The following editorial is contributed by PRO Rumors staff writer Kevin Scobee:

Let me first start by saying that I am in no way trying to say that the Braves would be better off without Bobby Cox. I think you could make an argument either way for his retirement being a good or bad thing for the franchise. I think one of the many things that hold organizations back is a lack of continuity within their system; constant voices and visions working together towards a common goal. It’s not a coincidence that in the business world, turnover is often the cause for loss of short term revenue, even if it equals out to be long term gains. That is, if you find the right guy.

So in the Braves situation you could argue where the organization, and I think in larger part their fan base, feels there’s no way they can replace a “legend’ like the 69 year old Cox. After all, at this point, it becomes the task of trying to find someone to fill his shoes after all this time. And that seemingly daunting task becomes more of a hindrance than the actual losing of the manager ever could be. It’s like knowing you have to clean a very mess room in your house, and feeling like you will never get it done, so you don’t even start. It’s the action-of replacing Cox that overshadows whether the replacing is actually needed.

Too often in baseball organizations, fans, and writers, allow themselves to get blinded by the recognizable name of someone as if that’s a substitute for actual talent. (See: Kendall, Jason) This isn’t to say that Cox is now void of talent – we can only assume he has plenty of managing talent based on his resume – but at 69 years old and in an industry that is rapidly changing evaluation methods, he just at this time may not be what’s needed. And that’s the real issue here.

What I’m mainly pointing at is the unneeded and senseless trade of Yunel Escobar for Alex Gonzalez which at the center of was Cox. It’s never a good idea for a GM to allow his manager to have too much say in the players that are on the field. Yes, if you subscribed to the “if they want you to cook the food they should let you pick the ingredients” mentality, surely the manager should have as much say as the GM because they’re the ones with the team every day.

But the luxury of being the GM is that the emotions of the clubhouse aren’t there to cloud what would ordinarily be better judgment. Trading for Gonzalez may have made intuitive sense because at first glance you’re trading for someone that “plays the game the right way” – whatever that means – while getting rid of a “clubhouse cancer”.

The reality however, is you traded someone with loads more talent, and quite younger, for the hopes that maybe, just maybe, someone with a career .294 on-base percentage would be the missing link to a struggling lineup. The Braves, and Cox, took a chance on the impossible because of a perceived “winner” attitude instead of taking a chance on talent.

The game is evolving, whether you agree with it or not, and because of that change managers need to be more willing to evolve with it. This evolving means you don’t superfluously pinch run for your best hitter, with one out, in the 8th inning. That act could be sort of defensible, I guess, but you certainly don’t then try and steal a base. At that point in the game, outs are your most precious commodity, not bases. There’s no way Nate McLouth should have been stealing.

So as the sun sets on the career that was for Bobby Cox and Fredi Gonzalez is ready to take over for the Braves, let’s all stand and cheer for what he accomplished. The consecutive division titles, the World Series Championship, the numerous Hall of Famers that he managed, are all things Braves fans should celebrate and be proud of.

But don’t be too scared to be losing a manager who has accomplished so much in the past. Just because he has a recognizable name, doesn’t mean he’s necessarily the right guy to evolve with the franchise moving forward.