There's no doubt about this, and I'm not trying to spin him as otherwise. The typical fan in me has been excited about having that RH thunder to "protect" Freddie when he's healthy - it was awesome for the last month last season and fun to watch. Really wouldn't have mattered WHO that player was, but I seriously doubt anyone will disagree that having that guy be a "name" sure doesn't hurt at the turnstiles while they're trying to recoup every dime of the money thrown away on Olivera. If he accounts for 5,000 tickets sold to those fans who don't realize this ain't the Kemp Dodgers fans watched during a season, it at least pays down some of what's owed to HO.
As 50 points out, it's more about making those decisions "for real" vs. making them based on what works optimally on your spreadsheet. That's honestly not meant to be a shot at the analytic crowd, really - I keep my own spreadsheet just like everybody else does. Sure it made all the sense in the world to just eat Olivera's money, cut him loose, and admit you made a mistake. No one questions that line of thinking. Of course doing so means you'd have Adonis Garcia, Lane Adams, Jace Peterson, or some other non-entity in LF for the last year and a half rather than Kemp. How many fans would pay to see one of them instead? The money was spent one way or the other - why not run Kemp out there and hope he stays healthy enough to be that "lump" you mention while hitting bombs and exciting fans every once in awhile when healthy to try and get some of that cash back? If doing so stood in the way of someone else's development, don't do it. The question remains - who has he gotten in the way of? Dustin Peterson??? I'll go a little further and say that if not for Acuna's meteoric development, the timing would have been pretty good - if he'd followed a typical timeline, you might not have even expected him to contribute at the MLB level until Kemp was gone anyway. In a perfect world, Peterson steps in when Markakis comes off the books, and Acuna follows him a year later when Kemp leaves - just didn't work out that way.
There's also no doubt (for me) that you're right about it being a toss-up at this point as well. As a "fan", an old guy who lived through the really dark years, and someone who loved the "Braves Way" when it worked during the glory days, I'm OK with the Old Guard hanging around and sharing their .02 - they've earned that right. I also agree that they need to understand that's what they are NOW - advisors and not decision-makers.
