Rowland's Office

I’m so excited.

The likely new owner of our favorite team "continues to tax efficiently monetize non-core positions and focus on increasing the value of core positons at breakneck speed," said some analyst who probably got a $20 million bonus last year. Makes you feel better, doesn’t it? Better than watching McCann lace one in the gap, eh?

Ah, Liberty Media. There are plenty of reasons to fret over how they might operate our Bravos. But we know nothing for sure. Last time Liberty owned sports teams, they sold them before company honcho John Malone had time to warm his court-side seat. In 2000, Liberty bought the Colorado Avalance, Denver Nuggets and the arena in which those teams play. Four weeks later the company flipped the whole lot for a profit of $150 million, according to the Denver Post.

Unfortunately, the company has to hold the Braves for at least a couple of years to get its precious tax benefits. So at least one thing about Liberty is clear: like most corporations, they care most about making money. They own Ticketmaster, for God’s sake, the most loathesome corporation this side of the insurance industry. Liberty also owns QVC, the big home shopping channel.

Maybe some good could come of this. Maybe they’ll relegate Butt-cut man, the between-innings carnival barker at Turner Field, to hawking Caribbean cruises on QVC. There are less pleasant if farfetched possibilities. Could you see Bill Acree on TV peddling game-used sanitary socks and batting gloves? Maybe they’ll sell jewelry on the big center field screen between innings. That’s a joke. I hope.

As Liberty is concerned most with the bottom line, and shows no inclination to own a sports team long term, let’s assume the company aims to sell the Bravos for a tidy profit. Would slashing payroll and assuring acres of empty seats and lower TV ratings drive up the price of your franchise? Not only that, but Liberty owns DirecTV, which is paying MLB $700 million to show out-of-market games. You figure Malone wants the biggest possible audience for those games. So maybe he won’t completely ravage one of the teams his TV network will be showing.

Maybe. The truth is that, like Sgt. Schultz, we know nothing.

Except this: At the end of the day, I’m negatively impacted by the transaction, regardless of the win-win that could result from leveraging synergies between holdings, assets and properties that might enhance shareholder value and monetize this and action-item that and create end-to-end solutions …. kiss my ass, corporate owner. Don’t mess with our Braves.

–CD   

Reagan decreed it morning in America. But for Braves fans the middle and late ’80s were more like mourning in America. At no place on the diamond were those days darker than behind the plate.

After the medicore Bruce Benedict’s starting days, a succession of sad-sack backstops passed through Ol’ Blue: Rick Cerone, Ozzie Virgil, Ernie Whitt and "Gainesville’s" Jody Davis. All you need to know is that Virgil was the star of that group. That’s how bad they were as Braves. And for that, they get inducted en masse into the Worst 10 of the ’80s. 

Let’s start with Ozzie, who hit the most meaningless home runs in Braves history. In 1987 he had 20 taters on June 21, 68 games into the season. On a pace to club 48 dingers, Ozzie hit just seven more in the season’s last 94 games to finish with 27. How bad was he in the clutch? On July 28, he was hitting .208 with runners in scoring position. In three seasons in A-town, Ozzie hit .242 with 51 homers and 151 RBI. Ozzie struck out five times in a game against the Cubs in May 1987.

The rest of that slag heap hit a combined .195 with 8 homers and 51 RBI in 611 at-bats. Some of the seasons were breathtakingly awful. Take Jooooody, Jody Davis’ 1989. After some solid seasons at Wrigley, including two all-star years, Davis came to Atlanta after it became clear he was slipping. (I love Bobby, but some of his trades as GM were not so shrewd. He didn’t give up anything — Kevins Coffman and Blankenship, but why even acquire a guy like this?)

In any case, Davis had hit 19 homers in 1987, just seven the next season and then absolutely cratered for the Bravos. He hit .169 with four homers and 19 ribs in 231 at-bats. For good measure, he fanned 61 times, or once every 3.8 trips, meaning once a game. While we’re plodding down bad-memory lane, let’s not forget Cerone’s .216 1985.

–CD

As Bravos pitchers and catchers hop in their sports cars and luxury SUVs for the trip south to Orlando, there is little mystery about which of them will return north with the big club. The pitching staff is probably as settled as it’s been in almost any year in Atlanta.

Not that excellence is assured, by any means. But there are virtually no open jobs, barring major injuries. These pitchers are essentially assured roster spots: starters Smoltz, Hudson, Hampton and James; relievers Wickman, Gonzalez, Soriano, McBride, Yates, Villarreal and, if he’s healthy, Boyer. Unless he has a horrible spring, which isn’t out of the question, Kyle Davies will be the fifth starter. If he’s awful in Florida, that spot likely goes to Lance Cormier.

Say Davies opens in the rotation. That leaves at most two and perhaps one bullpen spot open. We have Chad Paronto, Joey Devine and Cormier contending. I wouldn’t be surprised if Boyer starts the season in the minors.

My guess for the opening day staff: Smoltz, Hudson, Hampton, James, Davies, Wickman, Gonzalez, Soriano, McBride, Yates, Villarreal and Paronto. Tanyon Sturtze is supposed to be healthy a month or so into the season and if Boyer pitches well in the minors Bobby and JS will have some decisions to make about the pen in May and June. Ideally, everyone pitches beautifully and you can trade a veteran like Paronto or Yates for help elsewhere. 

