Dissension in the front office?

My problem with the Melvin deal is that there were other options out there that would have fit as well without the money/years commitment. Seeing the Nats got Span for Alex Meyer, I find it difficult to believe that the Braves couldn't have gotten Span for J.R. Graham. I don't think Wren could think outside the box that well. It was "When in doubt, stay on the narrow path," which usually meant multiple guys leaving us for guys on the higher shelves in the supermarket. That works if you are the Yankees, Red Sox, or some other big budget team. If you're a mid-market team, you simply have to be more judicious with your resources.

Definitely wouldn't disagree - which is why I was never a big Wren guy. However, given that the team was contending to a point, I can't say that I felt that he deserved too much criticism for making win-now types of moves with the nucleus they had at the time.

My main gripe with the Wren era was the same as most - drafting and signing mostly higher-floor, lower-ceiling types. A lot of those wouldn't have been that bad IF the money was going to be there to keep that group together for the long haul, but Wren was apparently the only person that believed Liberty/McGuirk/JS was going to expand payroll to make that happen.
 
Which is the textbook definition of free-agency for the most part (regardless of where you're expected to be in the standings) IMO.

Was Lowe an "Ace"? Of course not. Was B. J./Melvin an All-Star? Nope.

I've definitely not been a big Wren guy for the most part, but do find it tough to complain too much about most of his moves at the MLB level. Those guys were the best available when we needed to fill holes on the big club and had absolutely no help on the horizon. The fact that he landed the best players on the board is a plus in my book - nobody else has a crystal ball either, and he picked up players that everyone agreed improved the team at that point in time.

I mean he went out and outbid other teams for free agents, sometimes by significant margins. And he made some trades with teams that were selling off. He was effectively able to be a player in major league baseball.

But, part of the job is making the right choices and not committing to imperfect players just because they happen to be the ones available.

I'm not sure what got him fired was really his fault though -- except that whatever went on with the wasteland in the scouting/farm system seems like it had to do with the GM.

I guess ultimately he behaved like a big market GM and made aggressive trades to win that didn't actually result in a ton of winning and the farm system hit a point where they had one or two players within four years of the majors when he was fired.

I think Wren deserves more blame than your namesake.
 
Pretty amazed no one's howled about the Micah Johnson DFA - not DFA confusion already.

Certainly another goofy situation at the very least.
 
Pretty amazed no one's howled about the Micah Johnson DFA - not DFA confusion already.

Certainly another goofy situation at the very least.

I'm not outraged with it by no means, I'm not really sure why the move was made though...there's definitely players that deserve the boot more so than him, he's been very solid in AAA and I'd much rather have him on the bench than Jace at this point...I'm hoping Lane sticks on the bench as well
 
I'm not outraged with it by no means, I'm not really sure why the move was made though...there's definitely players that deserve the boot more so than him, he's been very solid in AAA and I'd much rather have him on the bench than Jace at this point...I'm hoping Lane sticks on the bench as well

Nvm I hadn't read that they all of a sudden realized they had a spot and didn't DFA him 🤦🏻*♂️

That's how it read to me anyway and supposedly Micah found out about it thru Twitter
 
Nvm I hadn't read that they all of a sudden realized they had a spot and didn't DFA him 🤦🏻*♂️

That's how it read to me anyway and supposedly Micah found out about it thru Twitter

Honestly, that is the type of thing that seems like it should cost somebody something.

The person who put it out there had to have been told to do it right? You wouldn't walk out of a discussion about doing it and then just say ok go ahead and release it.

The org really should do better with this stuff. It's somewhat inconsequential but pretty rough on their players involved.
 
Honestly, that is the type of thing that seems like it should cost somebody something.

The person who put it out there had to have been told to do it right? You wouldn't walk out of a discussion about doing it and then just say ok go ahead and release it.

The org really should do better with this stuff. It's somewhat inconsequential but pretty rough on their players involved.

The thing I wonder about is how long have they been under some sort of misapprehension about how close they were to the limit.
 
Maybe if we can get the right people to believe it's at 40, we can do better on some of these service time decisions.
 
Jeff Wren had a moment this morning on Twitter where he shared a lot of Coppy rhetoric he claims he is hearing from disgruntled people inside the Braves FO. I would post then here, but there's at least a dozen worth "tweets and replies" I could share.
 
Lots of interesting tidbits. He says that Wren wanted to hire Showalter before Bobby personally lobbied Schuerholz for Fredi (who he calls 'brain dead' for not using Kimbrel in LA).

Also, that Coppolella is the 'most despised' GM since Jim Bowden. Lol.
 
He also calls the McDaniel hiring a joke, and adds this story: "Oh you mean Coppolella's drinking buddy that puked all over the van in Nashville after getting so drunk at team function at WM?"
 
He also calls the McDaniel hiring a joke, and adds this story: "Oh you mean Coppolella's drinking buddy that puked all over the van in Nashville after getting so drunk at team function at WM?"

This stuff is more an indictment of Jeff Wren's character than anything else. It has to be the least professional tweet storm I have ever seen from a baseball person.

He must have voted for Trump.
 
He also lays blame at Coppy's feet for the Lowe, Uggla, Kawakami, and Upton feet, as well as the Davidson pick.

Coppy was the most powerful assistant GM of all time. He's been running the show since at least the Lowe signing.

Does this mean that Coppy gets credit for Wren's success and Wren gets success for Coppy's successes?
 
At the very least, I hope this shows to the last remaining Wren believers that that family had to go. Can your imagine working with a guy like this?
 
All I know is that I would easily take Frank Wren and Buck Showalter over Coppolella and Snitker.

Even if that means we'd have to give Kiley McDaniel's job as team drunk to the 'special' Wren brother.
 
I actually had a private message conversation with Jeff Wren 3+ years ago where he said all these things. Very unprofessional.
 
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