Opening Day wasn't kind to the Braves, but it's too early in the season to let that get you down. Take a look at how Liberty Media runs the franchise, and THEN be down about the future.
Opening Day came and went Thursday, and the Braves found themselves on the losing end of a 10-4 game at Philadelphia. There aren’t many conclusions worth drawing only one game into a 162 game season, but the opener neatly highlighted some of Atlanta’s difficulties moving forward. Julio Teheran produced five innings of decent but not spectacular pitching to start the season (aka was Julio Teheran), the bats knocked in four runs (nothing crazy, but nothing to scoff at either), and the bullpen got smashed (it may be a theme this year). The Phillies unveiled a new lineup with free agent additions Andrew McCutchen, Jean Segura, Bryce Harper, and J. T. Realmuto (a collective $62 million per year) paired with more manageable contracts for solid to good players held over from last year . The Phillies offseason moves ramped up the competition in a tough NL East where only the Marlins have little chance of winning the division.
The 0-1 start for Atlanta is of little consequence; ranking 4th in payroll within the NL East (while Liberty Media heavily reinvests baseball profits into local real estate) paints a more grim picture. Long gone are the Ted Turner days, where winning was a major goal. If you haven’t noticed by now, Liberty Media primarily values profit and values wins only so far as they maximize said profit. Since acquiring the Braves in 2007, the team has won the division twice and made the postseason a total of four times (a far cry from the 1991 to 2005 division streak). With no noticeable postseason success (or even an exciting, hopeful 100 win regular season), an increasingly pessimistic fanbase, and a new stadium on the horizon, the decision was made to tear things down and rebuild following the 2014 season.
True rebuilds are lengthy and painful; the Braves transition was relatively smooth when compared to other examples. If you look at the young potential stars and the loaded minor league system it is easy to look ahead and declare the rebuild a success. Taking a look around the state of the division and MLB as a whole tells another story. The Braves are fourth in the NL East in payroll and 21st overall in MLB. Total payroll isn’t everything, and it sure is a joy to watch an underfunded small-market team outperform a bloated Yankees roster. But, the payroll is indicative of the franchise goals: be good enough to compete and occasionally make the playoffs, but always, always, always keep profit the first priority.
The Braves bullpen is expected to be quite weak this year (so far, so good?), so why weren’t moves made to bolster the squad? If only Craig Kimbrel was sitting around unemployed...
With a lot of young, cheap position players and Adrian Gonzalez’s $24 million coming off the books, the team could have chosen to invest in winning long term; instead, Josh Donaldson is on a low-risk one-year contract. The starting pitching staff is fairly deep with young, cost-controlled arms and some solid veterans like Teheran. Come playoff time (should the Braves find themselves there) Teheran will be trotted out to start game one against the Max Scherzers and Clayton Kershaws of the world. Teheran has taken a lot of flack that he doesn’t deserve, but he is not nearly the same quality as the above guys. The price point for top pitchers -- who don’t come cheap -- is more than Liberty Media is willing to invest.
The top pitching contracts run north of $30 million per year. A close look at the chart reveals that the Braves ENTIRE PITCHING STAFF will make $24.35 million in 2019. That’s a lot of money for a normal working person, but you couldn’t cash in the 13 active Braves for a playoff caliber #1 starting pitcher. Productive young players earning a relative pittance allows organizations the flexibility to go out and sign pricey free agents in an effort to win big (like the Phillies). Choosing to spend money doesn’t guarantee anything, but as long as Liberty Media opts for a risk-averse strategy and maximizing profits fans should expect the team performance to top out at a first round playoff exit.
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