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This is just an outstanding interview by Jonah Keri with Braves GM and baseball mastermind John Schuerholz. It’s subcription-only, but this is just one of countless reasons to subscribe to Baseball Prospectus. The interview doesn’t really have anything to do with the Mets, but it is a goldmine of insight into the Braves organizational philosophies.

BP: On the flip side, how do you assess how much of a player’s improvements are the result of the Braves’ system? Thinking of examples like Steve Avery, Jaret Wright–how does that then affect who you decide to retain and let go?

Schuerholz: It’s health, ability or money. In Avery’s case it was health. With Wright it wasn’t health, in that he was completely healthy for us. But he had a history of health issues, and then the money requirement gets to a certain level, you factor in the historical concerns, and you say no. With Kevin Millwood, it was purely money; we couldn’t afford him if we were going to construct a team. Tom Glavine we tried to sign, it was his choice not to sign–we made what we thought was a fair offer. With Greg Maddux it was his age, his prospective productivity.