McGuirk: Coppella Exit Like Cutting ‘Cancer’ To Move Ahead

[Enscheff]

Melvin was coming off a 20/30 season. Had posted wrc+ years of 108, 113, and 107. Was a 3+ war player for 3 straight years in his prime. Saying he was bad prior to coming here is revisionist history.

Signing BJ wasn’t a terrible move. It was terrible because the Braves set their sights on him early and then bid against themselves until they paid him way more than any other team was offering.

[Enscheff]

It is rather amusing watching people defend Coppy as if he was somehow better than Wren.

Wren built a consistent winner (kinda) on an increasingly low end payroll, while Coppy acquired a bunch of pitching prospects (none of whom have panned out yet) and got permanently banned from the sport.

Pretty clear who the superior GM was.

[bravesfanMatt]

He overpaid slightly and I wouldn't have gone the extra year but those are generally minor grievances. If Melvin had continued to be a 3+ WAR player nobody would be complaining and I seriously doubt anyone projected him to fall off that badly either.

That mystery will never be solved. He should have been at least a serviceable player but was horrid.

[CyYoung31]

think they were equally poor all-around

How many playoff appearances did Coppellela have? How many winning seasons?

How many times did Wren cheat and commit fraud?

[thethe]

Wren 'built' a winner. Hysterical.

[Super]

How many playoff appearances did Coppellela have? How many winning seasons?

How many times did Wren cheat and commit fraud?

That's such a silly thing to compare. coppy was hired to oversee a rebuild after wren failed to do anything with the solid group of players he was handed. color me shocked that we didn't go to the playoffs during a rebuild. meanwhile, our playoff teams were carried by players that wren didn't even acquire.

[thewupk]

Wren 'built' a winner. Hysterical.

I agree. Having one of the winningest teams over a 4-5 year period is horrible. Boo this man.

[thethe]

I agree. Having one of the winningest teams over a 4-5 year period is horrible. Boo this man.

How'd he get that core again that drove the winning?

[thewupk]

That's such a silly thing to compare. coppy was hired to oversee a rebuild after wren failed to do anything with the solid group of players he was handed. color me shocked that we didn't go to the playoffs during a rebuild. meanwhile, our playoff teams were carried by players that wren didn't even acquire.

But our next playoff team will be :)

[thewupk]

How'd he get that core again that drove the winning?

As assistant GM I'm sure he was involved in the process.

[Super]

But our next playoff team will be :)

where would the rebuild be if we only had just albies and acuna

[Super]

I agree. Having one of the winningest teams over a 4-5 year period is horrible. Boo this man.

never a serious contender.
couldn't build around a solid core.
no farm system to speak of.

i choose to also give wren credit for boston's recent success. just a winning guy.

[thewupk]

where would the rebuild be if we only had just albies and acuna

In the same place.

[CyYoung31]

That's such a silly thing to compare. coppy was hired to oversee a rebuild after wren failed to do anything with the solid group of players he was handed. color me shocked that we didn't go to the playoffs during a rebuild. meanwhile, our playoff teams were carried by players that wren didn't even acquire.

Exactly. Wren was successful at what he was tasked to do (field winning teams), Cop underperformed with what he was tasked to do (maximize value on existing assets and oversee a reasonably quick rebuild). Add him crippling our international prospects now and for years to come, and there’s no way anyone can say they were “equally bad” with a straight face.

[thethe]

As assistant GM I'm sure he was involved in the process.

I doubt he had any oversight on Roy clark. Suggesting that is crazy my friend. The period of winning had all to do with clark and his staff. The fact we didn't win a world series with the amount of young talent drafted/developed is an indictment on wrens tenure

[bravesfanMatt]

I doubt he had any oversight on Roy clark. Suggesting that is crazy my friend. The period of winning had all to do with clark and his staff. The fact we didn't win a world series with the amount of young talent drafted/developed is an indictment on wrens tenure

Who should be inditited for the fact the Braves only won one WS with five HOF talents on the same team.

[thethe]

Who should be inditited for the fact the Braves only won one WS with five HOF talents on the same team.

JS for sure. He never addresses the needs in the bullpen. But running into the great Yankee dynasty is nothing to be ashamed about. We at least went to many world series.

[thewupk]

I doubt he had any oversight on Roy clark. Suggesting that is crazy my friend. The period of winning had all to do with clark and his staff. The fact we didn't win a world series with the amount of young talent drafted/developed is an indictment on wrens tenure

Troll statement. Anything can happen in the playoffs and you know that. I guess Wren should be criticized for the wild card loss where Chipper made the error and the infield fly rule as well. Or for Bobby not staying with Kimbrel against the Giants or Freddi for not using him against the Dodgers.

[DirkPiggler]

Sadly Wren was never given the chance at a rebuild on either end of his tenure here. Oh well. Luckily it looks like the people responsible for all these shenanigans are gone and AA has complete control of the team. Hoping that's the case anyways.

This always seemed to be the crux of Jeff Wren's complaints about the Braves after his brother got the axe and was scapegoated. Frank was never allowed to tear everything down and start over. All he was allowed to do was to try to keep winning on a shoestring budget.

I'm not at all saying that I think Wren was a great GM. The Upton and Lowe contracts (mainly the 4th year on Lowe) and the Johnson and Uggla extensions make a solid case that Wren did a poor job managing available resources. But it's not really fair to judge the farm system he left given that he was under a mandate from above to win division titles with a less-than-competitive payroll. He pretty much had to use high draft picks on guys that appeared close to ML ready, rather than going after high upside guys who would require significant development.

The Braves would've been much better off had Schuerholz retired gracefully when his GM days were over.

[clvclv]

Call me crazy, but if Wren had the chance to deal Heyward, Upton, Simmons, Kimbrel, Wood, Gattis, Peraza and had 3 years of high draft picks, I'd suspect our farm system would be better than it is today

I won't go so far as to say "would be", but that's an awful lot of talent to move, and I don't doubt he'd have done well too.

(How on earth did this devolve into a Wren thread anyway???)