Show #91: Frank Wren’s Defense of the 2009 Off-Season
Glavine headed to the front office? Kelly and LaRoche to the Diamondbacks. And breaking down a recent Frank Wren interview about the team’s off-season moves.
137 Responses to “Show #91: Frank Wren’s Defense of the 2009 Off-Season”
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January 27th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Tcc – you wrote, “Have performed for a crowned head of Europe. Played ping pong against Gordon Lightfoot. ” OK, I want details about both those stories and I want them immediately!
January 28th, 2010 at 12:32 am
Yeah, I second the demand for Lightfoot details.
Did he start out winning the ping pong game, and then fall behind, and sing:
“Sometimes, I think it’s a shame, when I feel like I’m winnin’ but I’m losin’ again…”
(?)
Great show guys. Grumpy asses.
Lots of points to talk about, but I’m sleepy, I’ll just say I agree that the Braves should go out of their way to capitalize on the 90′s run by featuring those players at every turn.
As for Wren’s interview, I pretty much dislike his personality now, and I think he’s a generally uncomfortable person who in turn makes other people (interviewers, players, me) uncomfortable. That said, if his baseball IQ is solid and he’s given a decent amount of money to spend, I figure the club won’t fall to pieces under his reign. He needs a PR coach, though.
January 28th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Cledus…for real..details! I knew you were a rock star. Great show. I laughed way out loud many times. I’m glad you guys dissected the Wren interview seeing as how I just couldn’t bring myself to listen to it. I thought Frank and I were on the same page back in November. I waited for his stellar ninja like moves in the following months. I didn’t get what I wanted for Christmas and I’m just plain mad at him.
Does Hammy really dislike Prado? I can’t keep everybody straight but had I known that to be the case he never would have EVER been declared my favorite host. I was glad to hear some positive thoughts on The Trojan (as in Troy) because I think he’s gonna be a sleeper of sorts. I look for him to charge in unexpected and be the best deal in MLB.
2 shows in 5 days would be it’s own sort of salve for the festering “ifs” so I hope the interview works out. Thanks again for the time you guys take to keep us all off the proverbial edge of the dreaded cliff.
Bub, I requested that translation from the library and realized after about 100 pages that instead they gave me Pevear and Volokhonsky. Should I march down there and stomp my feet or press on? I’m not finding it difficult so maybe it’s also a good translation or I’m just bloody brilliant.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Leah, the Pevear & Volokhonsky is highly regarded and also hated. I don’t know the reasons for either, but I remember hearing that. I don’t know that Garnett’s is the best, I only know that it’s the most read and for its faults, it isn’t likely to be working any weird angles – and weird Dostoyevsky angles are everywhere my friend. Every faction wants him for itself. So, for example, a translator who believes “The Grand Inquisitor” chapter is a greater argument against Christianity than Dostoevsky afterwards answered, there will be the temptation to edge the rendering of a word or two (or two hundred) in that direction. Whereas more conservative folk will want the opposite.
Garnett is accused sometimes of changing Dostoevsky’s prose into something too English.
Anyway, it was while reading the Garnett that I was transported into the ninth realm of the forty-fifth aether of sublime rapture-space. So, if you’re reading something else, you might only get to the eighth.
If you like the book, carry on. If it’s frustrating you, at least try the Garnett once before quitting. And if you quit, do read the short story “Dream of a Ridiculous Man” before ditching the big D altogether. Actually, it’s all the thrill of Dostoevsky for a tenth the cost – not all those names to keep up with, for starters. And it’s short. And beautiful. And indescribable. And….
January 28th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Whoa whoa whoa, what is happening to the comment section here. I was told that there would be no reading . . .
And Leah – I don’t “hate” Prado, that is a gross mischaracterization by Steve. I am just not completely sold on Prado for a full season. He is an “if” for me.
Don’t worry, I know your favorite host is Bub.
January 28th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Hammy, I’m with you on Prado. Although a recent visit to his stats make me wonder why. I mean, those are a lot of at bats to be a fluke.
