Atlanta Braves Morning Chop

Revamped Braves Look Back To Move Forward

CARROLL ROGERS / BASEBALL AMERICA.COM

ATLANTA—In the five years former scouting director Roy Clark spent away from the Braves organization with the Nationals and the Dodgers, the TV in his Marietta, Ga., home always wound up on Braves games.

“Once you’ve been a Brave….” said Clark, who never moved from the Atlanta suburbs. “It just never got out of my system. It was a long five years for me. The bottom line is even my kids refused to wear anything but Braves stuff.”

More than 22 years in the Braves organization, including 11 as scouting director, ended with Clark resigning over a “difference in philosophy” with the direction the Braves were headed under general manager Frank Wren.

When the Braves fired Wren and his assistant GM Bruce Manno in September and began restructuring their front office, all it took was one phone call from team president John Schuerholz to get Clark back.

Schuerholz explained he wanted to get back to the “Braves way” using the same philosophies that fueled the Braves’ run of 14 straight division titles.

The Braves Way

The “Braves way” is built on scouting and player development, buttressing the big league club with talent from within. And while 11 players from the Braves’ past five drafts have risen to the major league ranks, the farm system is thin, especially at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.

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Part of the plan to re-stock, Clark says, centers on strengthening scouting in the areas where most prospects are, and that’s what they feel they’ve done with [Dan] Cox in California, for example.

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The Braves are also hoping to make noise in international scouting, let by newly hired Gordon Blakeley from the Yankees as special assistant to the GM. He signed the likes of Robinson Cano, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, Jose Contreras and Hideki Irabu.

Editor’s Note:  I definitely recommend the entire article to you – please hit the link above to check it out.

Next: Braves Payroll Update

Moving Friends

In a roster-trade deal on Dec. 12th, the Arizona Diamondbacks sent RHP Zeke Spruill (former Brave – traded to Arizona in the Justin Upton deal) to Boston in exchange for RHP Myles Smith.

David Ross signed a 2 year contract with the Chicago Cubs on 12/23.

Jordan Walden signed an arbitration-avoiding extension with the St. Louis Cardinals on 12/23:  2 year deal.

On 12/19, Martin Prado was traded from the Yankees to the Marlins for Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Jones as part of a five-player deal.

On 12/17, Kris Medlen signed with the Kansas City Royals; 2-year contract

and finally… something that just hit the wire: