Grade the season
By Unknøwn
October 6, 2009 in MLB Forum
How would you grade it?
1. 86-76 with a 3rd place finish
2. How did Wren do with his offseason and in season moves?
Unknøwn
Thoughts? And if you wish to grade "B-" or something just type it in theres only so many choices I can put.
ugadawg
I gave it a B/A
A 14 win improvement was a very good sign. This would not have happened without the pitching staff being restocked in the off season. Then the offense could not score enough and we had injuries to Schaf. Wren then went and added a CF,1B for sticks. We now enter this season with less questions to fix. We actually have a surplus of pitching that offers trade value. All in all it was good progress. Add Heyward and possibly another Bat in LF and we really have something.
keller24VT
I gave the season a B. Going into the season, I thought we were a "borderline" playoff team (via the wild card), which is what we were. We were competitive and barely missed the playoffs. I'm not really looking at what happened in the last Nats series.
I give Wren an A. He revamped the pitching staff. The addition of McLouth will help us next year and in the future. LaRoche for Kotchman was another brilliant move. Yes, he didn't get an outfield bat that we could have used (and he relied too much on Frenchy and Schafer), but he accomplished a lot in one offseason and the team is set up nicely to compete in the future.
K26dp
C/B.
The Braves had a nice bounce-back after several below average seasons, and stayed in the mix longer than I expected. That said, a decent win total but no playoff appearance is the definition of "average".
Wren mostly made good moves since the end of last season. The trade for Vazquez was greeted with a huge ho-hum by the fans at the time, but it turned into an outstanding pick-up. The signing of Derek Lowe was very good, bringing a leader to a rotation that needed a leader. The signing of Garret Anderson likewise turned out much better than expected. Finally, the mid-season trades for McLouth and LaRoche were masterstrokes, as was trading away Francouer.
On the flip side, we overpaid Lowe and it looks like Kawakami will be a financial strain on the organization as well. While Anderson performed better than expected, the Braves missed out on star performers like Raul Ibanez, Bobby Abreu, and Adam Dunn. Finally, his handling of the releases of John Smoltz and Tom Glavine were botched badly from a PR respect, leaving bad feelings with those players, their teammates, and the manager. While Wren made the correct decision to move on from Smoltz and Glavine, his handling of both situations showed a lack of touch that illustrated the same problems that lead to his dismissal from the Orioles organization.
Both the team and the GM have room for improvement in 2010, but all signs point to the team being on the rise. The farm system is stocked with talent that seems poised to contribute or be traded for contributers, the team is a nice balance of veterans and young players, and they enter the offseason with a lot of options and optimism, which is all you can really ask for from a fan.
Edited October 6, 2009 by K26dp
Goodoleboy58
I was a little hard on the season giving it a D... Wren I gave a B to... I felt as if there were additions we could have made in the offseason that would have provided some power, i.e. Dunn or even Burrell, we were willing to sacrifice defense with GA no difference between the other two... If we had indeed traded for some power then we wouldn't have had to make the trade for Nate giving up Gorky's and company... Not that Gorky's will be that missed but it could have been avoided... I like Nate though and thought he provided a good spark and will be a solid player for us, although I don't know if leadoff is his specialty because of his OBP. Since the poll asked about offseason and not inseason I took that factor into account. Things are looking good pitching staff wise though, and the addition of Vasquez was huge.
The_ATL
C/B
Improved team but still underperformed. With a Top 5 starting rotation the offense killed this team with it's inconsistencies.
Gave Wren a B because of the job he did re-tooling the rotation and the in-season moves to get Roche' and Nate but still didn't get us that power bat that the Braves still need. That needs to be a top priority in the offseason, if it isn't then this team will still be middle of the pack.
This team also needs a consistent 8/9 duo. Re-sign either Gonzo or Sori and let one of them compete with Moylan for the closers roll.
L.Rover
B/A.
The Braves got a B, because I consider C to be average, and the Braves were well above average this season. They struggled at times, but they were in the race at the end of the season, which is all you could ask from this team (other than actually making the playoffs).
