Braves: Jones carrying the load again in Atlanta

A career revival has done little to wake up the Braves, who are a franchise in transition, the star says

By DAVID O’BRIEN - Cox News Service

Chipper Jones has experienced an improbable career resurgence in his mid-30s. The 36-year-old Braves third baseman leads the majors with his .375 average this season and a .342 average since 2006. He leads the fourth-place Braves with 18 homers as they enter the final weekend before the All-Star break.

His extended period of big production and relatively good health has coincided with a period of mediocrity for the Braves franchise, tempering his enjoyment of the personal accomplishments. Jones sat down for an interview on Wednesday.

Question. How would you describe where you are as a player now, compared to where you might have thought you’d be at this stage of your career a few years ago? What’s it been like, this resurgence you’ve had over the past two or three years? Has it been fun?

Answer. It’s been fun from a personal standpoint. But it’s been a little bit of a downer in that we haven’t been winning. I mean, this is not an individual sport. This is a team sport, and I’m most concerned with the well-being of the club. I know that if I stay healthy and play games, my numbers are going to be there; I’m still confident enough in my ability. But I’m doing all this, and we’re not winning. That concerns me.

Question. That leads to my next question, regarding the culture of the Braves organization. ... Compared to five years ago, or 10 years ago, how different does it feel playing for this team?

Answer. Well, we’re kind of caught in the middle because our offense is not what it was eight or 10 years ago, and our pitching staff is not what it was eight or 10 years ago. We’ve always been able to get by. If we were lacking in offense, we’d shut people down with our pitching and defense, and vice-versa — if our pitching wasn’t that good, we pounded people. Now we’re at a stage where we’re at that transition, having to deal with a lot of young pitchers coming up and going through their growing pains, and we’ve got a lot of young hitters in the lineup who haven’t, um, grasped what it’s like to be a hitter every day in this league. And we’re struggling as a team because of it.

Question. Do you look at it and say to yourself, ‘Hey, I wasn’t going to live a charmed baseball life my entire career, to get to play for a team that wins every year and also get to stay with the same team my whole career.’ Do you take that into account and go, things ain’t so bad for me?

Answer. Yeah, I mean overall, how can you complain? With the career that I’ve had up until this point, I consider myself very lucky to be such a big part of 14 straight division championships and a World Series and numerous pennants and what not. So I’m not going to complain, but I’m not going to be satisfied with this club toiling at .500 for going on three years now.

Question. (John) Smoltz is out for the year, possibly for his career; (Tom) Glavine is questionable, Andruw (Jones) is long gone. You’re the last one standing. Do you look at it and go, whether I wanted it or not, it’s kind of on my shoulders to be the team leader until the next guys, until (Brian) McCann takes over or whoever takes over?

Answer. I don’t think there’s any doubt, it’s my responsibility. With those pitchers that you named being hurt, not here all day, every day, I know these guys do look to me. But there are times when I’m not going to be going good or I’m not going to be playing well, that some other guys have to step up and be a vocal leader, be a leader out there on the field and in the way they perform. ... Because quite frankly, as one individual, you can’t do it 162 games. You just can’t. That’s where some of it’s going to have to fall on guys like (Mark Teixeira) and (McCann) — those guys are more vocal leaders than I am. I’m more of a lead-by-example type.

Question. Going on three years here of mediocrity, or .500 ball, does it make you take a step back and think about your future? Because you’ve said all along that you’d prefer to stay with the Braves, whatever happens. Do you want to stay here, ride it out, finish the career here?

Answer. I would prefer to stay here. That’s my first choice, always has been, always will be. But I understand that teams sometimes have different views of the future. I certainly want to play here as long as I’m wanted, but if the Braves decide that they want to go in a different direction, if they’ve got some kid that they want to play and feel that I’m taking up too much money in the payroll, I certainly don’t want to be a hindrance on the organization because of the money I make. But I think we’ve gotten so young, so quick, and we’re going to be trimming a lot of money off the payroll at the end of this season, that I think I might be safe for another year or two. We’ll see. (He smiled.)

Question. What do you hope happens between now and the trade deadline? Do you want the Braves to go for it? The division is still wide open, everybody seems to be kind of muddling along. Would you like to see the Braves do what it takes, within reason, to go for it right now?

Answer. Well I’m a realist, and I know that the purse strings are kind of tight with this particular ball club. If I were GM, I would certainly wait until right up to the deadline to see what our state is going into the last two months of the season.

Question. With new ownership having indicated they will raise payroll at least to some degree, how would you like to see them take it up to $120-$130 million next year, a figure in that range? (The current payroll is about $95 million.)

Answer. Well, yeah, the names on the backs of the jerseys will certainly change when you up the payroll that much. You’re talking about a payroll that rivals what we had back in the mid- to late-90s, so that would certainly make things a lot better around here. The quality of baseball around here would certainly level out, be more consistent. Does that (automatically) translate to division championships and league championships and World Series championships? No, but you certainly like your chances if you were to raise the payroll.

Question. Bottom line, it seems that the offense isn’t what it used to be because the Braves don’t have a top-three payroll like they used to have. You’ve got young guys trying to develop quickly and carry the load. Accurate?

Answer. Exactly. We’re trying to replenish the ball club and get wins out of kids from Double-A and Triple-A, whereas other people have established veterans. They have money in the bank to be able to go out and get a big bat if they need it, or a speed guy if they need it. Or a starting pitcher. And that’s just something that we haven’t been able to do the last few years.