Where Are They Now? Looking Back at the Braves "Rebuild."

To preface this article, I just want to mention that it would be difficult to mention every player that Atlanta traded during their "rebuild" from 2014-2017. While it would be nice to look back over every transaction, I think it's better to look at the players who actually appeared in the majors during that time. Also, while the "rebuild" started after the 2014 season, the Braves were already moving on from players in previous seasons. So, let's get right to it.

Starting off, let's take a look at the players Atlanta let-go (or traded) who went on to win the World Series. While they weren't all traded, Atlanta wasn't in a position to actually keep some of these players due to having an ownership group that is more focused on turning a profit, rather than actually competing to win championships.

Tim Hudson, Brian McCann, Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel, David Ross (twice actually), Evan Gattis, Tommy La Stella, etc. I'm sure there's a few more, but those are the ones that stick out most to me.

In addition to those players, which I will be discussing again shortly, the Braves traded/released/moved quite a few players who find themselves having great success with their current teams.

Most notably, Mike Minor, John Gant, and Tommy La Stella. For a team that preaches the importance of pitching, Atlanta essentially let Mike Minor walk after the 2014 season. He found his way to Kansas City where he established himself as a top left handed reliever during the 2016 season. After signing with the Rangers, he moved back into the starting rotation and currently finds himself amongst the leaders in the American League in most pitching categories.

As for Tommy La Stella, he's finally getting a chance to start for a team and he's having an All-Star caliber season for the Angels. Atlanta never seemed to want to give La Stella a chance to play and he was moved for Arodys Vizcaino, who has since been traded to the Mariners. In 2014, Fredi Gonzalez wanted to play Dan Uggla everyday even though Uggla was a shell of his former self at that point. While La Stella didn't have the fanfare of some of the prospects Atlanta currently has, he always showed the ability to be a contributor at the Major League level.
















Moving on, let's take a look at some of the other players Atlanta moved to "rebuild."

La Stella's teammate, Andrelton Simmons was not only a fan favorite, but was a very solid shortstop during his time in Atlanta. He was also only 25 years old and on a team friendly deal at the time of his trade to the Angels. Atlanta received Erick Aybar (who is out of baseball), Chris Ellis (who is now with the Royals), and Sean Newcomb (who looks like nothing more than a back-end starter or middle reliever at this point.) Simmons has gone on to winning more Gold Gloves since leaving Atlanta and has become a much better player offensively than he was during his tenure in Atlanta.









It would be easy to point at the fact Atlanta traded a 26-year old Justin Upton to help them rebuild and get younger, but he has also gone on to put up solid offensive seasons since leaving Atlanta. While Atlanta received a bunch of nothing in that deal, at least they acquired Max Fried, who has been one of the more consistent starters for Atlanta so far in 2019.

Alex Wood is another player I've mentioned numerous times on this blog, so it's kind of like beating a dead horse at this point. However, it was always amazing to me that a rebuilding team would look to trade yet another young cost-controlled left handed starter, but that's exactly what the Braves did in 2014. Atlanta decided to trade the 24-year old in an effort to get "younger and rebuild" and boy did they get quite a haul for Wood. They received Hector Olivera, Zach Bird, and Paco Rodriguez in the trade. Olivera was rightfully released after his numerous domestic violence issues, Bird hasn't pitched since 2016, and Rodriguez hasn't pitched in the majors since 2015. This was another great move made by the club during their rebuilding efforts (if you can't read sarcasm, well that was sarcasm.)

Atlanta was able to "rebuild" their farm system, but it's not as if that was done given the moves by the former GM John Coppolella. Frank Wren was the GM when the club signed Ronald Acuña, Ozzie Albies, Johan Camargo, Julio Teheran, Freddie Freeman, etc. I will be frank (no-pun intended) Wren did a much better job in Atlanta than people give him credit for. While most people in the organization seemed to have hated him, he took a franchise with significant financial restraints and got them back in a position to make the playoffs throughout his entire tenure in Atlanta. John Coppolella had the benefit of always drafting towards the top of the draft and folks in the industry seemed to give him every chance to succeeded while proclaiming all of his moves as "smart" and "great deals" for Atlanta. I don't find that to be accurate at all. Just looking over some of the moves he made during his tenure, you can point to a few that honestly set the franchise back in terms of a "rebuild." That's not evening accounting for the off-the-field issues Coppolella had and his eventual ban from baseball.

Coppolella also seemed to move players just for the sake of moving them. A few players that stick out to me: Ryan Buchter, Chasen Shreve, and John Gant. Gant is especially having a good season with the Cardinals.

