Tomahawk Chops: Daily Atlanta Braves News Clippings For Friday, September 30th

by gondeee on Sep 30, 2011 8:12 AM EDT in Tomahawk Chops

He's feeling the pressure from all sides right now.

Your one-page daily morning overview of Atlanta Braves news:

Plenty of questions after Braves' epic collapse | ajc.com
"Our slump combined with the Cardinals playing really good baseball in September — you’ve got a shocking situation," said veteran third baseman Chipper Jones, who ranked it among the sourest of sour season endings he has experienced. "Having such a big lead and then sitting here after [game] No. 162 and not being in the playoffs is a tremendous disappointment."

Braves bringing back manager Fredi Gonzalez, entire coaching staff in 2012 | braves.com: News
Wren confirmed Thursday afternoon that manager Fredi Gonzalez and the members of his staff will return for the 2012 season. But at the same time, Wren adamantly said there would be lots of time spent over the next few weeks evaluating how to prevent a repeat of the nightmare finish the club completed with Wednesday night's 13-inning loss to the Phillies.

Braves collapse, and the shine just came off Fredi Gonzalez | Jeff Schultz
The vibe was missing this season. That’s on Gonzalez. The team fell apart when it needed to come together, blowing an 8½-game lead in 23 days. That’s on Gonzalez. The Braves seemed tight and meek and borderline frightened, as if waiting, hoping, white-knuckle-praying for a playoff spot to just fall into their lap. They didn’t just take it, and didn’t play like they felt they deserved it. That’s certainly on Gonzalez. The shine just came off the perfect replacement.

Fire Fredi? No, but the Braves did some major mismanaging | Mark Bradley
Blame should attach itself to Fredi Gonzalez, but not the sort that has been tossed around. Jose Constanza would not have saved the season. (He’s a journeyman. Come on.) Starting Derek Lowe in Game No. 161 was a justifiable choice. (You’d start the rookie Julio Teheran instead? Come on.) This wasn’t so much about managing situations — every manager, even the learned La Russa, whiffs on a nightly basis — as in managing people.

Fredi Gonzalez reflects on usage of Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters | braves.com: News
Still, as Gonzalez evaluates how his club carried 81 wins into September, he may continue to reach the conclusion that he may not have had that win total had he not been forced to utilize Venters and Kimbrel as frequently as he did during the early portion of the season. "If we don't use those guys I don't know if [we get] 89 wins, if we get to the situation we were in [Wednesday night]," Gonzalez said.

Chipper reiterates his intention to return in '12 | braves.com: News
Braves third baseman Chipper Jones once again confirmed he will return for the 2012 season. He made this announcement after Wednesday night's season-ending 13-inning loss to the Phillies. "I committed to play next year," Jones said. "I won't commit past that. Let's put it that way. I'm looking forward to it."

Braves can learn from failure - The GM's Office by Jim Bowden Blog - ESPN
Wren will also start on his offseason plans to upgrade at shortstop, where Jose Reyes could factor as the Braves' one big-ticket signing. With Martin Prado slated for left field and Jones conceivably returning at third base, Reyes makes sense. With Bourn and Reyes at the top of the lineup, the Braves could have the makings of a deadly lineup in 2012. But of paramount importance is to first identify the adjustments Heyward needs to make. The Braves and the rest of baseball still believe he can be a star, but the league adjusted to him. The nagging injuries were one thing, but Heyward and the Braves must spend the offseason diagnosing and correcting holes and flaws so 2012 isn't spent correcting holes during games that count.

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Comments

Nice try

Constanza; He’s a journeyman.

Come on, writing fail. By defiinition, a journeyman would imply he has moved from team to team. Before the Braves, he only played with Cleveland. If you go back and read some of the quotes from people in baseball, many seem to believe he “got lost” in their minor leagues, despite having good numbers. A lot of people on here dont like him simply because when he played Heyward sat. I am not saying it was right or wrong, but he did contribute.

"I Farted" - Me, everday

by HeyMikey on Sep 30, 2011 8:40 AM EDT reply actions

Entire Staff

Coming back….are you serious….Dont mind it but how is Larry Parrish coming back.