Wren got an A because I think not only did he make brilliant moves to build a solid (and relatively inexpensive core of this team), but it was the tough decisions he didn't make that show his true genius. This team would have been a disaster with Glavine and Smoltz, and Peavy/Burnett/Furcal isn't nearly as productive as Vazquez/Lowe/McLouth.
Wren managed to make us competitive this season, while keeping next year's future intact. You can't ask for a whole lot more from a GM.
This team would have been a disaster with Glavine and Smoltz, and Peavy/Burnett/Furcal isn't nearly as productive as Vazquez/Lowe/McLouth.
Sorry, I can't give credit to Wren for not signing A.J. Burnett or Rafael Furcal. Wren went full-bore after both; the credit there should go to Burnett's wife and Furcal's agent (whom the Braves very publicly blasted). Thanks to both.
I'll give him credit on Peavy though, for not trading away the farm for him like a lot of fans seemed to want to do.
I'll give Wren credit for how he managed Burnett. I know a lot of people rated Lowe higher than Burnett this offseason anyway, so I wonder if Wren played the Burnett card early, to get the Yankees to bite, and then went after Lowe.
Either way, he didn't over-pay for Burnett (win), and then managed to get another pitcher of equal or greater value (Lowe; win).
The Furcal situation still baffles me. But either way, no GM gets every player he wants, and I was more so referencing Wren still being able to replace production even with the non-signings/trades of such players.
Wren took a lot of heat for those 3 players, and managed to stay cool and replace them with 3 better players, for less. That is an A+ GM to me.
Burnett was rated higher by most (including the Braves). Our offer to Burnett was higher than the offer by the Yankees, but Burnett's wife wanted to stay closer to their home in Baltimore. We simply dodged a bullet.
We came in late to the Lowe sweepstakes and overspent for him as well. It turned out OK for the Braves in the end, but that wasn't of Wren's doing.
ATLBrave
Our offer was a tad bit lower than the Yankees. Only by a couple of million, but lower nonetheless.
Not true. I know a lot of baseball decision-makers who didn't buy into a long-term deal for Burnett, because his stats as related to the year in his contract are not proportionate. Lowe had less innings/year on his arm, and had a much more reliable track record.
Season - Had a good season, but felt like they could have won the division or even gotten a playoff spot. They had multiple opportunities during the season to either gain 1st place in the division or secure a wild card spot. Unfortunately while the teams a head of them were slumping so were the Braves.
Wren - Good job revamping the starting rotation, They had a top 3 finish in team ERA. I liked the signing of KK, but I would have preferred that Wren not sign KK and have a top 8 team in ERA by using the money for either Ibanez or Dunn. We could have won more games. The signing of EOF and trading for Nate were good moves, now and future. Trading away Frenchy had to be one of his best moves. I liked the trade for Laroche, but felt that it might have been to late. Looking forward to see how he improves the team over the winter.
JTRaines92
D on both!
1st poll:
If you aint 1st you're last!
2nd poll:
He got Nate, that is all. Adam came late but his biggest move was Nate.
Adam was a pretty good pick up if for nothing else than getting rid of Casey... great defender... not so much with the stick
Falconsfan567
I gave it a B on both. I probably should have given him an A on the moves because of the in-season moves that made us better. But we still finished 3rd. Would have won 90 games had we not quit after we got eliminated but it was clear we had no intentions of winning any of those final 4 games against the Nats. We played like zombies. I'm really hard in the fact that anything less than the playoffs is unacceptable to me. But we came a long way from 2008.
R.C. Collins
"If you aint first you're last".....No, there are more than two teams in the league and we were not the worst. Cliches are for children who are easily convinced. C on the season just because they missed the playoffs and lost a lot of games they should have and could have won.
Adam produced more in a shorter amount of time than Nate. Both were great moves and the Adam move will be really great if we can resign him for a couple of years. B for Frank Wren only because Garrett Anderson was not a great decision for an outfield answer.
KK and Lowe had their moments and releasing Glavine and calling up Hanson was clearly the right move too.
Definitely the right move even if it was handled in the ideal way, it was the right move.
Yep. Could have been handled better. But it's never easy parting ways with long time superstars.
#1 pick
I came into the season thinking we were average but we became good with some great in season moves. Good year for a team that's one piece away.
Edited October 8, 2009 by #1 pick