Jeff Wren Fires Back at Shanks

Knucksie said:
OP as in 'other poster.' In any case, you have been responsible for some good belly laughs, such as suggesting the Braves should get Adam Dunn and Nick Swisher.
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I did, we were a team that needed pop/obp and getting 40 hr a year from Dunn would have helped the Braves. then i got an appreceation for defense after watching guys like Garret Anderson who the Braves had in the OF and stoped suggesting Dunn ever again. I even posted this very same thing during Cadillac Andersons time. Literally i said you know what i dont want Dunn after watching Anderson.

Basically yeah i suggested Dunn and Swisher but the Braves have run way worse players in the OF.
 
Building our farm back up has allowed a lot of folks to conveniently forget some of Wren's very good trades. The diminished farm and couple of really bad contracts did make him an easy scapegoat.

But as I've said countless times, the current regime loses some footing by continuing to have Fredi as manager.

Fredi said he prefers Wren...:FrediConfident:
 
Runnin said:
One thing Jeff Wren is wrong about is the significance of Bill Shanks. Does any serious fan still read or listen to him? I'm guess very, very few.
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It's always kind of amazed me that Bill has been unable to expand his footprint outside of Southern Georgia. If memory serves me correctly he was given a sort of audition by the Braves Radio Network a few years ago (pre-game, for a few games) that never transpired into anything more. I think his sports radio show, out of Macon, is about the only thing he has cooking at the moment. There was a weekly column at the Macon Telegraph for some time, but I don't even know if that's happening anymore.

As of last month Scout was actively seeking a replacement publisher for the Braves site. I'm not sure if that means Bill is leaving (again) or if they are just ready to move in another direction.
 
Hawk said:
It's always kind of amazed me that Bill has been unable to expand his footprint outside of Southern Georgia. If memory serves me correctly he was given a sort of audition by the Braves Radio Network a few years ago (pre-game, for a few games) that never transpired into anything more. I think his sports radio show, out of Macon, is about the only thing he has cooking at the moment. There was a weekly column at the Macon Telegraph for some time, but I don't even know if that's happening anymore.

As of last month Scout was actively seeking a replacement publisher for the Braves site. I'm not sure if that means Bill is leaving (again) or if they are just ready to move in another direction.
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Bill has good sources with the Braves, but he's a terrible writer and only seems interested in reporting on the minor leagues and the organization's politics, which really only appeals to a handful of us obsessive weirdos. Add to that that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed and can't really offer any insights of his own and its not surprising he's still small time. He also always came off as extremely thin skinned which I'm sure doesn't help his career.

He's an insecure John Sickels who only covers one team and doesn't know **** about statistical analysis or scouting.
 
keithlaw said:
Bill has good sources with the Braves, but he's a terrible writer and only seems interested in reporting on the minor leagues and the organization's politics, which really only appeals to a handful of us obsessive weirdos. Add to that that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed and can't really offer any insights of his own and its not surprising he's still small time. He also always came off as extremely thin skinned which I'm sure doesn't help his career.

He's an insecure John Sickels who only covers one team and doesn't know **** about statistical analysis or scouting.
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That last part really detracted from his book. He tried to frame the conversation as us vs. them. This was both at Scout and particularly in his book. He may have had grander ambitions, but it seemed like an attempt to latch on to the "Moneyball" fascination of the time. In fact, only one chapter was devoted to the topic, and it wasn't particularly insightful. It was OK to read, strictly as a Braves fan, although there was nothing there that would've appealed to wider readership.
 
Signing or trading for Swisher when it was a hot topic on the scout board would have been a great Move.
 
Perfect Cell said:
Leaving Cal Ripken behind was a great example of his jerkness. The fact that he was a jerk in ATl shouldnt suprise anybody.

The issue i see is how nobody cared about his jerkness when he first replaced JS. We care about it now.
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I disagree. I think being a jerk and being an effective leader can often go hand in hand. WE really don't know what went on with Wren. If I had to guess, he was a bit of a dick to some of the old heads like Bobby when they were resistant to change. Probably same thing with Clark. I don't pretend to know the inner workings of the FO. I Know that some poeple don't get along and they quit and **** happens. It's life you move on. Or you don't. Wren got results. One season he doesn't because of a second epic collapse, he gets shown the boot.
 