January 28th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
And, I might add, I think the odds of a bad-Prado-2010/ good-kellly-2010 making us regret losing KJ are higher than most ABT’ers think. I think the odds of Prado going bad are about 25%. And of Kelly tearing it up, about 25% also. Since both of those have to happen for the regret to come true: 12.5% chance we rue the day we dropped Kelly J.
But is that the right way to figure it? I’m no mathelologist.
January 28th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Serious deja vu Hammy. Although you won’t understand why since you are such a rare visitor here on the message board and yes, I’m quite bitter.
INSANITY I say on the Prado front. I’m sorry but who were you guys watching play 2nd the last half of the season? Cause I was watching Clutch (there are your air quotes my friends).
Bub, it’s a good thing you’re man enough to read P and P of your own accord or you and I might have irreconcilable difficulties. Just cause your sad poor KJ is no longer a Brave doesn’t mean you should doubt the man, the myth, the legend…Meadow. Ok, so he may not be all that but he’s way more than some of you give him credit for.
January 28th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
And Hamilton…it’s Princess Leah.
January 28th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
My attitude toward Prado and my love for Kelly are two completely separate items. Completely. I have a hard time buying in on guys who are doing better in the majors than their minor league trajectory. I have the same doubts about Matt Diaz, and Diaz is almost my favorite person on the team.
So, I know the whole love-kelly-therefore-hate-prado is how things typically work in Girl World, so you figure since I doubt Prado and love Kelly they must be connected in that way. But they ain’t, and I will *sniffle* not stand here and be *lips trembling* accused of that kind of *one tear falls* catty motivation by you and your girly baseball girliness! *runs out of the room sobbing*
January 28th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
And that, my friends, is why Bub is my FAVORITE! Unless Cledus really is a rock star and then, well…Bub, you understand.
January 28th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I am not sold on Prado either he did not play the entire year and seems some what close to what Diaz did a couple years ago when Cox thought, even me,Diaz was ready for fulltime play.He played hard but in the end put to much pressure on his self and failed.
Prado did have stress headaches and makes me think does he really have the regular player mental capacity to handle the pressure when that little slump happens and it will.Can he keep it from a downward Francouer debacle or calm the seas for smooth sailing?
I will not regret KJ at any point in the future.I never thought he should have moved to second base in the first place he looked alot more comfortable in LF.Thus he had way to much responsbility on him in the infield different player when he was an OF
I think Head and Shoulders (GLAUS) will have to adjust and feel each players little quirks and tendacies for bout a month then you will see his defense improve.
Well will write more later but got go for now but be back later,THX for the show and the one we might get Sunday later guys
January 28th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
I will hasten to add that I don’t really know what Prado’s minor league trajectory even was, and I have just been assuming that it wasn’t that great because he had such a hard time wrestling the job from uber-slumping Kelly.
And I also don’t know how rare it is for a lastingly good MLB player to be nothing special in the minors. For all I know, it’s common.
So, my Prado doubt is all founded on unresearched feelings.
That, and he took the 2B job away from Kelly Johnson.
Princess Leah, I’ve been abandoned for many a rock star. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Bub, you have no worries. I’m a banjo player, not a rock star. Princess Leah, sorry to let you down.
Steve, once upon a time the Charleston Symphony Orch. was doing a production of Porgy and Bess and they fished around for a banjo guy to do the bit when Porgy sang “I got plenty of nuttin” (reminds me of the Braves and Big Bats this offseason). Anyhow there was at the time an economic conference around the US, led by Charles, Prince of Wales. The finale was a performance of Gershwin’s opera at the Dock St. Theatre..so, that’s the CHofE reference. Gordon Lightfoot played a concert in Chas. and somebody got backstage to invite him to a party afterwords. There was music, beer (lots) and a ping pong table. He was worse than me, but I let him win.
Prado, I really like the guy. I think he will have a great season! Does that help, Your Highness??
