You never want to be the man that follows The Man. It's a much safer situation to be the man that follows the man that followed The Man. To follow a legend, almost always leads to a predictable demise. That legend, whether a player, coach, or general manager, has obviously set such a high level of expectation, that his successor really has no choice but to fail. This was the thinking for Atlanta Braves fans when John Schuerholz left his position of General Manager and put Frank Wren in his former place.
You see, over the run of 14 consecutive division titles, Schuerholz became as much of a respected icon as the Braves manager, Bobby Cox, himself. From the worst-to-first season in 1991 to the "Baby Braves" divisional title in 2005, seemingly every move Schuerholz had a hand in turned to gold for Atlanta. So when Frank Wren was named the new General Manager of the Braves in October of 2007, skepticism flooded through the Atlanta faithful. Now that it is coming up on the completion of his second full season as General Manager, let's take a look at what he has been able to accomplish.
It didn't take Wren very long to make a splash, as only weeks after he was named GM, he dealt SS Edgar Renteria to the Detroit Tigers for SP Jair Jurrjens and OF Gorkys Hernandez. Wow. What a steal. Renteria struggled mightily for Detroit and has been on a downhill slide ever since his departure from the Braves. Jurrjens has emerged as a potential ace for a very deep Atlanta rotation and is only 23 years old. I will go into more detail about Hernandez later.
Wren's next major deal, involved the previously mentioned Teixiera. Trade deadline 2008 was looming and after brief negotiations with Scott Boras in an attempt to lock Teixiera up long term, Wren's hand was forced. The club was several games out of a playoff spot, in main part due to an injury depleted starting rotation, and decided to cash it in. With zero replacements options at 1B, Wren felt he couldn't simply keep Tex the rest of the year and pick up a couple draft picks when he walked in Free Agency. Atlanta at least needed a stopgap at 1B and took the best offer that came. The Los Angeles Angels sent 1B Casey Kotchman and minor league pitcher Stephen Marek to Atlanta for Teixiera. Clearly this move was made in order to salvage something for Tex, so it is unfair to criticize Wren for the trade.
The next major trade Wren made took place in December of 2008. After watching pitcher after pitcher fall to injury the previous season, Wren was determined to get a consistant workhorse or two for the starting rotation. Therefore he traded four prospects(C Tyler Flowers, INF Jonathan Gilmore and Brent Lillibridge, LHP Santos Rodriguez) for SP Javier Vazquez and LHP Boone Logan. At the time of the deal, many Braves fans were upset that such a promising young prospect in Tyler Flowers had been traded. However, realistically, Flowers would have never been able to play in Atlanta with Brian McCann firmly in place as the Braves backstop. This made Flowers very expendable. There was also plenty of doubt as to whether Vazquez would actually be a difference maker for Atlanta. To be quite Frank(pun intended) Javier has been splendid. As I type this, he sits at third in all of baseball in Strikeouts(158), and boasts a 3.01 ERA. Barring Tyler Flowers reaching a Victor Martinez level of production, this trade was a win for the Braves.
To round out the rest of the rotation, Wren looked to the Free Agent market. Although he wiffed on A.J. Burnett, he was able to land Derek Lowe for less money and one less year. There is no question that Lowe's stuff isn't near as electric as Burnett's, but his history of being able to take the mound every fifth day made him very desireable for the Braves front office. Some felt that Wren still overpaid for Lowe by giving him a 4 year deal worth 60 million dollars, and by the end of that contract, Braves fans may be very upset. For the time being, Lowe has been solid and hasn't missed any time due to injury. Maybe not worth every bit of 15 million dollars this year, but solid nonetheless.
His next pitching acquistion was the signing of the Japanese veteran Kenshin Kawakami. Wren gave Kawakami a 3 year deal worth 24 million dollars. In hindsight, this was a poor deal. Not that Kawakami has been awful, but Atlanta could have simply let Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen fill out their rotation and use the 8 million extra dollars on a power bat that they still lack. That being said, if this is his worst mistake, I'll take it.
His next acquisition was pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Nate McLouth was the face of a weak Pittsburgh Pirates franchise and had just been signed to a very cheap three year contract. His name was never brought up in any trade talk segments on the internet or television. Yet one morning I woke up to find out Atlanta acquired McLouth in exchange for SP Charlie Morton, OF Gorkys Hernandez, and SP Jeff Locke. Unbelieveable. Morton was a spare part, since the rotation was terribly crowded with the energence of Tommy Hanson and the upcoming return of Tim Hudson in August. Gorkys Hernandez was the other piece brought over from Detroit in the Renteria deal, and the consensus was that he was Atlanta's second best Centerfield prospect behind Jordan Schafer. Jeff Locke is a high upside pitcher, but is still at least two years away from the Major Leagues.
Wren has recently made a couple minor moves that have solidified the lineup. He traded OF Jeff Francoeur to the Mets for OF Ryan Church. Even though Francoeur has been on a tear with the Mets, he was a blackhole in Atlanta's lineup and it became evident he would never turn it around with the Braves. Church has been unable to stay healthy enough to prove his worth yet for Atlanta, however the addition by subtraction method certainly rings true in this case.
The other minor trade happened an hour before the trade deadline when Wren shipped 1B Casey Kotchman to Boston for 1B Adam LaRoche. While this doesn't look like a significant upgrade, LaRoche's track record of being a great second-half hitter make this a solid gamble on Wren's part. Chipper Jones and LaRoche are great friends and this will only make for a stronger clubhouse. Additionally, with LaRoche's expiring contract, Atlanta's second best prospect, 1B Freddie Freeman, has an excellent chance to be the starting first basemen on Openning Day next year.
As tough as it is to replace a legend like John Schuerholz, Frank Wren has done almost as good of a job he could have. In a little over one year, he made a major weakness(Starting rotation) a strength, and has slowly but surely solidified the everyday lineup. With a crop of youngsters due up to the big club by next year, Wren has set the stage for another run of playoff appearances. It is now up to those players to determine when the postseason appearances begin again.
Keywords: Atlanta Braves, Bobby Cox, Frank Wren
