Braves president John Hart: “It’s not like I’m breaking up the ’27 Yankees” ....

Carp said:
If we had LA money, surely Heyward would still be.
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I don't know that the organization viewed him as worthy of a substantial long-term investment.

The Braves have money, the team is on the high-end of the middle market. I don't buy, for a second, the argument that the Braves could not afford Heyward (if they wanted to).
 
I think the Braves have made smart moves to this point. Good value moves. Trading for and signing guys that are maybe not at their elite values and trading away players that are at their peak values at least since Hart has been here. Classic money ball stuff. I can truly see the Coppolella influence.

Hart's comments are candid across the board, not just about bad contracts and the lame farm system. Very candid about what's going on with Justin Upton and candid about planning for 2017 and what their overall vision is. While there is some implied grump about how Wren put him in a tough position, I don't really see him being mean spirited in anyway. He's just trying to explain why he's doing what he's doing. How is he supposed to explain without saying, well we need to improve our farm system and we need to dump crap contracts? I mean the Braves have a crap farm system and a couple of bad contracts they can't get rid of. It is what it is and this is the reason that they can't give an exorbitant contract to J Hey.

I think some of the Hart grumps are a bit unfair.
 
nsacpi said:
So is Hart mortgaging the future if he lets Justin play out his remaining year with us with no extension?
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Depends on what offers he has for Upton. If the potential return isn't more valuable than the pick, then you don't trade him.
 
Could always trade Justin mid season if we aren't doing well. In theory he would net less of a return then but teams are more desperate.
 
goldfly said:
he might not be breaking up the 27 yanks

but he is getting rid of the players that aren't the problem
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Yeah I guess it's so easy to get rid of garbage players. I am sure teams are blowing up his phone asking how they can get our CFer.
 
Hawk said:
I don't know that the organization viewed him as worthy of a substantial long-term investment.

The Braves have money, the team is on the high-end of the middle market. I don't buy, for a second, the argument that the Braves could not afford Heyward (if they wanted to).
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It may seem like the Braves have money compared to other teams. But when you consider the rising costs of even average players, it becomes clear that it is still hard to keep your better players around on a budget, without trimming the fat in other areas.

Could we have kept Heyward on our current budget? May be. But we'd have had to cut costs elsewhere. And our rotation would have been trash unless Sims and/or Hursh panned out.
 
weso1 said:
I think the Braves have made smart moves to this point. Good value moves. Trading for and signing guys that are maybe not at their elite values and trading away players that are at their peak values at least since Hart has been here. Classic money ball stuff. I can truly see the Coppolella influence.

Hart's comments are candid across the board, not just about bad contracts and the lame farm system. Very candid about what's going on with Justin Upton and candid about planning for 2017 and what their overall vision is. While there is some implied grump about how Wren put him in a tough position, I don't really see him being mean spirited in anyway. He's just trying to explain why he's doing what he's doing. How is he supposed to explain without saying, well we need to improve our farm system and we need to dump crap contracts? I mean the Braves have a crap farm system and a couple of bad contracts they can't get rid of. It is what it is and this is the reason that they can't give an exorbitant contract to J Hey.

I think some of the Hart grumps are a bit unfair.
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Nailed it.
 
weso1 said:
I think the Braves have made smart moves to this point. Good value moves. Trading for and signing guys that are maybe not at their elite values and trading away players that are at their peak values at least since Hart has been here. Classic money ball stuff. I can truly see the Coppolella influence.

Hart's comments are candid across the board, not just about bad contracts and the lame farm system. Very candid about what's going on with Justin Upton and candid about planning for 2017 and what their overall vision is. While there is some implied grump about how Wren put him in a tough position, I don't really see him being mean spirited in anyway. He's just trying to explain why he's doing what he's doing. How is he supposed to explain without saying, well we need to improve our farm system and we need to dump crap contracts? I mean the Braves have a crap farm system and a couple of bad contracts they can't get rid of. It is what it is and this is the reason that they can't give an exorbitant contract to J Hey.

I think some of the Hart grumps are a bit unfair.
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dhMeAzK.gif
 
keithlaw said:
It is easy to get rid of garbage players. Its not easy to get rid of their salaries.
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I'm thinking of giving Dan Uggla a cribbage board for Christmas and then giving Melvin Upton a deck of cards in hopes that they can spend many hours together plying their skills at that task as opposed to taking up space on a baseball diamond. The problem is, both guys would try to use the cribbage board as a bat seeing that their performance is miserable with regulation lumber.
 
goldfly said:
he might not be breaking up the 27 yanks

but he is getting rid of the players that aren't the problem
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Unfortunately you nor I can say that with certainty. Look we all want BJ gone, but somebody has to want him to make it happen and nobody in their right mind is gonna take that scrub at this point. Wren put us in bad shape with those contracts and the bills are due. We honestly have now three tradable pieces, Upton, Minor, Gattis and I honestly hope Hart holds out for the best deal on Gattis and Upton. This is not gloom and doom people we will compete for the second wildcard not in 2016 but in 2015 bank on it.
 
keithlaw said:
dhMeAzK.gif
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I don't disagree with anything we have done so far because I know Jason would have made way more than the Braves would have given him. However I am disapointed that we still have the same incompatant manager that should have been fired when the season was over. To make all of these moves and not address the real problems with this team is rediculous. Bj, Chris Johnson, 2B,Catcher and manager all need to be upgraded for this team to have any chance at knocking off the Nats.
 
The FO knows they cannot legitimately compete with the Nationals in 2015. With that said, they also don't want to go into full cellar dwelling mode because that would have a negative impact on putting butts in the seats in the seasons leading up to the Glory That Be 2017 (tm). Hence signings like Callaspo and Jim Johnson; those were the handiwork of JC. To wit, they are signings with a dual purpose- to enable the team to have a chance of competing at a reasonable level, but giving the team flexibility come June/July to flip those players for prospects or players with future years of control to competing teams. Incidentally, for those of you wondering why the Braves gave Johnson 1.6m instead of a minor league deal, Shaun Rooney, Lebi Ochoa and Tom Batista all believe there is an easily fixed mechanical flaw in Johnson that could yield much better results for him in 2015 under McDowell's tutelage... and they weren't the only team who apparently believed that (hence the need to give him a MLB deal). Just thought I'd throw that out there.

They aren't miracle workers, but make no mistake they are actively trying to unload BJ and Chris Johnson. Actively. I do believe Justin will be traded but it will be on the Braves' terms... otherwise I believe they have no issue holding on to him and going into the season to see what comes.

Finally - to answer the assumption that arose earlier- yes, the Braves as an organization could have afforded to extend Jason Heyward. The amount of money flowing into baseball is obscene these days. However they also believed the amount that would be required to retain his services was more than he was worth - at least to this organization. I am not taking a position on said issue, just relaying the reality of the situation.
 
I give Hart high marks for the work he's done to rebuild the scouting and player development department and the small steps he's taken to add talent at the minor league level. On the flipside, I'm not crazy about the Markakis signing and am nervous that Hart's player valuation philosophy will end up being too old-school (time will tell).

I've convinced myself that the moves I like best are heavily influenced by Coppy, and the moves I'm lukewarm on are being championed by others sitting around the table.
 
mossy said:
Why is it always the manager or the GM? We've had some guys severely underperform. Lets send them letters...
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Yep, people always blame Fredi when we lose or when something goes wrong.

I wont name, names, but correct.
 
Trading away your best hitters wont fix a 29th ranked offense either....

Why GM/Manager? They have the biggest outcome over games and seasons.
 
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