The thing Wren understood that Rizzo didn't is you don't blow the team up after a collapse. Yeah 2011 was rough, but they stayed quiet and were right back in the fray in 2012, and simply added on to what they had in 2013. Another example is the Red Sox. They blew their team up after the collapse and were embarrassing the next season, much like the Nationals have been. Washington let key pieces walk and signed players that eventually led to locker room rifts.
Completely agree, especially this part. You don't mess with a 100 win team as much as they did. I have no doubts we would be right there racing the Braves, or at the very least very much in the WC picture if that team was back this year. The whole dynamic of the team could not be more different, like literally, it is night and day.
Uhh, the Braves from 2011 to 2012 to 2013 have all had personnel changes. The only two starting pitchers the Braves got 30+ starts out of were Tim Hudson and.... Derek Lowe. Beachy, Hanson, Jurrjens and Minor all had 25 or less and the spot starts were picked up by Teheran and Delgado. In 2011 they still started Nate McLouth in CF, and when that blew up they used Schafer who then got traded for Bourn. Eric Hinske and "stone hands" Brooks Conrad came off the bench with occassional help from Francisco. The 2012 round robin at SS had Pastornicky, Janish and then finally Simmons. They carried over the rest of their offense but the rotation now added Medlen, a TJ rehab suspect who last pitched out of the pen in 2010, Ben Sheets for a while and Paul Maholm.
Adding on to 2012 into 2013? They; traded Prado for J.Upton, lost Chipper Jones to retirement and replaced him with Chris Johnson, replaced Bourn in CF with B.J. Upton, let amazing backup catcher David Ross go and replaced him with Gerald Laird, promoted a "never heard of" that came out of thin air in Evan Gattis and also revamped the rest of the bench with guys like Ramiro Pena and bringing back Schafer.
They are a very good team and are finally hitting their stride, but don't say that Wren understood something Rizzo didn't. Hell Rizzo didn't "screw" with a 98 win team as much as you seem to think. Soriano was signed to make a decent back end of the bullpen better. Gorzelanny, Mike Gonzalez and Burnett? Gorzy has been good, Gonzalez has a 3.86 ERA in relief and Burnett appeared in 13 games and is injured for the rest of the season. Zach Duke and HRod didn't fill the voids left by those guys, but Krol and Abad filled them pretty well so far. Soriano took the other "spot" out there. The often injured Morse was traded to get Ian Krol and A.J. Cole, a potential top of the rotation starter, back into the system. Morse hasn't been able to stay healthy for the Mariners this year, although compared to LaRoche he looks like a good option.
This team wasn't "blown up" like the Red Sox, they are horribly under-performing. The back room quarrels, well, that happens when you suck. People get angry, trying to put the blame on someone in particular, but it's a group effort.
