After being the head of international scouting for two years, Dayton Moore was named the Braves' Director of Player Personnel in 2002.
| Rk | Year | Tm | Lg | G | W | L | W-L% | Finish | Playoffs | R | RA | BatAge | PitchAge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2009 | Atlanta Braves | NL East | 162 | 86 | 76 | .531 | 3rd of 5 | 735 | 641 | 28.8 | 29.0 | |
| 3 | 2008 | Atlanta Braves | NL East | 162 | 72 | 90 | .444 | 4th of 5 | 753 | 778 | 27.1 | 28.6 | |
| 4 | 2007 | Atlanta Braves | NL East | 162 | 84 | 78 | .519 | 3rd of 5 | 810 | 733 | 27.6 | 29.4 | |
| 5 | 2006 | Atlanta Braves | NL East | 162 | 79 | 83 | .488 | 3rd of 5 | 849 | 805 | 27.4 | 29.4 | |
| 6 | 2005 | Atlanta Braves | NL East | 162 | 90 | 72 | .556 | 1st of 5 | Lost LDS (3-1) | 769 | 674 | 28.1 | 28.6 |
The Braves had a tremendous run in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They pulled off one of the best trades of all-time (Smoltz), one of the best free agent signings of all-time (Maddux), and one of the best international signings of all time (A. Jones). They augmented that with the drafting and development of C. Jones and Glavine. Hey, what an easy "formula" to follow. How stupid all these other teams must be for not doing it!
They had many other good players, and became one of the true "big market" teams for awhile. So many random guys passed through their organization in the late 1990s and early 2000s that it's fairly astounding. Their outfield was like the '00 Royals, except instead of guys who sucked, they were all FA All-Stars on short contracts. The Braves had a reputation for knowing pitching and being great developers of pitching for 15 years, but it was mostly just the reputation of Glavine and Smoltz driving that. Kevin Millwood, drafted in 1993, became very good in the late 1990s. To a degree, that was the peak of the Braves' system and a continuation of the legend. It was also the beginning of the end.
Baseball America always loved their system, and everyone in the game could talk about their method in a two minute window if they needed to kill time, so the legend lived on. They just scout the South super closely, it's like soooo awesome and cool! Kyle Davies and Jeff Francoeur will be stars!
Look at their B-R page: the Braves were an old team throughout the 2000s. They were no longer winning with young players they'd produced, they were winning with old players they'd produced, and random FAs. Mike Hampton, Russ Ortiz, Shane Reynolds, Paul Byrd, Jaret Wright, the list just goes on. They were basically the Cardinals. Holding on with a great core.
Finally, that core got too old. There were some young players who contributed, but on the whole, the next wave of prospects never came. The Braves were making a painful transition from a large-market to a small-market club. They needed cheap young players. The next wave of prospects that Dayton Moore was supposed to deliver never came. The streak was over.