I'm as independent a thinker as you're going to come across. In my profession, I have a duty (not just a moral obligation) to question the underpinnings of every decision my client makes. That being said, do you honestly believe you, thewupk, Meta, MFII, (and myself), etc. have access to the same kinds of data and information that the Braves front office does? The answer is no.
FYI it's not just Hart making these decisions.. JC is front and center and is quite good.
First of all,
everyone is smarter than me and has more information than me. If I couldn't criticize people who knew more than I did, I'd live a very boring existence.
Still, I have a brain. Not much of one, perhaps, but I still take a certain amount of pride in being able to use it. I've been watching this game for a long time. Not as long as Schuerholz, Hart and Cox, of course, but long enough that I believe I have a pretty decent sense of what wins games, so I feel qualified in at least trying to come to informed conclusions about transactions.
That said, I acknowledge that there are times when trust in a front office is healthy and wise. Executives with proven track records of success do merit a certain degree of deference. For example, just off the top of my head, if we had a GM who had lifted the franchise from a dark, talent-bereft period where we were relying on the likes of Chuck James, Jorge Campillo and Buddy Carlyle to a point where we won, I don't know, say, 190 games over two seasons, then sure,
that guy would earn some trust and deference. Not unthinking, unblinking trust, but certainly a healthy level of patience and understanding.
But for some reason we don't have that guy. Now, a new front office can quickly earn that level of trust through a series of shrewd moves. Instead, this franchise has:
1. Begged, pleaded, wheedled and cajoled John Hart into the big chair after a four-year run in Texas which saw him average two fewer victories per year than the team won in a season that was so unacceptable it got his predecessor fired
2. Shipped out Kyle Wren in a trade that was utterly unsupportable on baseball grounds as punishment for committing the sin of being Frank Wren's son
3. Traded our best second base option, however flawed and limited, for a sore-armed minor league reliever with an elaborate injury history who hasn't been particularly successful over a full season since 2011
4. Traded arguably our best player and inarguably one of the only three or four hitters on the team worth a damn for an undeniably talented but inconsistent and recently unimpressive young pitcher and a prospect who has spent his career alternating between getting his head kicked in and getting hurt.
5. Gave Jim Johnson a guaranteed major league contract and $1.6 million after a season in which he put up an ERA over 7
6. Gave a 31-year-old middling outfielder a four-year contract for $11 million a year.
Ain't none of that confidence-inspiring. Is it possible Hart and Co. can turn it around and garner a huge return for Upton Magnus? Sure. But I'll believe it when I see it, because this front office has earned nothing more.