Thanks for the show ABT, and another this weekend?! WooHoo!
January 28th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Tcc, banjo is way cool. My oldest friendship is with a guy who grew up amongst banjo-picking sawmillers in Wedowee, AL. Sometimes I go to his family fish fry and I met this guy at one of them:
http://bcbrown.net/bluegrass/chronicles/pioneers/jwatson/index.html
I think the guy is a semi-big deal. He’s played with John Prine, Grandpa Jones, and other notables. In any case, it was something else listening to him play.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Bub, thanks for the link. Good stuff. Now, I’ll ask you first and the others here as they read through the posts: Does anyone here read Chop Talk besides me? I know it’s gotten more expensive and it’s about 87% cheesy but there are some good minor league updates, and good player interviews like in the new issue with Prado and Infante and how they deal with maintaining family cohesion while living the offseason in an increasingly violent Venezuela.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Tcc, I’ve never read it. I’ve been tempted to try it. How expensive is “more expensive”?
I say that if the greatest podcast in the UNIVERSE is given to us for free, they shouldn’t charge for some old magazine that doesn’t even talk.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Cledus, Bub is right about the banjo being way cool. My favorite rock album has a good bit of banjo on it. You may have heard of The Avett Brothers, maybe, not sure. “January Wedding” is a-mazing and beautiful. Their older country songs are good as well. Try, “Please Pardon Yourself”.
I don’t read Chop Talk but that sounds like a good article. Glad someone has seen the light when it comes to Prado. But honestly when you end any sentence with “Your Highness” I’m inclined to agree with you. Speaking of royalty, I just saw the movie Queen Victoria. So good! Cried like a baby. Fact: Queen Victoria ordered for Albert’s clothes to be laid out every morning from the day he died until the day she died. 41 years. That’s a lot of useless laundry but romantic none the less.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Bub, In the beginning, there was no ABT. Shocking, I know. Now if you can wrap your mind around that then maybe you can move on to the understanding that eventually, out of the void and darkness there was a “singularity” which became what we recognize today as “Chop Talk” I embraced it, and especially during the Winter, I looked forward to any news of the Bravos. Remember, there was actually a time before the internet and even before ESPN.
Things are better now. ABT..outstanding and yes, FREE. AJC updates everyday! Chop Talk is outdated by the time it arrives but again, there are the interviews. I guess my point was that pre ABT I was happy waiting on CT to keep me up on the Bravisto Mens. Now that there is so much news available and people on here are posting links, I wonder if I really need to renew or not. It’s one of the best problems you could have, I reckon.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Princess Leah..I didn’t see that movie but it reminds me of “The Madness of King George” which I loved and was PO’d that it received little acclaim compared to the Oscar winner “Forrest Gump”. Tom Hanks is great, sure, but I detest fake Southern accents and Southern caricatures.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
“I detest fake Southern accents and Southern caricatures.”
As Randy Newman once said, you’ve got a friend in me. About the only two movies that I’ve seen represent the South’s mannerisms respectably are Sling Blade (Not so much Carl, but everybody else, most especially the mother and Doyle) and The Apostle. (Some people find the Apostle characters caricatured, but I don’t see how. I grew up around folks who acted exactly like that.)
Also liked The Madness of King George. But I thought it DID get a good bit of talk from the critics, etc. Maybe I remember that wrong.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:35 am
Madness of King George is a great film. Nigel Hawthorne was really inspired as George. And here I was thinking I was the only person alive who had seen it. Remember seeing it in the theater at Perimeter Mall. Also remember not seeing it with too many other people.
“The film won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Nigel Hawthorne), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Helen Mirren) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.”
January 29th, 2010 at 10:08 am
I’m sure you can find this in many places but for the sake of Steve and JJ’s salary discussions:
http://bit.ly/bmVAD7
January 29th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I’m mad at Lowe all over again. Dude makes insane amounts of money.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:04 am
So $6-10 mill left for half a team