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Braves ATL

1997101–61 (0.623)Made Playoffs
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GM: John Schuerholz

Overview

Ranks vs the 30 teams in 1997, or a custom range (defaults to every team-season since 1985, when our data starts).

to

Front Office

PoorAverageGreat
Value
Payroll $M
$52M
Surplus $M
+8
Win %
0.623
TAB
+22.8
WAB
+15.6
Roster composition
Roster fWAR
60.4
Dead money %
5%
Depth Players
10.0
Dead WAR
-2.0

Offense

PoorAverageGreat

Pitching & Defense

PoorAverageGreat

Roster

1997 depth chart — stacked by playing time

C

RJavy Lopez117
REddie Pérez64
LGreg Myers⇄9
RTim Spehr⇄8

1B

LFred McGriff149
RGreg Colbrunn⇄27
LRyan Klesko22
REddie Pérez6
LRandall Simon6
RMike Mordecai3
LTommy Gregg1
RTony Graffanino1

2B

BMark Lemke104
RTony Graffanino75
LKeith Lockhart20
RRafael Belliard7
RMike Mordecai4
LEd Giovanola1

3B

BChipper Jones152
RMike Mordecai19
LKeith Lockhart11
LEd Giovanola8
RTony Graffanino2

SS

RJeff Blauser149
RRafael Belliard53
RMike Mordecai4
RTony Graffanino2
LEd Giovanola1

LF

LRyan Klesko130
LMichael Tucker53
RDanny Bautista48
LTommy Gregg5
BChipper Jones3
RAndruw Jones2

CF

LKenny Lofton122
RAndruw Jones57
RDanny Bautista1

RF

LMichael Tucker102
RAndruw Jones95
RDanny Bautista10
BChipper Jones3
RMike Mordecai1
LTommy Gregg1

DH

LKeith Lockhart4
RGreg Colbrunn⇄1
RJeff Blauser1
RMike Mordecai1

Starters

RGreg Maddux7.9 WAR
RJohn Smoltz7.5 WAR
LDenny Neagle5.4 WAR
LTom Glavine4.2 WAR
RKevin Millwood1.2 WAR
LTerrell Wade0.5 WAR
RChris Brock0.1 WAR
RPaul Byrd-0.1 WAR

Bullpen

★ RMark Wohlers33 sv
LAlan Embree0 h
RBrad Clontz0 h
RMike Bielecki0 h
RMike Cather0 h
RPaul Byrd0 h
RChad Fox0 h
RJoe Borowski⇄0 h

Each position shows its top 3 by games (top = starter) — click "+more" for the rest. The letter is bats/throws; ⇄ marks a player traded mid-season. Starters are ranked by WAR, bullpen by holds; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

Key additions (new vs 1996)

PlayerfWAR
Kenny Lofton5.2
Michael Tucker3.0
Kevin Millwood1.2
Alan Embree0.9
Keith Lockhart0.9
Mike Cather0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1996)

Player1996 fWAR
Marquis Grissom4.6
Steve Avery2.9
David Justice2.4
Greg McMichael1.7
Pedro Borbon Jr.0.9
Jerome Walton0.6

Contract Value

WAR translated into tier-adjusted market value, then compared with what the player was paid by Braves. Guaranteed contracts from the 2015-present contract-data period use the known contract period through 1997; everyone else is shown as a 1997 season snapshot.

PlayerPeriodfWARTier Market $MPaid $MSurplus $M$ / WARTierContract
Greg Maddux 1997 +7.9 +158.9 6.8 +152.1 $0.9M 2.50× –
John Smoltz 1997 +7.5 +150.0 7.0 +143.0 $0.9M 2.50× –
Denny Neagle 1997 +5.4 +107.4 3.6 +103.8 $0.7M 2.50× –
Kenny Lofton 1997 +5.2 +85.2 4.8 +80.4 $0.9M 2.05× –
Tom Glavine 1997 +4.2 +74.4 5.0 +69.4 $1.2M 2.19× –
Jeff Blauser 1997 +5.2 +63.0 4.0 +59.0 $0.8M 1.51× –
Andruw Jones 1997 +3.7 +52.5 0.2 +52.3 $0.0M 1.79× –
Michael Tucker 1997 +3.0 +38.1 0.2 +37.9 $0.1M 1.60× –
Chipper Jones Jr. 1997 +3.7 +36.6 1.5 +35.1 $0.4M 1.25× –
Javy Lopez 1997 +3.7 +33.1 2.0 +31.1 $0.6M 1.12× –
Mark Wohlers 1997 +1.8 +28.4 3.0 +25.4 $1.7M 1.95× –
Ryan Klesko 1997 +1.4 +9.3 2.5 +6.9 $1.7M 0.83× –
Tony Graffanino 1997 +1.5 +6.5 0.2 +6.4 $0.1M 0.56× –
Alan Embree 1997 +0.9 +4.9 0.2 +4.7 $0.2M 0.67× –
Keith Lockhart 1997 +0.9 +4.1 0.3 +3.8 $0.3M 0.56× –
Terrell Wade 1997 +0.5 +3.8 0.2 +3.6 $0.4M 1.02× –
Mark Lemke 1997 +1.2 +5.5 2.0 +3.5 $1.6M 0.56× –
Danny Bautista 1997 +0.5 +3.2 0.2 +3.0 $0.4M 0.83× –
Brad Clontz 1997 +0.5 +2.7 0.2 +2.5 $0.5M 0.67× –
Mike Cather 1997 +0.4 +2.2 0.1 +2.0 $0.4M 0.67× –
Greg Colbrunn↔ 1997 +0.2 +0.9 0.2 +0.7 $1.1M 0.56× –
Fred McGriff 1997 +1.4 +6.1 5.5 +0.6 $4.0M 0.56× –
Tim Spehr↔ 1997 +0.1 +0.6 0.1 +0.5 $0.6M 0.52× –
Mike Bielecki 1997 +0.2 +0.9 0.7 +0.2 $4.1M 0.67× –
Greg Myers↔ 1997 -0.1 -0.4 0.1 -0.5 – 0.52× –
Rafael Belliard 1997 -0.1 -0.3 0.2 -0.5 – 0.61× –
Chad Fox 1997 -0.1 -0.5 0.1 -0.7 – 0.67× –
Paul Byrd 1997 -0.1 -0.6 0.2 -0.8 – 0.67× –
Joe Borowski↔ 1997 -0.3 -1.6 0.1 -1.7 – 0.67× –
Eddie Pérez 1997 -0.4 -1.7 0.2 -1.8 – 0.52× –
Mike Mordecai 1997 -0.8 -3.7 0.2 -3.9 – 0.58× –
Chris Brock 1997 +0.1 +0.8 – – – 1.02× –
Ed Giovanola 1997 +0.1 +0.4 – – – 0.58× –
John LeRoy 1997 -0.0 -0.0 – – – 0.67× –
Kerry Ligtenberg 1997 -0.1 -0.4 – – – 0.67× –
Kevin Millwood 1997 +1.2 +9.4 – – – 1.02× –
Randall Simon 1997 +0.0 +0.2 – – – 0.56× –
Tommy Gregg 1997 -0.0 -0.2 – – – 0.83× –
Total—+60.4+879.751.6+818.0—

