As some of you may know, Bobby Cox (the stern wife-beating face of the Braves for many years) finally gave up the ghost and retired last season, leaving the reins in the hands of questionably-competent Fredi Gonzalez. Fredi as a manager has some pros and some cons.PRO - Fredi knows the system.
Fredi was third base coach for the Bravos from 2003 to 2006, and before that was the manager of the Richmond Braves in 2002. During that time, he was one of Bobby's right hand men. He knows the corporate machinations of the Braves firsthand, so no big surprises will occur, because he's not just a coach; he's got...
PRO - Major league managerial experience with the Marlins
Fredi went to the Marlins as manager in 2006, and lasted for parts of four seasons. He is the winningest Marlins manager ever (which sounds really good when you don't think about it too hard) until...
CON - Unceremoniously pink slipped in the middle of 2010 by the Marlins
And why, do you ask, was he fired? He couldn't string together wins with less-than-stellar front office support. But, that brings us to another pro, namely...
PRO - His players love him.
After Fredi was let go, nearly every player said they hated to see him leave, but understood that he was just the fall guy for the failings of the Marlins front office. Everybody loves playing for him. But...
CON - He's not Bobby Cox.
Not being Bobby Cox is easily the biggest strike against Fredi, at least in the eyes of the fans. It's rare in this day and age to see anybody stick with a team for more than a few years. To stay with the Braves for over two decades, it's been Bobby's Braves. Even if Fredi's been studying with Bobby since he left the Marlins, he's still not Bobby, and he's going to do things his way. I'm not saying Fredi is going to raze the team top to bottom, but things are going to be different.
In summary, the Braves will be the Braves, as always. They're the most consistent team in any league, and they'll be right back to where they were last year: losing in the first round of playoffs. That's the expectation in Atlanta, and I see no reason to take the eyes of the prize.
Larry King's official prediction: 86 - 76, wild card.
How does it feel to know that the Braves are going to lose literally every game they play against the Phillies this year?
ReplyDeleteI think we'll probably win one or two of those. I'm more worried about the Mets, because they're the schizophrenics of the NL East. You know what the Braves are going to do, you know what the Marlins are going to do, you know what the Nats are going to do. The Mets are unpredictable.
ReplyDeleteAll true. It's astounding that the Braves have been at least Pretty Good and usually Very Good since 1991. They went from being a team I was only dimly aware of as being awful in powder blue road uniforms to the model franchise in baseball in like a season. This was of course when I was 12. And then they never stopped.
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