The fate of Fredi Gonzalez’s tenure with the Atlanta Braves was always set in stone. The only question up in the air was when the Braves front office was pulling the plug.
However, Atlanta’s decision of relieving Gonzalez of his duties on Tuesday morning seemed more a move towards fan appeasement than looking to a fresh start for the worst 25-man roster in baseball.
Why this decision now, in the middle of a road series? Why put the focus of a 8-29 record on Fredi Gonzalez when the product on the field and the toughest April schedule in baseball was destined to produce failure? It’s not like players were forcing the issue to the front office for a change. Gonzalez is well respected in the Braves organization and has been for over a decade, and he was involved heavily in the rebuilding process the franchise is going through. Why not let him have an opportunity to be a piece of the reboot to the Atlanta Braves, just like the New York Mets did with Terry Collins or the Kansas City Royals did with Ned Yost?
Because when you break down the Fredi Gonzalez era in Atlanta, it starts to become clear that the decision to fire him was rooted before this front office was even assembled.
Where It Went Wrong for Fredi Gonzalez
Fredi Gonzalez was never going to be the man to lead this franchise to a World Championship. He constantly made bad managerial decisions, whether it was lineup construction or handling the bullpen. He could show glimpses of making smart decisions during important moments, but the bad would always outweigh the good, and he was never going to shake that persona.
Gonzalez did finish winning more games than he lost as Braves manager, however, just as someone can say that no manager could have won with the roster put forth this season, any manager could finish with more wins than losses with the talent Gonzalez was given.
He managed home-grown, All-Star players in Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, Julio Teheran, Andrelton Simmons and Craig Kimbrel. He got the best years from pitchers like Jair Jurrjens, Kris Medlen, Mike Minor, Tommy Hanson and Brandon Beachy, and hitter such as Martin Prado, Evan Gattis and Michael Bourn. He also managed the great “O’Ventbrel” bullpen team of Eric O’Flaherty, Jonny Venters, and Kimbrel, which dominated the National League for two seasons. Every season the Braves were loaded with young talent mixed with quality veterans like Tim Hudson, David Ross and Eric Hinske. When teams are constructed this way, that’s where the manager comes in and takes the team to the next level. Gonzalez was never that manager.
Most of Gonzalez’s struggles as a manager came in his handling of Atlanta’s bullpen. In 2011, his overwork of Venters and Kimbrel resulted in Atlanta becoming the first team in National League history to blow an eight game lead for a playoff spot in September. In 2013, his decision not to bring Kimbrel in for the two-inning save in a 2-1 game during Game Four of the Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers resulted in David Carpenter giving up a two- run blast to Juan Uribe, ending the Braves season. He was never consistent in the way he used pitcher-hitter match-ups. He would bring right-handed relievers to face left-handed batters, explaining that the pitcher had career success against that hitter, but would then bring lefties to face lefties when the pitcher-hitter history was horribly in favor of the hitter, explaining that he wanted the left-on-left matchup. His philosophy on bullpen usage was shoddy at best, even with being provided with arguably the best bullpen in baseball during his tenure with Atlanta.
His lineup construction wasn’t better. In 2011, he benched Jason Heyward in favor of Jose Constanza, stating that Heyward was slumping and needed time. Yet, Heyward was coming off being an NL All-Star starter and runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 2010. Young players need at-bats to gain confidence in their hitting ability, not video sessions and bench warming. He would place the best hitters on the team in the 5-6-7 spots, which would explain why during Gonzalez’s stint with Atlanta, they produced the worst hitting stats across the boards for 1-2 hitters. His inferior management of the lineup was just as much in play as his deconstruction of the bullpen.
From 2011 to 2013, Gonzalez had the fourth-best winning percentage among MLB managers. His Braves teams won 89, 94 and 96 games, respectively. He had great young talent on offense and the pitching staff. He had arguably the best bullpen in baseball. He had everything a manager needs to produce winning baseball, and yet Atlanta won one playoff game in that span. He wasted the prime years of Atlanta’s young talent accumulated for him, resulting in the imminent loss of mostly all of that talent during the Braves current rebuild process.
The Atlanta Braves front office has done an skillful job in rebuilding the franchise with deep, young talent across the diamond, but the biggest key towards sustaining excellence is finding the right man to lead this young group. The same decision had to be made going into 2011 after Hall-of-Fame manager and Braves legend Bobby Cox retired from baseball.
The front office chose Fredi Gonzalez. This time, they’ll need to choose more wisely.
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