Stop me if you've heard this one before.

The Atlanta front office made snafus before, so suddenly not having any shortstops is just another brick in the wall one might say. This is nothing some of the old timers might say.

Why back in 1988 there was one you just have to hear about.

The Braves finished in last place that season giving them the first pick in the draft of players with at least three years of professional experience. The draft was held in Atlanta that year which made it even more embarrassing when the Braves had to draft one of their own players with that number one pick because they accidentally left highly rated 19 year right handed pitcher Ben Rivera unprotected.

So to insure that some other team did not grab their prize prospect, to the surprise of the entire baseball world, they drafted their own player!

Imagine that. The eloquent spokesman Bobby Cox explained it all, "We just messed up. Six off us cross-check everything, but it went buy us." Evidently they needed seven.

When asked what he would have done if they had lost Rivera Cox candidly admitted he would have probably committed suicide.

Even when they do something right it sometime goes wrong for the Braves.

The Braves actually signed Tom Seaver while he was at USC in 1966.

That's the good news. The bad news is the lost him on a technicality.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

When Seaver signed the contract in February, Southern Cal had already begun it's season with an exhibition game that was not on the schedule and the Braves didn't know about. Therefore Seaver was ineligible to sign.

The Commissioner at the time William Eckert, voided the contract, and declared Seaver a free agent since he had signed a contract. he set up a lottery where any team could match the $40,000 bonus the Braves offered Seaver and he was theirs. The Braves could not participate. Five teams did and the Mets won.

Imagine that. An early version of the NBA Lottery.

SOURCE; The Braves Encyclopedia by Gary Caruso

My memory may be bad but didn't we lose Donnie Moore to the Angels by accidently leaving him unprocted in the Rule 5 draft?

Any screw ups Cox did as GM were offset by trading Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz and by drafting Chipper Jones instead of Todd Van Poppel.

Van Poppel wouldnt sign but he was their choice

Rivera never did much for the Braves. As I recall, he was part of the Phillies rotation when they won it all.

This team has the Movie Major League written all over them.

getting back to shortstops. The Braves have always had excellent shortstops. The problem is we never hung on to them and valued them like we did with the golden boy Chipper Jones. Furcal was an integral trade that helped the Cardinals win the world series last season. Elvis Andrus has helped Texas go to two straight World Series and unless the yankees have something to say about it, probably will be 3 straight.

all you need to know about the front office moves to prove they are dysfunctional is to point out that the Braves have

1. talked of moving Prado because they don't want to pay him 7 mill per (even though he's our leading hitter and able to play left, third, second and short)
2. not resign Michael Bourn because they don't want to give him 5 years for 50 mill
3. pay derek lowe 15 million per year for 3 years.
4. pay Chipper 14 million per (even though he's lucky to play 100 games)
5. sign a guy such as Ben Sheets rather than go out and sign Ryan Dempster and give themselves a legitimate chance of post season play.
6. see furcal still being productive for the defending world champion
7. seeing elvis andrus being productive and at the top of a texas lineup that has been to 2 straight world series.
8. watching boone logan when we're sitting home in the post season, be one of the most effective left handed relief pitchers in baseball.
9. watching Melky Cabrera be the answer for the Giants in left, for the question that still remains for the Braves next season and every time we have to move Prado to the infield.
10. trading away an ace like Adam Wainwright.

The problem with Atlanta is they are always an arm or bat away from what they actually need. Yet they always seem to settle on addressing only one or the other. While the contenders make moves for the Hamels and the Dempsters, the Braves will try and sell you on a Ben Sheets (who if he had anything worthy of being in the big leagues, would be on a contender, rather than a team that is grasping at straws. The sad part is, the Braves have a guy in middle relief (Kris Medlen) who gives us a better chance of winning, than 3 guys we consider starters right now. The Braves have always paid or overpaid the ones that they shouldn't, rather than the ones they should. They would rather pay a fan favorite, over a guy that is actually helping the team win.

The 90's were a maddening time to be a Braves fan. ALL that GREAT pitching, and never an offense to match. With proper management, those teams would have won a MINIMUM of three titles. Like you said, always and forever a player away.

Might be something to that. I usually find myself unintentionally ignoring the first 6 innings of defense and paying a lot more attention when the relievers get in the game. It's like repeatedly and intentionally watcing a really bad infomercial.

Whats your point about Melky and Furcal? Furcal went for the big money as a FA (and if you remember, which I'm sure you don't, the Braves tried getting him back and got <screwed by his agent), and Melky was god-awful and overweight when he played with us.

It'd be nice to have Andrus back but the team was making an honest effort to go all in and make a world series that year. It didn't work, obviously, but now we have a player who looks like he'll be as good as Andrus anyway.

Boone Logan was part of a trade that got us Arodys Vizcaino, whose ceiling is far above that of Logan's.

It's unfortunate that the Braves don't have the ability to see the future like you apparently do.

in other words, you agree that none of the moves the Braves made, have yet to pay off for them? That is the job of the front office, the ability to access and predict the future. I wouldn't expect you to understand however; you don't put value on wins. You sound like management material for the Braves.

Rivera spent three seasons in the majors, part of one with the Braves, where he was 0-1 w/a 4.70 ERA in 8 games, before he was traded to the Phillies for pitcher Donnie Elliott. Rivera was with Philadelphia for three seasonS; 92 through 94 appearing in 39 games with a 23-16 record and a 4.70 ERA during that time. He pitched in one World Series Game in the 1993 WS allowing 4 hits and 4 runs in 1 plus inning.

Donnie Elliott, acquired for Rivera, never pitched for the Braves. however he did pitch briefly in the majors for San Diego and holds two triva notes in Braves history.

1. He was 7-2 w/a 2.08 ERA in 19 games with the 1992 Greenville Braves, the Braves AA team that is ranked as the 23rd best minor league team in history.

2. Elliott was part of one of the best trades ever made for the Braves in their history when he was sent to San Diego with outfielder Vince Moore and Melvin Nieves for first baseman Fred McGriff on July 18, 1993.

Another little visual aid might be to check the last place finishes in the decades of the 60s, the 70s and the 80s. The front offices in those days weren't cashing any World Series checks to my knowledge.

Depends on how you look at it, a glass half full or half empty. They went to five World Series.

If today's team could promise you that again would you take it?

Everyone measures excellence by his own standards.

"Van Poppel wouldnt sign but he was their choice "

I remember that well. Before the draft, Van Poopel declared he would absolutely not sign with the Braves. He promptly went on to be a huge bust and every time I hear his name, I laugh at him and every other player like him who thinks they are bigger than the game.