deal.

[sturg33]

The portion which included Victor Reyes was not initially reported. Those "two" trades were really one.

I must've totally missed this

[thethe]

I must've totally missed this

You're forgiven. You were just made about Heyward being traded.

Now your whole perception should change. Join John ^2 team!