Do you think Frank Wren is underrated as the Braves general manager?

I think he is underrated for three reasons:

1. He does not have much money to work with. He has four big contracts in Chipper, McCann, Hudson and Uggla. They take up about 60% of the total payroll. Chipper and Hudson earned them since they are long time veteran. Dan is failed to meet that sort of the money. McCann is alright. So basically he only has one failed big contract, just like Lowe. That is not too bad of a investment.

2. He invested in a right direction. Young pitcher like Mike Minor, Julio Teheran, Delgado, Beachy, Hanson and Medlen are moving up the ladder and they may or may not turn out to be great but at least to play in turner field, pitching is a key element and I would say that he refuse to trade them for veterans are correct decisions.

3. He sign cheap players and try to get the best out of them. Don’t look down on the small minor league contracts like Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, Ben Sheets, Paul Janish, Jack Wilson etc. They all played their part and there is no problem just to dump them because the don’t really cost much. It is harsh but it is a good business decision.

What is bad about him?

He does not make particularly good trade decision. McClouth, Lee etc.. I honest think that the Mark Teixeira trade is up for a debate. I don’t think he made that decision and even if he did, he just wanted to make a splash for the new team and people though the Braves could make the playoffs until the rotation fall apart. You really cannot predict the prospects will turn out to be successful. He kept all his young pitching prospects for the last 5 years, except Arodis Vizcaino and honestly, think he can only be a reliever in the future and plague by the injuries. Paul Maholm is doing decent with the Braves anyway.

A lot of the Braves fans hate Wren, I think he is better than people saying.