How did this organization hold on to Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz for so many years? I guess it was a different mentality back then or the players did not ask for as much or wanted to stay.
Short version:
Basically, thanks to the labor agreements used between 1990 and 2002, the free agents were limited to getting big money only from rich clubs, which included Atlanta.
Long version:
Basically, this is what happened (and you'll know some of this):
The Braves traded for Smoltz and drafted Glavine (and Avery) and made not one but TWO World Series' before Maddux left the Cubs.
Maddux was offered $27.5M by the Cubs DURING the 1992 season, but he wanted to test the waters.
The Yankees offered him $36M, the Braves only $28M (yes - only $500K above what the Cubs offered). You also have to remember that in December 1992, the Yankees were without Steinbrenner (who had been banned for life from the game in 1990), which was key to their development into the dynasty. The Yankees of the Steinbrenner Era UNTIL he was gone were a madhouse of insanity and people forget how good they were because they didn't win any REAL pennants from 1978 until 1995 (they were awarded a mid-season flag due to the 1981 strike). So Maddux didn't want to go into the pressure cooker, and the Braves were clearly set for the long haul. Plus, you could look at Toronto, who had just won the 1992 WS and see that Bobby Cox was capable of building a winning foundation. He was gone when it arrived, but Toronto was a new franchise train wreck that Cox turned into a playoff team in just four years and one that contended pretty much every year 1985-94. He and Pat Gillick put the infrastructure in place.
Smoltz and Glavine were both
eligible to become free agents in 1993 - that's a KEY date in the discussion. When he saw Maddux was coming to town, Glavine opted to remove that as an obstacle and signed a 4-year, $20.5M contract through 1996. At the same time, Smoltz signed a 4-year, $16M contract through 1996 as well. Maddux had a five-year deal that kept him through 1997.
The key component, though, was the 1994-95 baseball strike. That whole debate was about competitive imbalance and the fact small teams (like the Royals or Pirates) couldn't hope to compete with the rich teams (like the Yankees or Braves) led to whole thing largely being about the level of luxury tax to be applied to teams that went above a certain salary threshold and how much. Because of that strike,
baseball operated under the 1990-93 basic agreement until the new one was signed - which wasn't until November 1996.
This had a multi-pronged affect, but that's why it's no accident the Braves and Yankees (as rich teams) dominated the rest of the 90s. There was no luxury tax in that agreement (that occurred in 2002), so the small market clubs were all out when it came to signing big name free agents. Smoltzie's contract came due after he had that 24-8 season and won the Cy in 1996...and damned if that wasn't when Ted Turner announced the sale of the team to Time Warner.
I would also venture to say with Glavine being from the Boston area, Maddux having grown up in Vegas, and Smoltz near Detroit, they were probably made to feel part of the area and community with some Southern/Atlanta hospitality. You don't have that in the same way in their areas of origin. So that MAY have played a role in, "I'll take $6M a year instead of $7M a year and stay here."
And they were winning, which covers a lot of problems, too.
