Atlanta Braves GM I’m getting so tired of this

Apr 11, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Former Atlanta Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons took his Gold and Platinum Glove awards and moved to Anaheim where he’s “Happy to be joining a team that wants to win now.” Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

We’re not tanking…

The Nightengale piece asks the GM about the general feeling that the Braves are tanking in order to grab draft picks and save money along the way. The GM of course denies this offering examples to defend his position. He should really get someone to help him prepare for these in more detail.

"“If we truly were going to tank, we wouldn’t have had Aybar come back in the trade. If we were trying to tank, we wouldn’t have signed (catcher) A.J. Pierzynski. If we were trying to tank, we would have traded Maybin at the deadline last year, and we had plenty of offers."

In a comment to Alan’s post earlier today I looked at that statement from an objective – if cynical – viewpoint.  He starts by offering up Erick Aybar as an example.

1) “If we truly were going to tank, we wouldn’t have had Aybar come back in the trade . . .
Yes you would. The Braves needed a major league shortstop who wouldn’t be a complete embarrassment after trading Simmons.  Daniel Castro is a utility/bench player and Jace Peterson doesn’t have the arm or range for shortstop, The rest of the in house options are too far away to be used in 2016.

They could either ask for Aybar and enough cash to make the trade payroll neutral this season or sign an all glove guy like Cliff Pennington. They took Aybar because they could spin the stats to make it look like he would be make a big improvement at the plate hoping all season long that his bat doesn’t fold.
2) “. . .If we were trying to tank we wouldn’t have signed (catcher) A.J. Pierzynski.
Yes you would. The Braves needed a veteran catcher and had talks with Chris Iannetta but couldn’t agree terms.  AJ wanted to stay in Atlanta, took a cheap, one year contract and was a fan favorite.

3) “. . .If we were trying to tank, we would have traded Maybin at the deadline last year, and we had plenty of offers.”
It’s well reported that they had offers but by that time the team was circling the drain so rapidly that it was becoming a joke. As current manager and Coppolella parrot said on XM yesterday, team leadership was embarrassed. Cameron Maybin remained a fan favorite throughout the year even though he cooled considerably after his hot start.  Besides his .240/.289/.311/.600 second half is pretty deep in a tank anyway

In a previous interview on Fangrapjhs I discussed in more detail in my post on the trade, theoretically sabermetrics oriented Copollela said something not many aside from his former boss Frank Wren (who famously said errors don’t matter) would agree with.

"“Infield defense is very important and Andrelton may be the best of all time. It’s hard to quantify not only the hits he turns into outs, but also the extra pitches, and the stress associated with those pitches, for our young arms. That being said, defense isn’t everything. (my emphasis)"

I agree defense isn’t everything but when you have young pitchers who put the ball on the ground and a team that doesn’t score many runs, defense is extremely important.

The braves didn’t take a step down from Simmons to Brandown Crawford or Adeiny Hechavarria, they went from the best in the game to a player 19th of 23 qualified shortstops and expect his bat to make it all better.