A Brave Old World?

Jason Michael Barker

Well, it's finally over. The season, the World Series, a decade of baseball, everything.

The good news is that we get an entire off season to ruminate on a variety of topics, from free agency to who really should have won the American League MVP, and whether Don Baylor will do a good job with the Cubbies (What? He hasn't been hired yet?).

But for now all we've got to talk about is the World Series, which ended rather abruptly.

Last week I mentioned that although I wasn't enthralled by either the Braves or Yankees, I expected a pretty good series considering these were the two best teams in baseball. Bzzt, wrong answer. Not only was this World Series incredibly boring, I found it the least exciting Series since 1989. If you recall, the 1989 World Series was interrupted by a huge earthquake and the week off to allow the Bay Area to recover really hurt the flow of the series. Of course, it didn't help that Oakland swept San Francisco.

In the end, this year's Series came down to Atlanta's bats versus New York's pitching, and if you're reading this you no doubt know which end came out on top.

Atlanta's biggest problem was that they simply didn't have enough hitters to compete. Honestly, who do the Braves have after Chipper Jones? Jones is a great player, and should win the National League MVP this season, but no player can carry his team for an entire series against the likes of the Yankees.

If you think I've slighted Andruw Jones here, you're probably right. And perhaps Ryan Klesko. But certainly not Brian Jordan, the Braves' "big" free agent signing this winter (more on that later), who hit a paltry .305/.450 after the All-Star break. For most of 1999, the Braves got very little production from second base, shortstop, catcher, right field, and left field. They only scored 840 runs this season, good for seventh in the National League.

So how'd they win 103 games, then? Well, that great starting pitching explains most of it. Throw in Chipper, Andruw, half a good season from Hunter and 65 games of Javy Lopez, and that's pretty much it. Over the course of a season it's easy to hide weaknesses, particularly with great pitching. But in a short series against a very good team, the lack of an offense becomes readily apparent -- as evidenced by the fact that Keith Lockhart was Atlanta's designated hitter in Game Four.

I was also critical of Bobby Cox's handling of the Braves during the post-season, particularly how his choice of batting orders in the first two games of the World Series. Then I got an insightful e-mail from reader Dave that made me reconsider where to place the blame:

Jason, you're right that Bobby Cox couldn't manage his daughter's lemonade stand as Joe Torre's history has been made by out managing Cox.

I'm not normally a big proponent of luck, but I do find it interesting that nearly every move Cox made failed, while Torre seemingly could do no wrong...

But to me the real problem is the roster John Sure-holes has handed him. Sure-holes is doing to the Braves what he did the Royals before, once the cracks start appearing, he keeps sticking band-aids on them without looking for a true fix. Otis Nixon, Randall Simon, Brian Hunter, Ozzie Guillen, Bret Boone, Jorge Fabregas, I'll even argue that Gerald Williams is not a decent corner outfielder but rather an average 6th outfielder on most teams.

"John Sure-holes," of course, is Atlanta general manager John Schuerholz, and for the most part, I agree with what Dave is saying here. (I disagree about Simon, who is still young and looks like he can hit righthanded pitching pretty well).

Last winter, when Atlanta needed a second baseman Schuerholz traded top pitching prospect Rob Bell for Brett Boone, who's overrated at the plate and in the field. He signed the aforementioned Brian Jordan as a free agent, coming off a career year on the wrong side of 30. Ozzie Guillen and Otis Nixon are pretty much indefensible acquisitions, ditto Jorge Fabregas (and what a role he played this postseason).

Dave continues...

Granted Cox has screwed up who he has on his playoff roster, but he has no choice to lead off Gerald Williams. He must have learned that the Guillen in lead off didn't work last year.

Another good point (and a nice jab at Guillen to boot). The Braves haven't had a decent leadoff man since Kenny Lofton returned to Cleveland following the 1997 season, and Schuerholz hasn't done anything to address the problem, either through trade or free agency.

At this July's trading deadline, the Braves needed three things (you could argue for more than that, but we'll keep it simple): a shortstop, a leadoff man, and a catcher. Schuerholz traded for SS Jose Hernandez, which really didn't help any of those three areas.

Atlanta still has a very good team, and will certainly be helped by the returns of Kerry Ligtenberg, Andres Galarraga and Javy Lopez. But at the same time, they're in danger of slipping quite a bit. How many of the Braves regulars are good bets to improve next season? Off the top of my head, I'd say Andruw Jones, and that's about it.

With players like Andres Galarraga, Brian Jordan, Gerald Williams, Jose Hernandez, Keith Lockhart, Bret Boone, Ozzie Guillen, and Walt Weiss all getting older and likely on the decline, the time has come for some sort of rebuilding or youth movement.

Is Schuerholz the man for the job? I'd venture to say no, since he did basically the same thing with the Royals in the early 1980s as he's done with the Braves recently: sign and trade for veteran quick-fixes instead of finding long-term solutions.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker also said the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks had no chance of winning the Japan Series this year. Say, "huh?" at jmb@strikethree.com.