Schuerholz enjoying role as Braves president - Baltimore Business Journal:

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Now as president, it is his job to see that his Frank Wren, does not exceed that budget. Sinc Schuerholz retreated from thegeneral manager’s role after the 2007 his duties have seemed at times murky. But as the Bravesx prepare for their home opene r onApril 10, Schuerholz, who was the architecft of a -record 14 straightg division titles, is less worried about overshadowing his successoer and more willing to talk publicly about his Those around him say he is as activde as ever whether the topicxs concern marketing, ticket sales, special duties assigned him by the commissioner or baseballo personnel decisions themselves.
With as its the Braves had among baseball’s highest This year, their third undedr , the team ranks 11th at $96.7 putting them within 6 percentf of about all but thetop eight. “Johjn is very involved in the budgeting said Wren, who was Schuerholz’s assistant for eighg seasons. “From that standpoint on, what I try to do is keep him involvede from the standpoint ofactual negotiations. Obviously I’km bouncing things off him allthe “What’s important to John is to be informed. He knowse our process works.
” Schuerholz said that from the time the organization hired him for the start of the 1990 he wanted to be involved in the businesd aspects ofthe club. Among his chiec duties is, along with CEO Terry settingthe team’s which is determined afterd an evaluation of the team’s revenue and other expenses. Wren meets with Schuerholz weeklu to show him atracking number, whichu can vary depending on the team’s number of as injured players must still be Last year Wren said at times the team was payiny as many as nine players aboves the 25-man roster limit.
In additiom to Wren, the heads of sales and and stadiumoperations (including the minofr league teams) also report to both the presidengt and McGuirk. Schuerholz jokingly shows a business card givejn to him bythe team’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, Derek Schiller, that listsx Schuerholz’s duties as “special assistant” to (In fact, Schuerholz plans on accompanying Schiller on a trip to Japan in an attempt to capitalize on growing interest in the Braveds and sell sponsorships following the team’w signing of pitcher Kenshin Schuerholz, 68, received his degree from in Maryland in 1962 in secondaryg education, but McGuirk said in business decisionsa he shows the acumen of a It’s one reason why Schuerholz now accompaniesx McGuirk to owners meetings, something Schuerholz didn’t do as genera manager.
“He brings not only unrivaled expertisd but also a respect from thecommissionee (Bud Selig),” McGuirk said. “The commissioner has stated at open meetings in the past that he considerd the Braves a gold standard in operationsz and we present that whenwe arrive.” Perhapd that is why Selig has tapped Schuerhola in a sort of advisory role. On Selig’s Schuerholz has performed a studyt of theamateur draft. Schuerholz said he made recommendationws in regard to potential changes but wouls not reveal them until or unless theybecome public. Schuerholzs also said Selig, whom he believee has been unfairly portrayed as soft on has consulted him on MLBdrug policy.
Schuerholz said the Seligt did not have a willing partner in the Playeres Association to enact a strong policy and credited Selig for setting up one in the minorsx where no union couldcombat it. That Schuerholz said, has succeeded. “The numberd are so small because the testingprotocol works,” he said. Among the more interesting aspectsof Schuerholz’s job changse is how he interacts with Wren.
Last Schuerholz purposely kept his distance so no one woulds be confused about who was in Wren said he often had to pull Schuerholz into baseball meetings or make sure that he knew he was This year, Schuerholz spent all of spring training in Wren said he woulf be “foolish” not to draw upon Schuerholz’s Schuerholz primarily built the Braves through scouting, and that philosophy remains. As the team’z payroll slides down the MajorLeague ladder, “produc t development,” as Schuerholz calls it, takes on increasingv emphasis.
Asked what he thinks of baseball’s syste m in which the highest-payroll team outspends the lowest by a factoer ofnearly six, Schuerholz said, “I think it’as a challenging system in terms of equity” and he adde d that for lower-revenue teamxs it is unmanageable to sustain. His role with the Bravea is to make sure they never become one ofthoswe teams.