Maddux documentary invites alternate history where Barry Bonds signs with Braves

With the release of the Greg Maddux documentary on MLB Network, an interesting alternate scenario was brought up as the Braves decided to target Maddux over Barry Bonds. What would have changed for Atlanta if they signed Bonds instead? Let's examine that possibility below.

It's not often that a team has the choice to pick between two of the best players of all time at their respective positions, but that was just the dilemma the Braves faced during the 1993 offseason.

Coming off back-to-back NL pennants, the Braves could sense a new era of baseball beginning to dawn, and they felt they were one piece away from pushing to reach the top of the MLB mountain.

Lucky for Atlanta, there were two generational baseball players available on the market that winter. But, as they say, money doesn't grow on trees, and the Braves obviously didn't have the luxury of signing both of them.

Greg Maddux documentary invites alternate history where Barry Bonds signs with Braves instead

Barry Bonds was already cementing himself as one of the best baseball players of all time in his seven-year stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates with two MVPs under his belt and a 1992 season in which he posted an absurd 109 runs scored, 103 RBI, 34 home runs, 127 walks, 69 strikeouts, 39 stolen bases, a .311 batting average, and a 1.080 OPS.

This is why people argue that he was a Hall of Famer before he started allegedly juicing up, because of seasons like that.

Bonds was almost a Brave prior to the 1992 season as Atlanta had agreed on a trade to send the slugger from Pittsburgh. The Pirates would have received reliever Alejandro Pena and prospect Keith MItchell in return. Unfortunately, when Hall-of-Fame manager Jim Leyland found out, he lost his mind and the trade was rescinded mere hours before the press release.

Bonds and the Pirates would lose to the Braves in the NLCS for a second-straight season. Braves fans reveled in seeing Bonds dejected in left field after possibly the greatest slide into home plate in baseball history by Sid Bream to send the Braves to a second-straight World Series in 1992.

Bonds was looking for that bag in the offseason, and a chance to win a World Series, and the Braves could offer him both.

However, the talented Maddux was also on the market, and his resume coming into the 1993 season was no less impressive.

Similarly to Bonds winning MVP, Maddux had just won the NL Cy Young in 1992 with the Cubs in his seventh season. That would be his first of four consecutive NL Cy Young Awards.

He finished 11th in MVP voting with a league-best 268 innings, 199 strikeouts to just 70 walks, a 2.58 ERA, a 1.011 WHIP, and a 166 ERA+.

The decision for the Braves represented the opposite end of the spectrum in nearly every way one could think of. Putting aside the fact that they were in different positions, Bonds represented power and speed, the awe-inspiring characteristic of any athlete that makes them a must-watch. Maddux represented balance and control, something that makes athletes great but can sometimes be perceived as boring.

As far as box office potential goes, Bonds was probably the better choice. Home runs sell much better than routine groundouts and Bonds would go on to send 46 balls over the fence in 1993.

But getting butts in seats wasn't a problem for the Braves. The fans in Atlanta would come as long as Ws were being put up and as we know now, both players would have brought that.

Most people when looking at Braves' needs probably would have opted for Bonds considering that the runner-up for the 1992 NL Cy Young race also resided on the Braves in Tom Glavine and John Smoltz was also a 1992 All-Star.

But as we know, the Braves decided to put together the greatest starting pitching staff ever assembled and the rest is history. They finally climbed the mountaintop in 1995 on their third trip to the World Series in five years and would come excruciatingly close to winning more titles almost every year for the rest of the 90s.

So did the Braves make the right decision? I think they did.

It's hard to imagine the Braves without Greg Maddux and adding a bonafide stud on the mound does more for a team than adding another piece to an already great lineup.

Both guys had the potential to win games in the regular season but let's face it, the Braves weren't looking for that. They needed to win in the postseason and having a staff like they did was far more valuable to them in the postseason than adding Bonds to the lineup. They just ran into a few generationally talented Yankees teams that prevented them from cementing themselves as a truly elite sports dynasty. However, I don't think much changes with Bonds in the lineup.

Although it would have been a lot of fun to say that the Braves had the top two home run hitters of all-time and possibly, the best two players in league history on their team.

But alas, it wasn't to be, and what Braves fans got was still a heck of a lot of fun, though it is fun to wonder what could have been.

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