Braves Bring in New Leadership, but Cox, Tanner Sing an Old Tune

The faces are different, but the tune’s the same.

Bobby Cox and Chuck Tanner, the latest honchos of the Atlanta Braves, talk about building a championship team in Atlanta. But they indicate they’ll try to do that with basically the same cast that finished 29 games out of first place this fall.

Cox won the American League East this past season as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays and then returned to Atlanta, where he was field manager for four seasons (1978-81), to succeed his former boss, John Mullen, as general manager.

Tanner, who had the worst record in all of major league baseball (57-104) this past season at Pittsburgh, became field manager as successor to Bobby Wine, who had replaced Eddie Haas in August.

Cox and Tanner agree the Braves are in dire need of pitching. But, while they’ll tell you that only player they absolutely won’t trade is All-Star outfielder Dale Murphy, they add, as did their predecessors, that they must be extremely cautious so that other clubs don’t take unfair advantage of their situation.

That’s the tune Mullen was singing last summer as the Braves continued to fade into the sunset, claiming everyone wanted “too much” in every trade that was proposed.

Tanner, always the optimist, insists the Braves, despite being 30 games under .500 this past season, have the “nucleus of a good baseball team.”

“Sure, this is a team that needs pitching,” he said. “But, there are some good arms on this club. Injuries played a big part in what happened last season.

“(Pascual) Perez (only 1-13 in ’85 after winning 15 games in ’83 and 14 in ‘84) has been pitching in South America and pitching very well,” said Cox. “We hear he had a two-hitter his last time out.

“And you have to feel that (Craig) McMurtry (15-9 in ’83 but 0-3 in ‘85) will bounce back from his injury and so will (Len) Barker (2-9 in ‘85). These are three proven starters who happened to run into problems all at the same time.”

“Pitching is always the hardest thing to find,” added Cox, who never finished higher than fourth in his four previous years in Atlanta although credited with building the team that won the National League West under Joe Torre in 1982. “You often have to trade some of your best players to get pitching.

“There is not enough pitching to go around when some of your starters are injured.”

“Pitching is the most difficult thing to figure out,” injected Tanner. “You have got to develop our own in our farm system.”

That’s a long-range approach. The Braves, this past year, brought up anyone they though might have a chance to win on the major league level. Joe Johnson, who turned 24 on Oct. 30, was 4-4, 24-year-old Zane Smith was 9-10, and 26-year-old Steve Shields was 1-2.

Cox says there is a question about Bruce Sutter’s shoulder (rotor cuff). Sutter, rated the top relief pitcher in the majors while working for the Cubs and Cardinals, signed a multimillion dollar contract with the Braves last year, but his 4.48 earned run average was nearly double his average for his previous nine seasons.

“We hope,” said Cox, “that it won’t require an operation.”

Terry Forster had the Braves best ERA. But, despite appearing in 46 games, Forster was only 2-3 with just one save.

“I’ve told Forster (who ballooned to 260 this past season) to get down to 214 by next spring or he wouldn’t be allowed through my door,” said Tanner. “I hear he’s lost 20 pounds already.”

Cox thinks he’s spotted relief help down on the farm in the person of 25-year-old left-hander Paul Assenmacher, who was 6-0 with a 2.56 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 53 innings at Class A Durham and 3-2 and 3.29 with 36 strikeouts in 38 innings at AA Greenville.