A Dark Cloud Over The Ted

On 790 The Zone this morning, a caller told us that he's been a lifelong Braves fan and if Smoltz goes to Boston, he won't be giving the Braves another cent of his money until Frank Wren is fired.

I'm compelled to agree with him.

The Braves come into the offseason telling everyone about their big pile of cash: $30-40M available to spend on free agents and new talent to make this team competitive again. Now after landing nobody except Javy Vazquez, its beginning to look like the front office has packed it in and are waiting to see how the prospects pan out. Wren and company refuse to make any aggressive offers, forgetting that we are no longer an attractive destination for free agents. Or even our own team leader, for that matter. $5.5M for John Smoltz is a bargain. That's practically free. He could pitch ZERO innings and I'd still pay him that much. Just to be in the clubhouse, just to show the young pitchers what its like to work and act like a superstar Major Leaguer. But he will pitch innings. And he could pitch a lot of innings.

This is clearly his final season and his insane competitiveness is going to show through. Sure we've lost guys before, hell we've lost everyone except Chipper and Smoltz over the years. This is professional baseball, after all. But with one year remaining in his Hall of Fame career, how can the Braves front office believe any of their half-assed justifications that we can't sink any more money into 40+ year old pitching. Keeping Smoltz isn't about saving the rotation. Its about saving face. If he came back, it'd likely be as a reliever, keeping him in a role that can limit injuries. What's important is that we keep him in a role. Any role. Boston has nothing to lose by signing him. They have a stocked rotation and bullpen, and $5.5M means nothing to them. But we have a lot to lose by letting him walk. We'll lose fans, we'll lose respect, we'll lose hope. Its January and its already time to think about next November. Who's a free agent? What prospects might be ready? Will Chipper retire? I think someone needs to remind Frank Wren that you actually have to field a team in 2009. And if you have the money, you have to do right by your fans and field the best possible team you can. And that will always mean having John Smoltz on the roster.

Now then, is it time to buy FireFrankWren.com?