The catching position is likewise set. McCann obviously starts and, unless something strange happens, Brayan Pena will back him up.

–CD

The Braves’ evolution to corporate pawn is now almost complete, as Time Warner and Liberty Media have concluded their agreement to exchange the home team like just another entry in a spread sheet.

As he has throughout this protracted process, longtime Ted lieutenant and Braves president Terry McGuirk says Liberty assures him the club will keep running as it has. So that means holding the payroll steady as most other clubs spend more and more. When the local organ’s Tim Tucker asked McGuirk what he’d tell concerned fans, the best he could muster was, "That is a really good question" followed by a bunch of corporate-speak about the transparent effect on management, blah, blah.

Best guess here is that Liberty leaves the payroll stuck. It’ll be up to JS to work within that framework. Boy, that Hampton deal looks pretty bad now.

Actually, the Liberty purchase is not final. Three-quarters of MLB owners must approve it. Seeing as how MLB just struck a $700 million deal with Liberty-owned DirecTV to show games, pissing off legions of fans who don’t have DirecTV in the bargain, it’s hard to imagine Bud and his cronies not signing off on this.

Let’s just hope Liberty sells the team to a local owner in three or four years. 

–CD 

Few big leaguers have tumbled from grace as quickly as Damaso Garcia. And the ’80s Braves were there with a bed of cash to cushion his fall.

As a Blue Jay, Garcia had been almost the Robbie Alomar of his day, hitting .293 and averaging 34 steals in his last five seasons as a Canadian bird. He was a two-time all star, just 30 when the home team acquired him with some fanfare. The day after the Bravos dealt for Garcia, local organ columnist Jesse Outler effused: "That deal Braves GM Bobby Cox made with Toronto seems almost too good to be true. I can’t imagine the Blue Jays trading Damaso Garcia, a proven second baseman with speed and a lifetime average of .286, for pitcher Craig McMurtry."

Bobby nor anyone else could imagine how bad Garcia would be as a Brave. As the fourth-highest paid Brave — making $800,000 a season, double the MLB average and equal to about $6 million today — Garcia missed the entire 1987 season with knee problems. He returned in 1988 to hit .117 — yep, .117 — and get released in May after pulling himself from the lineup twice and refusing to play third base.

Garcia totalled seven hits as a Brave, for which the club paid him $185,714 per, according to then Braves local organ beat writer Gerry Fraley. Believe it or not, Garcia went 3-for-7 in the ‘88 opener, then just 4-for-53 (.075). Dude made Langerhans look like Rod Carew. Rick Mahler rapped more hits that season than Garcia. Mahler, Zane Smith and Charlie Puleo all posted better batting averages.

Not that any of it mattered. That team, the worst in Atlanta history, started 3-16 and ended the season 54-106, losing two of every three games. That club had seven losing streaks of five games or more, or as many such skids as the Bravos had in 11 seasons combined from 1991 through 2001.

Need we say that Damaso qualifies as one of the 10 Worst Braves of the 1980s? His total flameout — pun intended — after donning the Tomahawk was perhaps worse even than Sutter’s, though Garcia was not as dominant at his position as Sutter was.

–CD

Ray Berres, the oldest living Brave and second-oldest living major leaguer, died back on February 1 at the age of 99.  Last summer we had a little fun with Berres’ Bakoesque lack of hitting prowess, but what we didn’t note was that he was a pitching coach of some distinction for the White Sox organization for the better part of two decades.

It would appear that pitcher Tommy Reis is now on the clock as the oldest living Brave.  Reis’s career lasted all of eight games over two months in 1938, and he managed to collect two big league uniforms in the process.  His four games with the Braves were much better than the four with the Phillies; still, he checked out with a 7.11 ERA in 6 1/3 innings worked.

The oldest living noteworthy Brave is Tommy Holmes, who turns 90 in March.  Holmes was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in 2004.

– JGraham

The few souls who showed up at Ol’ Blue in the middle and late 1980s didn’t expect much. When your team loses 96 games a year, as the Braves averaged in 1985-’89, you learn.

Still, even the 8,000 or so who turned out grew impatient with a badly misjudged one-time rising star shortstop from the Dominican cradle of shortstops. Andres Thomas was the only Brave I recall being regularly booed by the home folks in those days. That is quite a distinction.

It’s easy to understand the ire. A guy who was once seriously considered as part of a package to trade for the young Barry Bonds (according to the local organ, I looked it up) was quickly unmasked as Jeff Francoeur without the power, defense, flair for the dramatic or a reasonable batting average. For all that, Andres earns a spot on the Worst 10 of the 1980s, itself a most remarkable distinction.

Thomas had shown offensive promise in his first season as a regular, jacking 13 homers and knocking in 68 runs in 1988, with a .252 average on a club that hit .242. Recall that in 1988, only one National Leaguer hit more than 30 homers, so 13 was a hefty total for a shortstop. Barry Larkin hit 12 that year at the same age, 24. And Tony Gwynn won the batting title at .313.

