Frank Wren

Don't think you can blame Wren for Uggla and Upton being worthless and having historic baseball seasons that aren't that good.

That was my initial reaction, as well. However, there is a better chance of BJ sorting everything out. Despite the fact that none of the commenters at DOB want to hear it, no matter how slim, if Uggla's problems are mostly adjusting to the Lasik surgery, then they might as well try to get something out of him. If BJ returns to career average and Uggla can just manage .225 with 25 HR's & still driving in runs, they repeat as division champs.
 
+1

I know Wren has had some bad signings but he has made out like a bandit in most of his trades.

Arodys Vizcaino for Paul Maholm - I really liked Vizcaino as a prospect but he has yet to throw a pitch since the trade and Maholm was pretty good for his first year with the Braves before collapsing in the second half of 2013.

Tommy Hanson for Jordan Walden - Walden could be a closer for a lot of teams. Hanson was and still is toast.

Vazquez for Lillibridge/Flowers/Gilmore/Santos Rodriguez - pretty much the definition of getting something for nothing.

Upton/Johnson for Prado/Ahmed/Delgado/Spruill/Drury - This is the type of trade proposal that I would expect from Murph. I know some people have man crushes on Prado but this trade is widely seen as a big win for Wren and the Braves.

Jurrjens/Gorkys for Renteria - This is the kind of trade that good GM's make. At the time the Braves desperately need mid rotation starters. This deal was made the day after the WS ended and most fans thought Wren should have waited to try and get a better return. Fans wanted a proven starter with the big name but Wren filled the hole with a rookie and he was excellent. Even got Gorkys who was future trade bait.

Bourn for Schafer/Oberholtzer/Clemens/Abreu - This trade is close to being another something for nothing trade. Oberholtzer might give some value as a back end of the rotation starter which is atleast worth something. We also got a draft pick for letting Bourn walk and turned that into Hursh which makes this even more lopsided.

All you can ask of a GM is to put together a team that makes the playoffs. Beyond that it requires luck. There is no perfect formula for winning the in the playoffs. Everyone thought the Dodgers were unbeatable in the playoffs because of their dual aces Kershaw/Greinke and they didnt even make the world series. If you put this kind of pressure on a GM they are going to make bad trades that haunt the team for years like the Teixeira trade. JS just wanted to win one more time and didnt give a **** about the future. Maybe if Wren thinks his jobs on the line trades the farm for Price or Samardzjia and we still lose in the playoffs then we watch them leave in FA with no prospects to replace them and under performing in the playoffs is no longer relevant because we wont even get the chance.
 
So we won't discuss the bad trades?

McLouth, Franceour, Texeira, and Escobar deals were awesome right? Not too mention the deal where he acquired Uggla.
 
So we won't discuss the bad trades?

McLouth, Franceour, Texeira, and Escobar deals were awesome right? Not too mention the deal where he acquired Uggla.

The trade for McLouth and Uggla were good ones. They just didn't perform. Texeira trade was terrible, but was under JS, not Wren.
 
So we won't discuss the bad trades?

McLouth, Franceour, Texeira, and Escobar deals were awesome right? Not too mention the deal where he acquired Uggla.

Sure we can. But really the Tex deal is the only one that has sucked. The others are really deals that didn't work out but haven't really set the team back or anything.
 
The trade for McLouth and Uggla were good ones. They just didn't perform. Texeira trade was terrible, but was under JS, not Wren.

The second Tex trade was under Wren and although not as bad was still poor since he insisted on a 1B in return and got Kotchman instead of taking the best deal available or just getting draft picks (which netted the Angels Trout :( )
 
So we won't discuss the bad trades?

McLouth, Franceour, Texeira, and Escobar deals were awesome right? Not too mention the deal where he acquired Uggla.

