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Wren Says Liberty Media Ownership
Gives Front Office Room To Work |
Braves GM Frank Wren said the franchise has "an ample payroll to win," despite playing in the same division as two teams with higher payrolls, the Phillies and Mets, according to David O'Brien of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Wren said, "We've seen all kinds of signs of that in recent times. San Francisco was marginally higher than us, and plenty of other (winning) clubs are in our payroll range. Texas and Tampa Bay were lower." Wren said Denver-based Liberty Media owning the Braves is "an outstanding situation." He added, "It’s never been a time that I know of where there was a (phone) call saying, ‘Why are you doing this or doing that?’ They’re confident in the leadership situation in Atlanta. ... We all in the front office have interactions with them several times a year, whether we’re playing (against the Rockies) in Denver, or they’ll come to Atlanta or at our annual meetings." Wren stressed Liberty Media officials have given the Braves and Chair & CEO Terry McGuirk "the ability to run this franchise." More Wren: "It’s an ideal situation for a baseball operation, to be able to make decisions internally. ... The economics are really a function of our market size and the revenues that are coming in. It’s not because there’s an owner saying ‘You’re not going to do this.’ It’s just a function of our market. And like I said, I can reel off half a dozen other markets very similar to us that do have local owners, who are doing it the same way we’re doing it. So that’s a bit of a red herring when you always want to throw it on Liberty" (AJC.com, 12/21).
