Braves Break Out The Ol' Chemistry Set
- Friday, July 16, 2010 9:34 AM
- Written By: Andrew Simon
The workplace cancer is a sort of universal character. Whether at school or in business, pretty much everyone has been forced to work with someone who didn't take things seriously, didn't give their best or in some way impeded the group in its pursuit of its goals.
And we all know how frustrating it is to deal with someone like that. There are few things people like to complain about more than the person at work who isn't doing their part.
Baseball teams are not immune to this sort of issue, either. And it appears we had our latest example this week, when the Braves -- sitting in first place in the NL East -- dealt shortstop Yunel Escobar to the Blue Jays for shortstop Alex Gonzalez. A few other players were involved, including a couple of minor leaguers on their way to Atlanta, but it seems fair to say that for the immediate purposes of a team leading a pennant race, it boiled down to a straight swap.
The initial reaction among many in the blogosphere, including myself, was confusion. Gonzalez clearly has enjoyed the best season of the two so far, but he is also six years older, and his true talent level and rest-of-season projections are lower. So what gives?
As reactions to the trade have trickled in from the mainstream media, it has become apparent this deal had more to do with Yunel Escobar, human being, than Yunel Escobar, baseball player.
ESPN's Buster Olney wrote about the trade in his Thursday blog, which included this representative paragraph:
Gonzalez has power, and he can do some damage, but above and beyond that, nobody is going to wonder whether he cares, whether he is going to play hard; this had become the daily question about Escobar.
Today, Olney mentioned in the blog that upon arriving in the Braves clubhouse Thursday, Gonzalez received a standing ovation, which could be read as an appreciation of a respected veteran, but also as an indictment of the recently departed Escobar.
This is not a new situation, of course. As long as there have been clubhouses in any sport, there have been guys who were not well liked for any number of reasons. And just like winning tends to magically create the ever-mysterious force of clubhouse chemistry, a guy who puts up big stats is going to be tolerated, regardless of his disposition.
Escobar was hitting .238/.334/.284, which made his sins -- perceived or legitimate -- a bigger issue. This is much the same phenomenon I saw last season with the Cubs and Milton Bradley, a player whose well known personal issues likely would not have led to his suspension from the team and exile to Seattle if he had hit even close to how he did in Texas the previous year.
All of this isn't to say the Braves were wrong to dump Escobar. He's been with the Atlanta organization since 2005 and in the majors since 2007, playing under Bobby Cox and with guys like Chipper Jones and Brian McCann that whole time. If they were that tired of his act and felt they had a better chance to win a World Series without Escobar, so be it.
I still would bet on Escobar being a better player than Gonzalez for the rest of this season and in the future, but if Gonzalez can play steady defense, hit an occasional home run and be a really swell guy, the deal could be worth it this year. As I think everyone would agree, there's something to be said for the feeling that comes with not having to worry about the guy who spends planning meetings playing on his iPhone or who ducks out early to go to a doctor's appointment only to catch the end of Happy Hour down the street.
Bottom line: The Braves decided Escobar was more trouble than he was worth. Now they will find out if Gonzalez is worth more than his lack of trouble. I'm interested to see how it turns out.
Follow Hitting The Cutoff Man on Twitter at HitTheCutoff