Wouldnt mind Reyes at all. But I dont think we spend the money on him over resigning some of our young guys.

by CWil03 on Sep 30, 2011 9:05 AM EDT reply actions

This makes me sick

How can LP come back after this? A lot went wrong this year, but the most obvious problem was the hitting. He was literally handed a team that lead the NL in OBP, then essentially replaced the worst player (Melky) with a superstar (Uggla). And we become one of the worst OBP teams in the NL. Im so angry that I have to sit another year through watching Fredi (who I really dont like but I didnt expect him to be fired), LP, and DEREK LOWE. Yes, no one will take him from us, face it.

by Alex H on Sep 30, 2011 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions

In a bigger media town...

Like, say, Boston, Fredi’s job would actually be in serious jeopardy. When you only have two beat reporters (DOB, Bowman) covering a team, there is no pressure for accountability, no screams for heads to roll in order to draw grieving fans’ eyeballs with cathartic outrage. Obviously that kind of media pressure can be counterproductive sometimes, but I also think it keeps affable idiots like Fredi from holding back good teams for years at a time.

And Larry Parrish staying on…just incredible. Way to signal to your angry fanbase that this organization does not care about accountability, or about getting better.

by SS451 on Sep 30, 2011 9:09 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Speaking of which...

Francona just got fired. I would take him as our manager over Fredi any day of the week.

If we can land [Stephen Drew], I will give FW a bj.
~justincredubil02

by king of games on Sep 30, 2011 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Wren coming out with this statement so quickly after the collapse really is a big slap in the face of all Braves fans. I’ve soured over the entire Braves front office starting with that overpaid suit Schuerholz. That guy knows nothing about baseball, holds the Braves back in drafts and is pretty worthless overall other than being a professional suit.

by BravesFan on Sep 30, 2011 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Jose Reyes.....

No doubt he had a great year, but no thanks. Honestly, I don’t really see where he would even speculate on Reyes becoming a Brave? Am I missing something here? I just don’t see that happening, nor do I think it should happen.

by jdmarine on Sep 30, 2011 9:59 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

It wont happen, but why would you not want it to happen? He is insanely good. If his legs heal this off season, he could be back to being really dangerous. Think about Bourn leading off, and Reyes batting 2nd. The boost our team would get from Gonzo to Reyes is enormous.

by Alex H on Sep 30, 2011 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions

Oi.

And a big one-: Why pitch to hot-hitting Hunter Pence with runners at first and third and two out in the 13th inning of a tie game, when .196-hitting Michael Martinez was on deck?

Gonzalez wasn’t in a mood to answer the question late Wednesday, cutting short a group interview after a string of questions about in-game strategy.

Twelve hours later, after a mostly sleepless night, he fielded the question:
Why did hit pitch to Pence with Martinez on deck? Martinez left the bases loaded with an inning-ending foul pop in the ninth and stranded two with a routine fly in the 11th.

"I thought about not doing it," Gonzalez said. "But all of a sudden you’ve got the 1-2 or 2-2 count, whatever it was. And Scotty made a great pitch. … Can you guarantee me Martinez wasn’t going to get a hit, or draw a base on balls?"

~ "Curve: The loveliest distance between two points." ~ Mae West ~

by NCChopper on Sep 30, 2011 10:13 AM EDT reply actions

No, but I can gurantee you that the odds are far lower that Michael Martinez does any of that than Hunter Pence doing any of that…

by Alex H on Sep 30, 2011 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Tells you how slow Fredi is react. It seems like he just can’t process the situations quickly enough which is saying something in one of the slowest sports.

by ATLtruth on Sep 30, 2011 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Under hitting coach Terry Pendleton, the 2010 Braves led the National League in on-base percentage. Under Larry Parrish, the 2011 Braves were 14th of 16 teams. Parrish was hired as hitting coach despite never having been a big-league hitting coach. Maybe the Braves would have hit .193 in September with runners in scoring position with Ty Cobb as their tutor. Then again, maybe they wouldn’t.

yeah I’m so glad we’re keeping LP.

by nuftjedi on Sep 30, 2011 10:39 AM EDT reply actions

No accountability on this team. I’ll be glad to see attendance fall way down next year.

by BravesFan on Sep 30, 2011 1:25 PM EDT reply actions

The shine came off Fredi in April. He made the same blunders throughout the year. People who think he was suddenly just a bad manager in September were not watching close enough.

by ATLtruth on Sep 30, 2011 2:22 PM EDT reply actions