However, Thomas’ on base percentage was a pathetic .268, worse than Todd Pratt’s was in 2006. Worse, Thomas was no better afield, with 29 boots in 1988.

OK, but this was the woeful Braves and this guy appeared to have potential as a slugging middle infielder, a rarity in that day. Then the next season he pounded 10 long balls before the all-star break. Alas, he would hit just 3 more all year and his stunted career ended in 1990 at the age of 26.

The man was simply horrible. He ended ‘89 with a .213 average and a mind-boggling .228 on base percentage, same as "pitcher" Jorge Sosa had last season. Andres walked 12 times in 1989 in 566 plate appearances. Francoeur had 23 bases on balls last year. Thomas’ career OBP of .255 is eight points better than Tom Glavine’s.

Sadly, Thomas’ defense, like his hitting, got no better after ‘88. He committed another 29 errors in ‘89. And, oh yeah, he was in the NL top 10 in hitting into double plays both of his seasons as a regular. In part-time duty in 1990 Andres hit .219 and made another 10 errors in 84 games. That was it for his big league career, which included 301 strikeouts and just 59 walks.

There is good news, though. Andres has become a successful manager in the Dominican. Managing a club for the Detroit organization, he was the summer league skipper of the year in 2006. Here’s an amusing translation from a Spanish-language baseball site:

Santo Domingo - Andrés Perez Thomas, of the Tigers of San Cristóbal, was selected like manager of the year of the 2006 of the Dominican Summer League. Perez Thomas, who has served to the equipment rockie as Detroit by five years like overseer, obtained his second selection, since in 1998 also she gained it with the Diamondbacks. He played during six seasons (1985-90) like torpedo boat with the Brave ones of Atlanta after being signed like free agent in 1981, finished his race with, .234 of average and 228 towed in 577 games. In the Dominican Summer League he directed to Santo Domingo Diamonbacks in the seasons of 1997 and 1998 and to Santo Domingo and San Cristóbal Tigers, in the 1999.00 summers of, 04, 05 and 06. 

Safe to say something got lost in that translation. In any case, perhaps we’ll see Andres back in the bigs some day. Let’s hope he fares better next time around.

–CD

Have I told you lately how much I despise Bud Selig? The former used car salesman, who continues to boast of a baseball renaissance (even as World Series ratings hit a record low), has seemingly no interest in marketing the game.

Pay now, screw later seems to be Bud’s philosophy. Witness the sale of the Braves; think he really cares about the long term health of the franchise? If he did, he wouldn’t allow the team to be sold to a conglomeration with no connection to — or interest in — the team or the city where it plays.

Major League Baseball, which has an infinite ability to infuriate fans, is about to do it again.

As early as next week, Commissioner Bud Selig will announce baseball has cut a seven-year, $700 million deal with DirecTV to place its Extra Innings exclusively on the satellite carrier. …

Previously, Extra Innings had been available in 75 million homes through cable, the Dish Network or DirecTV. Now only DirecTV’s 15 million subscribers will be able to gain access to all-baseball-all-the-time. …

Nothing is forever, but baseball just seems bent on reducing access. The decision seems to follow the same game plan that says let’s put all the World Series games at night so kids can’t see them. Growing the game doesn’t seem to be part of the equation.

God I can’t wait for this ass clown to retire.

–CB

Why not sign Bernie Williams? The Yankees don’t seem very interested in having him back, offering a nonroster invite to one of the few remaining figures from their late ’90s dynasty.

Considering the Pale Hose signed Darin Erstad for $1 million, couldn’t the Braves offer Bernie the same, and a chance to platoon in LF? Sure he’s regressed, but he’s coming off an adequate season, hitting .281 with 12 HR and 61 RBI in 420 AB’s. In other words, he has more to offer than Langerhans or Diaz.

Williams would also provide a positive clubhouse presence. There’s little to lose. At worst, he’d figure as a potent fourth OF.

—CB

When you hit .191 in 121 games — with an OPS of .451 — and you’re supplanted by "Sugar Bear" Blanks as a starter, you warrant inclusion on our listing of the Worst 10 Braves of the 1980s. Welcome our second inductee, Luis Gomez.

Want to know some of his "similar batters," as listed by Baseball Reference? How ’bout Mario Mendoza, Mick Kelleher and Mike Fischlin? That’s like having your presidency compared to the Jimmy Carter or George W. Bush administrations. Luis’ numbers sure could’ve used some inflation. 

In 1251 career AB’s, Gomez hit .210 with no HR’s and only 26 doubles. His lifetime OPS? .500. He lost playing time to a guy who finished 1980 with a .204 BA (sorry, Larvell).

But what about his defense? Luis was reputed to have a good glove, but while in Atlanta he committed 19 errors in 140 games. Not awful, but when you hit less than .200, you better not make many defensive mistakes.

Like so many Braves of that era, Gomez’ career ended in Atlanta (in 1981). Not sure if he is the worst SS ever to travel through these parts — paging Pat Rockett — and he won’t be the last on our list of infamous Braves of the ’80s (nor will he be the last ex-Toronto Blue Jay).

–CB