Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop, Box Score, Nick Swisher’s Slap In The Face

Baseball Reference

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: In a game where the pain of being an Atlanta Braves fan in 2016 started to hurt right after the words “play ball” were announced, things didn’t get any better until the final out.  Actually, we did end a 15 game no-homers drought when Freddie Freeman launched his second home run in the 8th inning.  One positive, see we’re all about the positives here!  Bud Norris may have pitched his last pitch with the Braves – or maybe just his last pitch as a starter for the Braves.  Read the full recap from Colby here.

Braves lose 9-4

NJ.com

Yankees’ Nick Swisher: Atlanta Braves release a ‘slap in the face’

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Braves released veteran outfielder/first baseman Nick Swisher at the end of the 2016 Spring Training.  The Braves didn’t see a fit with Swisher and wanted to get other guys onto the field.  They ate his extremely large contract and sent him packing.  He signed with the Yankees 17 days after being released.  Now that the season is on it’s way – the 35-year-old is currently playing with the Yankees triple-A affiliate – he’s laying the hammer on the Braves.

"Nick Swisher has loved every second of the short time he’s been back in the Yankees organization with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.He wasn’t so fond, however, of how the Atlanta Braves cut him.Swisher said his release from the Braves was a “slap in the face” and implied that they could done it sooner so he could have more time to explore opportunities elsewhere. Atlanta cut him March 28. Spring training ended April 2.“I’m a respect guy,” the 35-year-old outfielder said after going 1-for-4 in a loss to thePhillies‘ affiliate at PNC Field on Wednesday. “I think for somebody who has accumulated that many years — you know what you’re going to do. (And then) you’re told, ‘You don’t fit in?’ That’s kind of a slap in the face.”"

Bloomberg Business Week

The Braves Play Taxpayers Better Than They Play Baseball

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: A solid read here from Ira Boudway and Kate Smith about the Atlanta Braves on Bloomberg Business Week.  Check out the entire article with the link above.  It goes into great detail about the Braves organization and the money assets associated with the Atlanta team as well as the minor league affiliates.

"Over the last 15 years, the Braves have extracted nearly half a billion in public funds for four new homes, each bigger and more expensive than the last. The crown jewel, backed by $392 million in public funding, is a $722 million, 41,500-seat stadium for the major league club set to open next year in Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta. Before Cobb, the Braves built three minor league parks, working their way up the ladder from Single A to Triple A. In every case, they switched cities, pitting their new host against the old during negotiations. They showered attention on local officials unaccustomed to dealing with a big-league franchise and, in the end, left most of the cost on the public ledger. Says Joel Maxcy, a sports economist at Drexel University: “If there’s one thing the Braves know how to do, it’s how to get money out of taxpayers.”The Atlanta Braves own most of their minor league farm system, including, along with a Double-A team, the Triple-A team in Gwinnett County, Ga.; the Single-A team in Rome, Ga.; and lower-level teams in Danville, Va., and Lake Buena Vista, Fla. It’s an unusual arrangement. Major League Baseball teams always manage their players at every level, but they usually leave the day-to-day operations of farm teams to independent owners. The Braves prefer more control. “We can create a seamless thread all the way through our system,” says Mike Plant, the team’s president of development. The teams are all named the Braves and wear near-identical uniforms. Even the “Tomahawk Chop” chant is the same from Atlanta to Rome. “We definitely extend that Braves brand through everything we do,” says Plant."