Gant could be giving the Braves much needed relief help at the moment, but since Wren left, they've had issues putting together a bullpen. While most fans dislike Wren, you can't argue the fact that he was great at drafting/signing bullpen arms. While Gant was acquired and traded during the tenure of Coppolella, he was never given a chance to actually develop while in Atlanta. They seemed more focused on pitching older vets or players who are out of baseball.


During the "rebuild" in Atlanta, the organization gave up on numerous players who have since found their way to other organizations and are making an impact. Mike Minor is pitching better than ever, Tommy La Stella is playing like an All-Star, and Alex Wood has shown his ability to pitch in the post-season with success.

Craig Kimbrel, who just signed with the Cubs, is still the best closer in baseball and is coming off a World Series winning season with the Red Sox in 2018. Atlanta needed a proven closer, but passed on a chance to sign him to a modest contract in the off-season (and then passed on giving him a contract during the season due to worries over losing a draft pick...) As I've mentioned numerous times, other franchises rebuilt their rosters by trading closers (Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman, Brad Hand, etc.) Atlanta sold low on Kimbrel just to get rid of the modest contract given to Melvin Upton.

Speaking of those trades, John Coppolella, for all his accolades, made some of the worst trades in recent memory in all of baseball. If I had to rank them:

1.) The Alex Wood trade to the Dodgers
2.) The Craig Kimbrel trade to the Padres.
3.) The Justin Upton trade to the Padres
4.) The Andrelton Simmons trade to the Angels.

These four trades have netted the Braves a total of: 5.9 wins above replacement (WAR). *Of this total, Sean Newcomb has amounted for 3.9 WAR on his own.*

In that same time, the players Atlanta traded have a total of: 49.4 WAR.

I don't claim to be an expert on analytics, but I think most fans can understand how terrible those trades were for the franchise.


While Atlanta is back to competing for division titles, their biggest issue is still the same: a cheap ownership group that isn't committed to winning. Like I've always said, until that is corrected, this team will always find themselves in a position to be good, but never truly great.

Also, if you've made it this far: hopefully you can sense sarcasm since this article is loaded with it.

Just wanted to credit Baseball-Reference for the stats.

Frank Wren's Legacy Lives On In Atlanta.

Every Braves' fan has an opinion on former General Manager, Frank Wren. Some view him as the man responsible for the decline of the franchise, others claim his free agent signings weren't financially sound. Some even believe he wasn't given a fair shot in Atlanta and eventually became the scapegoat for bigger issues with the organization. Regardless of how you feel about Frank Wren, his legacy with the Braves continues to live on. After Wren's firing, Atlanta shifted their focus on "rebuilding." Many publications have credited the Braves as having the top farm system in baseball, but it's built mostly on pitching. However, there's a few high upside bats residing in Triple-A. Most notably, Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies.

Ronald Acuna (signed for $100k out of Venezuela in 2014) has exploded onto the scene this season and looks to be the future top prospect for the Braves. This season, he's hitting a robust: .306/.362/.507 and appears to be ready to debut in Atlanta sooner, rather than later. Many fans post online about the emergence of Acuna and compare him to Braves' legend Andruw Jones. I think that's an unfair comparison, but fans seem to crave these comparisons and it puts unfair expectations on the players. Just remember, ESPN once compared Jason Heyward to Ken Griffey Jr. and suddenly, Atlanta fans expected Heyward to hit 50 home runs a season. Acuna looks to have all the tools in the world, but he's still just a 19 year old kid. With the Braves short on impact hitting prospects, Acuna looks to be the real deal.

Ozzie Albies (signed out of Curacao for $350k in 2013) has also impressed this season at Triple-A hitting: .290/.337/.441. He's currently being blocked by Brandon Phillips (yes, 36 year old Brandon Phillips). Unlike other rebuilding teams, the Braves don't seem too eager to allow their young position players a legitimate shot at earning a full-time job at the Major League level (this article is being written before the trade deadline, so this may change over the next week or so). During a telecast on FSN, Chipper Jones said of Albies: “He does have some flaws that we’ve got to fix and it’s up to us as a staff and as an organization to fix that..." It seemed to be that Chipper was getting hinting towards something more with how Albies plays the game and less about his actual talent. The Braves have always been against players who are "flashy" in the field, they once traded Yunel Escobar for his flashy play (Bobby Cox routinely benched Andruw Jones for making it look too easy)..., so it's not surprising to hear of them trying to work with Albies on "fixing" his "flaws." Whatever those "flaws" may be...

So, what does all of this have to do with Frank Wren's lasting legacy with the Braves? Well, Wren was the general manager when the Braves signed Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies. I notice a lot of fans seem to want to place blame on Wren for everything wrong with the franchise, but they fail to give the man credit for signing the two prospects (position playing prospects) with arguably the highest upside in the farm system. He also signed Johan Camargo, who is playing very well so far in Atlanta (.317/.341/.472 at the time of this writing).

Back to that whole, "Braves fans blame everything on Frank Wren" stuff... I was searching through Braves fans on twitter and discovered this gem:

That's right, Frank Wren is being blamed by some Braves fans for the team trading away Craig Kimbrel. Wren was fired by the Braves on September 22nd, 2014. Kimbrel was traded on April 5th, 2015. Yet, fans still want to blame Wren for that trade. Some fans even bash the extensions given out by Wren, when in reality, he gave modest deals to Kimbrel, Teheran, Freeman, and Simmons. Also, it's worth noting that in trading Kimbrel to the Padres, the Braves only received Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin, and Matt Wisler in the deal. If you compare that to what the Yankees received for for Aroldis Chapman, you can tell the Braves definitely sold low on Kimbrel. Yes, they did free up the money owed to Melvin Upton, but they still took on money in acquiring Quentin (who they eventually released.) In the end, the Braves basically only acquired Matt Wisler for their All-Star closer. All in the name of saving money. If only they had held on to Kimbrel until the trade deadline, they could have maximized their return.

Current Braves' GM John Coppolella seems to have a knack for not maximizing value in his trades. Just look at the trades involving Alex Wood, Andrelton Simmons, Craig Kimbrel, and Justin Upton. Coppy also has a knack for trading any player that was signed by Frank Wren and we routinely hear rumors of the Braves being open to trading Lucas Sims, Julio Teheran, or Ozzie Albies. Essentially, if you have any ties to the former GM, Atlanta might be looking to deal you away. In the end, if Coppy makes a bad trade, most fans will say: "he admitted it was bad!" and all is forgiven. If only Frank Wren had apologized for signing Melvin Upton.... Guess all would be good, right?

In the end, Frank Wren's legacy in Atlanta is difficult to quantify. On one hand, he was responsible for getting the Braves back to the playoffs after a five year drought. He was also in control when the Braves drafted Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, Craig Kimbrel, Alex Wood, Evan Gattis, and Andrelton Simmons. I think it's a bit unfair to completely forget the team he took over and how depleted the farm system was at the time of his hiring (John Schuerholz sold the farm to acquire Mark Teixeira). The Braves were contenders throughout Wren's time in Atlanta, but now-a-days, most fans think of Wren as being some fool who wasn't competent enough to keep his job. As someone who follows the Braves closely, I remember fans acting as if he was some genius during his tenure with the Braves. I believe the official saying was, "All I Do Is Wren." and all was good with the world. But once the Braves fired him, the local media ran stories against him pretty much everyday and turned him into one of the biggest scapegoats in Braves' history. While Frank Wren wasn't perfect, he was able to work with tight salary restraints and put together a team that was able to compete every season for a playoff berth.  His legacy in Atlanta continues to this day thanks to the likes of Freddie Freeman, Julio Teheran, Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna, Lucas Sims, and Johan Camargo. As the Braves continue to "rebuild", you could argue that the foundation that is in place is still in large part due the work of Frank Wren.

Epilogue 

I know most Braves fans will be either angry or offended with this piece, but I think it's fair to look back on a GM who has been chastised for producing a lack of prospects. When you look back, the team produced many young stars during his time in Atlanta. Also, when the top two hitting prospects in the farm system are his signings, it's important to give the man credit for that. While his sample size is small and he may not have the potential upside as Acuna or Albies, you could even argue that Johan Camargo has the look (and tools) to be just as good a player as Dansby Swanson (and he is also a carryover from the Wren era as well.) Also, it's worth noting that the Braves are giving Swanson the "Heyward treatment" and allowing his season long slump to take away his playing time and development as he will now only be a part-time player. That's a far-cry from the guy who was destined to win National League Rookie of the Year just before the season started. Interestingly enough, it seems like Camargo is enjoying his success due in part to a high BABIP, just as Swanson did last season during the start of his Major League career (Camargo .398 vs .383 for Swanson).  So, take from this what you will. I'm sure the same old trolls will continue to mock Frank Wren on twitter as being some incompetent loser who ruined the franchise, while ignoring all the good he did while in Atlanta. The Braves do still have bigger problems to solve, most notably, with the coaching staff. It seems like Wren's ultimate undoing in Atlanta was in part to him wanting to fire Fredi Gonzalez after his refusal to use Craig Kimbrel in a playoff game and his desire to change a lot of the scouting department in Atlanta. The Braves ended up bringing back guys who had been fired and keeping Fredi around for another season and a half. To me, the Braves need to fully embrace change if they want to compete again for a divisional title (or World Series.) Young, fresh thinking people who aren't afraid to go against the book. I doubt they'll go that route, but it would be a breath of fresh air for a franchise that tends to go by the book with every move they make. Until then, it'll be difficult for me to actually embrace this "rebuild."