07 May 2007

Send your Braves questions to chopnchangeblog@gmail.com along with your first name and last initial if you would like them answered on one of the Chop-n-Change mailbag segments. Bert S. Writes, So, I saw in the recently released Forbes report that the Braves managed to pocket $27.6 million last year. the 5th highest total in baseball. †Any reason why some of that money couldn't have been used to sign Tom Glavine or why some of it won't be given to Andruw Jones? I don't expect Time Warner/Liberty Media to make $0 on the Braves, but they should be using more of that to field a better team. †The Braves have two clear holes that could be filled by some of that $27 million. That is an easy question to answer; Tim Warner is in it only for the money. That is the problem with having corporate ownership. As long as they can field a competitive team that will bring fans into the stadium and can cover the costs of the team, they are fine in reaping the financial rewards. There is no personal connection between an owner and the team that we saw with Ted Turner, where he was willing to basically spend whatever it took to field a winner. It is the nature of the business and in the best interests of their stockholders to make what they can off the Braves and with the impending sale there was even less reason to shell out millions for a big name player. As much as I want to see that payroll raised, with a sale from one corporation to another, there is very little chance of that happening.