Braves remain steadfast as critics grow: 'We are not tanking'

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS - Atlanta Braves general manager John Coppolella is on the other end of the telephone, seething, offended by all of the accusations.

“I know it’s hard for our fans, but I’m not running for office. We are doing what I believe is what’s best in for the long-term interest of the Braves. I’ll trust our scouts and analytics.

“I’m getting so tired of this,’’ Coppolella told USA TODAY Sports on the eve of the quarterly Major League Baseball owners’ meetings. “If guys want to take shots, or (degrade) us, fine. But let’s let it play out for a few years before we start branding our pitchforks and torches.

"I feel in my heart this is the best for the Braves."

The Braves are being accused of the fastest-growing epidemic in baseball, losing on purpose now to speed-dial to a brighter future.

It’s called tanking. We’ve all seen it.

The Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs, who reached the postseason this year, are living proof.

Dump off your expensive commodities for young prospects, finish last for a few seasons, yawn at the notion of any embarrassment of losing 100 games, and suddenly remake yourselves into perennial World Series contenders.

You’ve got to sink to the depths of the ocean if you want to be riding those waves to the playoff beach.

You might draw the scrutiny of your peers, the wrath of your fans and the anger of every player-agent in the business.

But it sure seems to work.

Now, after trading away prized 25-year-old shortstop Andrelton Simmons to the Los Angeles Angels for their two finest pitching prospects - left-hander Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis along with shortstop Erick Aybar - the Braves are being accused of the same dirty tricks.

“Trust me," Coppolella said, “we are not tanking."

The litmus test, of course, will be All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman.

He’s the Braves’ most prized commodity, and if he’s traded, it could bring in a star-studded array of prospects that could immediately ignite a Braves turnaround.

Sorry, Coppolella says, it’s not happening.

“I cannot make it any more clear: We are not trading Freddie Freeman," Coppolella said. "We are not. I’d give my right arm before we trade Freddie Freeman. It is not happening."

Yet, after the recent departures of Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Evan Gattis, Craig Kimbrel, Alex Wood and now the game’s premier defensive shortstop in Simmons, the Braves fan base must be growing numb to see the team's core ripped apart, traded for parts.

This is a team that once won 14 consecutive division titles but lost 95 games this year, their worst season in a quarter-century. They will have the No. 3 pick in the 2016 draft, and judging by their sparse talent, they could have the No. 1 pick in 2017.

“I didn't expect it," Simmons, now a cornerstone in Anaheim with Mike Trout, told MLB Network, “but if you see what's happening in Atlanta ... you won't be surprised when you hear it's happening.

“I'm happy to be part of an organization that's trying to win, win right now."

The Braves refuse to stand by and take it. And Coppolella is livid that no one is giving them the benefit of the doubt.

“There is a method to this madness," Coppolella said. “Judge our trades in two to three years. Not now."

If you want to know the truth, even after jettisoning 40 players over the last 13 months, the Braves hope they’re not done trading. They’d love to move the bloated contracts of outfielders Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. If someone makes the right offer for Cameron Maybin, he’s gone, too.

But not Freeman.

“We want to win," Coppolella said. “I don’t think anybody wants to lose. It’s painful. But we had one bad season, not three of four years.

“If we truly were going to tank, we wouldn’t have had Aybar come back in the trade. If we were trying to tank, we wouldn’t have signed (catcher) A.J. Pierzynski. If we were trying to tank, we would have traded Maybin at the deadline last year, and we had plenty of offers.

“We want to win. And we will win. I’m not under any delusions that we’ll win 110 games, but we’re not going to lose 95 games again. We will win more games than we did last year."

Yet it’s the trade of Simmons that has created all of the unrest, with folks wondering if the Braves are deliberately trying to lose as many games as possible until they move into their new SunTrust Park in 2017.

The Braves hear you, but they insist they’ll be a better team with their two young pitchers on the mound than Simmons in the middle of their infield. They absolutely loved his defense, as he won Wilson’s defensive player of the year award, but they cringe at his offensive struggles, with the 13th-worst on-base-plus-slugging percentage in baseball last year.

“I get it, Simmons is real good with the glove," Coppolella said. “Real good. But there’s more to it. We like our trade. That’s why we made it. We feel we got more talent back than we traded away. You can make an argument that we are actually a team that can win more games with Aybar.

“To us, it’s just like five years ago when the Royals traded away Zack Greinke. Everyone was saying, “What are they doing? How can you trade a 27-year-old Cy Young winner?’ Well, how did that work out for them?"

The Royals received future All-Star center fielder Lorenzo Cain, shortstop Alcides Escobar, who was MVP of the 2015 ALCS, and two pitching prospects. Now, after going 29 years between playoff appearances, they have won back-to-back American League pennants and are the reigning World Series champions.

“Or how about the Mets two-years ago when they traded their Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey to Toronto for a kid in Double-A and another in high-A," Coppolella said, “How did that turn out?"

Those kids turned out to be starter Noah Syndergaard and catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who helped lead the Mets to the National League pennant this year.

“We’re not afraid of the criticism and taking the risk," Coppolella said, “but we’re tired of it."

The biggest problem, agent Scott Boras said, is that there’s such a huge incentive for purposely losing these days, teams can’t be blamed for doing it. The reward for losing is draft picks, and under this current collective bargaining agreement, the Cubs and Astros realized those are much more valuable than real dollars.

Look at the rewards. The Cubs have NL Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant (drafted second overall in 2013) along with slugger Kyle Schwarber, thanks to their teardown. The Astros have NL Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa (No. 1 overall, 2012) and several top-flight prospects as parting gifts for three consecutive 100-loss seasons.

“It's a very valued move to go get a top one or two or three draft picks by making sure your major league team is out of the market," Boras said. "If organizations do that and they do it consistently, they've been rewarded for it.

“There are grand incentives to tank a season. It’s very clear that 'draft dollars' are readily more valuable than dollars themselves. That’s a real problem."

Maybe the new collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the 2016 season, will take care of all that.

In the meantime, there will be skeptics and plenty of cynics for all teams trading away proven major league players for prospects.

Just ask the Braves.