Braves eliminated; GM Frank Wren dismissed

Frank Wren’s Braves tenure was a mixed bag. The Braves were never a bad team under him, except for in his first full season, but they never got further than the NL Division Series in the playoffs, losing both appearances and dropping the NL Wild Card round in another. Under his reign, the Braves collapsed twice: in 2011, in one of the worst collapses in baseball history, and in 2014, when the Braves were in first place as late as July 20 and now are seemingly set to finish the year with a losing record after an abysmal second half. The team was always in the mix, but could never quite get it together.

That’s not all Wren’s fault, as there were plenty of injuries that helped dismantle what had been an impressive array of rotation depth, but he didn’t work well within the payroll limitations set by owners Liberty Media. Under Wren, the Braves had an average payroll of $95.7 million -- that’s not all that much more than what the Royals and Padres spent in 2014. The Braves’ $112 million Opening Day payroll this season -- a possibility thanks to the new ballpark coming for the Braves later on this decade -- was still just around the median for the league.

Atlanta Braves Executive Vice President and General Manager Frank Wren may have had a similar exchange with any of his three sons on Sunday after the Braves were eliminated from postseason competition. Ring Lardner imagined the exchange for his 1920 novella The Young Immingrunts, but it works just as well here, with the once-great franchise (and since it’s soon to move out of the city, perhaps the once-Atlanta franchise as well) struggling to avoid a losing record for the second time in Wren’s seven-season stewardship.

Rumors that Wren’s normally complacent overlords will soon call for his head are circulating, and it may soon be time to see what another GM can do with a team that has roughly $45 million in zombie bucks devoted to B.J. Upton and Dan Uggla, not to mention $23.5 million assigned to Chris Johnson, who could always once again overcome his lack of patience, power, or defensive ability by hitting .320 again, but probably won’t.