Trades

Every graded 1997 deal involving the Braves — best expected value first. Surplus is realized value in $M; 5 total.

1997 · ATL / CLE
ATL · John Schuerholz +$24.0M
Alan Embree, Kenny Lofton
CLE · John Hart −$24.0M
Marquis Grissom, David Justice
ATL came out ahead by $24.0M
1997 · MIN / ATL
MIN · Terry Ryan +$4.0M
Marc Lewis
ATL · John Schuerholz −$4.0M
Greg Colbrunn
MIN came out ahead by $4.0M
1997 · ATL / MIL
ATL · John Schuerholz +$28.8M
Gerald Williams
MIL · Sal Bando −$28.8M
Chad Fox
ATL came out ahead by $28.8M
1997 · KCR / ATL
KCR · Herk Robinson +$20.0M
Jermaine Dye, Jamie Walker
ATL · John Schuerholz −$20.0M
Keith Lockhart, Michael Tucker
KCR came out ahead by $20.0M
1997 · MIN / ATL
MIN · Terry Ryan +$4.0M
Steve Hacker
ATL · John Schuerholz −$4.0M
Greg Myers
MIN came out ahead by $4.0M

Current & Historical Payroll

1997 payroll
$51.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 1997, 1997–2003. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
John Smoltz309.000$7.0M$7.8M$7.8MFREE AGENT$8.0M$7.7M$10.7M
Greg Maddux3111.000$6.8M$9.6M$10.6M$11.1M$12.5M$13.1M$14.8M
Fred McGriff3311.000$5.5MFREE AGENT
Tom Glavine3110.000$5.0M$7.0M$7.0M$9.5M$9.5M$8.6MFREE AGENT
Kenny Lofton306.000$4.8MFREE AGENT
Jeff Blauser3110.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Denny Neagle286.000$3.6M$4.5MFREE AGENT
Mark Wohlers276.000$3.0M$4.1M$5.2MFREE AGENT
Mark Lemke319.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Mike Bielecki3713.000$708kFREE AGENT
Rafael Belliard3515.000$250k$250kFREE AGENT
Tim Spehr306.000$83kFREE AGENT
Greg Myers3110.000$73kFREE AGENT$506k
Tommy Gregg3310.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Ryan Klesko265.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Javy Lopez265.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Chipper Jones Jr.254.000$1.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Lockhart323.000$290kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Colbrunn275.000$214kFREE AGENT
Alan Embree275.000$206kFREE AGENT
Danny Bautista254.000$200kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Mordecai293.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Michael Tucker262.000$250kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Clontz262.000$245kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terrell Wade242.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Byrd262.000$175kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eddie Pérez292.000$172kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Graffanino251.000$152kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andruw Jones201.000$152kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Borowski262.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Fox260.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Cather260.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Brock270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Giovanola282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John LeRoy22–—
Kerry Ligtenberg260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Millwood220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randall Simon220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

How each 1997 acquisition stacked onto Braves's playoff-odds curve. The side table is ranked by PPA.

Rosternomics — front-office performance, roster value, and transaction history. Follow @rosternomics on X.
Decision-maker records extend to 1933; resource-controlled WAR and payroll metrics cover 1985–2026. Data sources include FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, the Chadwick Bureau register, the Lahman Database, prospect rankings from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and FanGraphs, and public payroll records. Transaction and trade data was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Executive birth/death data via Wikidata (CC0).
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