Baseball Prospectus – Spring Training Q&A
Following their interview with Ryan Klesko, BP now turns its attention to Ron Gant. Personally, I want to know what he was doing on the motorcycle in the first place.
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Yeah, he kind of glosses over the circumstances of his departure. Gant was on a one-year, $5 million contract at the time, had just violated his contract by riding a dirt bike and had suffered a major leg injury, so given the uncertain economics of the time, it’s no surprise the Braves elected not to re-sign him after the strike.
Even though Gant returned to become a star-quality player for a few years and remains a capable platoon player even now, with Justice, Klesko and McGriff already on the team and Javy Lopez and Chipper ready to contribute, letting Gant go was the right move to me. They did win the World Series the next year, after all (God, that seems like a long time ago).