Going forward, all I ask for is a blueprint. Heck, half of you guys weren't alive when Bobby Cox took over as GM in the mid-1980s and along with Paul Snyder established a plan to build the franchise from the bottom up. Good drafts. Hard work in Latin America. Investment in minor league coaching. Now granted, the big league teams of the late-1980s were horrifyingly bad in just about every way one can imagine (if you don't believe me, look at the rosters from that era), but slowly, Gant, Justice, Lemke, Blauser, and others began to filter up through the system to create the core for the early-1990s teams. The one thing that may be instructive is that Cox was extremely slow in moving Dale Murphy and in the end got next to nothing for him in trade. Any comparison of Murphy at that point in his career with Heyward now is ridiculous because Murphy was declining rapidly at that point, but Bobby couldn't pull the trigger. It remains to be seen whether or not the Miller/Jenkins return on Heyward/Walden is better than an extra pick or not.
Cox couldn't have gone wrong either way if he'd have accepted either offer from the Padres or the Mets. SD offered both Alomar brothers + John Kruk. NYM offered Howard Johnson, Lenny Dykstra and Rick Aguilera. The latter might've been better over the short-term by addressing immediate needs at CF, 3B and closer (to be fair, Aguilera hadn't been converted to closer until he got to Minnesota). As has been posted by me enough times here and at Scout, Cox insisted on David West. It was a miscalculation, as the Braves were already stocked with young pitching with Glavine, Smoltz, Avery, Mercker, Greene, Pete Smith, Lilliquist and probably another name or two who escapes me at the moment. With what the Pods were parting with, Roberto Alomar,
alone, would have been worth the deal.
We also have to consider that Cox was not an experienced GM, and there likely was extreme hesitance at trading a franchise icon. As you mentioned, so many posters here either weren't born or aren't old enough to remember. That's why it's so ridiculous when there are these man-crushes on Andruw Jones, Kelly Johnson, Tommy LaStella or Heyward. AJ and Heyward certainly had their attributes, but were no where near the level that Murph was during the early 80's. We're talking among the most feared hitters in the game.
We can't even begin to accurately assess the Heyward deal until, at least, a year from now. Let's see how Shelby Miller shakes out. Then, let's see if Heyward applies for free agency. Tyrell Jenkins could turn out very well too.
Just to add, it seems that they actually are following this same blueprint from the mid 80's to early 90's. That was stockpiling young pitching. This is the direct result of Cox's consulting functions. You have enough young pitching, some of them will develop with the club and others will be used to trade for other assets.