Hawk said:
As of last month Scout was actively seeking a replacement publisher for the Braves site. I'm not sure if that means Bill is leaving (again) or if they are just ready to move in another direction.
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You know the 2 year anniversary of this site is just a few weeks away...

I didn't wanna leak any details but I've been looking to acquire a big named player to help this site reach it's maximum potential and be the #1 go to outlet for Braves fans online.
 
Knucksie said:
Shanks liked to portray himself as having top shelf access to the organization. If this were true, wouldn't it stand to reason that somebody in The Big City would've wanted to hire him away from that podunk town?
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Unfortunately, the dude does have top shelf access to the organization. He's had Wren on his show several times as well as Schuerlholtz and Hart. He had each and every draft pick on air doing interviews shortly after getting drafted. He's connected. And he was told the scoop on Wren and reported it. It's yhat simple.
 
jsebe10 said:
Unfortunately, the dude does have top shelf access to the organization. He's had Wren on his show several times as well as Schuerlholtz and Hart. He had each and every draft pick on air doing interviews shortly after getting drafted. He's connected. And he was told the scoop on Wren and reported it. It's yhat simple.
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Well, good for him at nabbing some phone interviews on radio. None of that translated into anything particularly impressive in his writing. Again, if he was that in tune with the organization, somebody in the big city would've offered him a better gig.
 
I posted an article about Wren's hiring in 1999 in the thread that Sturg started about Wren's tenure.

It said that Wren was hired after several phone conversations with Schuerholz and an interview with JS and Stan Kasten, who was then president of the club.

There was a Shanks post at Scout a while back which specifically denied that Wren was JS's "hand-picked successor" and that his elevation was all McGuirk. Of course, things certainly could have changed between his hiring and his elevation to GM, but it was ALWAYS portrayed that way in the media—Wren was brought on by JS, and groomed for the job.

All of the sudden, we hear that it isn't the case . . . which smells like rank bull**** to me. This really calls into question the "facts" regarding Wren, if Shanks is their purveyor.
 
Julio3000 said:
I posted an article about Wren's hiring in 1999 in the thread that Sturg started about Wren's tenure.

It said that Wren was hired after several phone conversations with Schuerholz and an interview with JS and Stan Kasten, who was then president of the club.

There was a Shanks post at Scout a while back which specifically denied that Wren was JS's "hand-picked successor" and that his elevation was all McGuirk. Of course, things certainly could have changed between his hiring and his elevation to GM, but it was ALWAYS portrayed that way in the media—Wren was brought on by JS, and groomed for the job.

All of the sudden, we hear that it isn't the case . . . which smells like rank bull**** to me. This really calls into question the "facts" regarding Wren, if Shanks is their purveyor.
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The general viciousness regarding Wren since his departure really makes me question the integrity of the Braves FO. It's so unprofessional, and in my opinion, completely unwarranted. He should have been celebrated as a guy who led us to a nice run of success, and that we are simply moving in a new direction as we attempt to rebuild
 
sturg33 said:
The general viciousness regarding Wren since his departure really makes me question the integrity of the Braves FO. It's so unprofessional, and in my opinion, completely unwarranted. He should have been celebrated as a guy who led us to a nice run of success, and that we are simply moving in a new direction as we attempt to rebuild
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Apparently, a vindictive ****-show is the Braves Way.
 
The other Wren thread made me remember Shanks and his fanboys telling me Jo Jo Reyes was good. When I presented them with facts they said i didn't get it. Shanks talked about his FB motion, when I explained that lefties always have strong FB motion (honestly I don't know why, probably it's developmental when getting used to pitchign to right handers) he scoffed. When i brought up his poor K rate especially in relationship to his BB rate, I was wrong and didn't know what I was talking about. Sure enough, Joey Jo-jo Jr. Shabadu hasn't pitched in the bigs since 2011 despite being a lefty with a pulse.
 
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