How was the Francoeur trade bad? Or the Escobar trade? They were trades that had to happen because of sucking and in Escobar's case a player who pissed off a hall of fame manager.
 
http://lefthookrightfield.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/evaluating-the-trades-of-frank-wren/

Conclusion:
Overall, Frank Wren bested the other team in trades by winning out in 10 of the 18 major league deals he made between 2007 and 2011. The total WAR gained by Wren was 10.5 WAR. So, Wren and his trades have given the Braves an average of two extra wins above replacement per year. Or if you use the standard value for one win above replacement of 5 million per win, then Wren and his decisions have been worth 52.5 million or roughly 10.5 million per year.
 
How was the Francoeur trade bad? Or the Escobar trade? They were trades that had to happen because of sucking and in Escobar's case a player who pissed off a hall of fame manager.

And likely tanked at least one game after the Pena trade and probably a lot more. He should've been traded that year. That's the only negative there. A piece of ****. No doubt.
 
The ones who think Wren is some sort of genius are the same fans who accept mediocrity. Yeah that Ryan Church trade wasn't bad..tell me again which player is still playing baseball at the major league level.
 
The ones who think Wren is some sort of genius are the same fans who accept mediocrity. Yeah that Ryan Church trade wasn't bad..tell me again which player is still playing baseball at the major league level.

Why does that matter? Francoeur is terrible and we got rid of him. So what that church didn't do anything. Failcoeur sucks and in April of the following season we debuted Jason heywaed. Would you rather have failcoeur instead of Heyward?
 
No, FW cant control how the players do.

He puts a pretty good team on the field, up to the players to play well.

He has made some bad moves but what GM hasnt?
 
Is the purpose of this thread just to bitch about the last 5 years? If so, all anybody has to do is read the comments section of any DOB article. None of that is covering new ground.

The team has shown steady improvement over the past 3 seasons: Out of playoffs. Wild card game. Division champion. Most professional baseball writers had the Braves pegged at 3rd place for '13 behind Nationals & Phillies. Failing to see how that's settling for mediocrity. Then consider the fact that they were able to overcome the handicaps with BJ & Uggla (as discussed above). Yeah, the Dodgers series was a disappointment, but be realistic. The Braves were seriously overmatched, but actually had a chance to take it to 5 games. The season has to be viewed in a favorable light.

Wren constructed the roster with the budget he was given. Not saying extend him for 5 years yet, but let's see what changes come over the next few months and how the team performs.
 
Vazquez for Lillibridge/Flowers/Gilmore/Santos Rodriguez - pretty much the definition of getting something for nothing.

Wasn't Boone Logan also included in this deal?

Jurrjens/Gorkys for Renteria - This is the kind of trade that good GM's make. At the time the Braves desperately need mid rotation starters. This deal was made the day after the WS ended and most fans thought Wren should have waited to try and get a better return. Fans wanted a proven starter with the big name but Wren filled the hole with a rookie and he was excellent. Even got Gorkys who was future trade bait.

They actually might've had projected Gorkys to develop into something more. Speed was identified as an organizational need at the time. That's why Gorkys, Lillibridge and Josh Anderson were targeted. Unfortunately, neither really panned out, but just back and forth b/tw majors and AAA.
 
Wasn't Boone Logan also included in this deal?

Yes, he was to Atlanta and from Atlanta in both Vazquez deals.

So we won't discuss the bad trades?

McLouth, Franceour, Texeira, and Escobar deals were awesome right? Not too mention the deal where he acquired Uggla.

At the time did you think the McLouth and Uggla trades were bad? I recall everyone thinking those trades were steals at the time.

I dont really blame Wren for the second Tex trade. I really liked Kotchman and the fact that he didnt work out doesnt change my view of the trade.

The Escobar and Francoeur trades were addition by subtraction. Wren had no leverage and both were Struggla level of bad. If you want to criticize him on those trades then criticize him for not trading them earlier.
 
The second Tex trade sucked, but no one thought Kotchman would be that bad. The year before he had a very solid season. Sure it would have been nice to have a crack at Trout but no guarantee he would have been there (Angels had back to back picks they coudl have still taken Trout just one pick higher)
 
If you want to knock Wren, knock him for keeping people around who should've been fired/traded already.
 
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