Gonzalez keeps Pendleton but not as hitting coach (UPDATED)
Terry Pendleton has been moved from hitting coach to first base and infield coach.
(This is a rewrite of an earlier blog. Last updated at 5:45 p.m.)
New Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez apparently agreed with Braves fans who felt the team needed a new hitting coach. He just didn’t agree with them that Terry Pendleton should be removed altogether.
This morning’s blog on whether Pendleton and pitching coach Roger McDowell should be kept by Bobby Cox’s replacement stirred a lot of emotions. After over 3,000 votes, McDowell was an overwhelming popular choice to be kept as pitching coach (91 percent were in favor), but Pendleton didn’t experience the same popularity. Over 40 percent of respondents wanted him fired, 36 percent wanted him removed as pitching coach but kept on the team in another role and 24 percent voted to keep him in the same capacity.
The middle group won. Gonzalez did not name a new hitting coach Wednesday at his hastily called introductory press conference — which originally was scheduled for Thursday — but he did announce these changes:
♦ Pendleton will be removed as hitting coach but will be retained as first base and infield coach. General manager Frank Wren said: “It was time for a new voice [on hitting]. Terry’s really excited about having more influence in the game.”
♦ McDowell (pitching coach), Eddie Perez (bullpen coach) and Brian Snitker (third base coach) will be retained.
♦ First base coach Glenn Hubbard and bench coach Chino Cadahia will not be kept. Carlos Tosca, who was with Gonzalez in Florida, becomes the new bench coach.
Loading ... Loading ...All in all, the Pendleton move probably was a nice compromise, although I still believe he took way too much heat for the Braves’ hitting problems. Immediately after word leaked that the Braves were going to hire Gonzalez, speculation about Pendleton and McDowell started. Pendleton was a lightning rod every time a player went into a slump or the team struggled offensively. But he never received any credit for the success stories (Martin Prado, Brian McCann, Omar Infante, Jason Heyward, etc.).
Also, most seemed to forget this roster wasn’t exactly stacked with offensive talent.
McDowell has been terrific. Any criticism of him seems to stem from the blind loyalists to former pitching coach Leo Mazzone. The Braves have finished third in the majors in team earned run average in each of the last two seasons. Why replace him?
Gonzalez could’ve kept the entire staff but that never seemed likely. Managers in baseball, like head coaches in football, generally like to bring in some of their own people. A head football coach almost always brings in his own offensive line coach and his own coordinators. That possibly was mitigated somewhat because Gonzalez used to coach with the Braves but changes nonetheless seemed inevitable.
The only other question was whether Pendleton, who may have managing aspirations, wanted out when he didn’t get the top job. But he has long expressed a desire to remain living in Atlanta and obviously wanted to stayed in the organization. It’s also worth noting that he and Gonzalez are friends (as are Gonzalez and McDowell).
There’s your update. I’ll leave the two polls open if y0u still want to vote but at this stage I wouldn’t expect a change in percentages.
So what are your thoughts on the coaching changes?
♦
EARLIER TODAY:
♦ Fredi Gonzalez is Braves’ perfect choice to replace Cox
♦ Challenge of Cox’s replacement will be recreating chemistry
♦
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341 comments Add your comment
DawgDad
October 13th, 2010
4:55 pm
Ankiel’s upside would appear to be .230 – .240 with 10-15 home runs, very low OBP and lots of strikeouts. To stay in the lineup with those stats you either need to be a budding prospect or a Braves outfielder, so as long as he’s a Brave he has a chance.
All the TP negativity and focus on a hitting coach is mind-boggling. In 50 years of following MLB I’ve never seen anything like this. People – it HARDLY MATTERS. Keep in mind Pendleton played for years under Whitey Herzog and then Bobby Cox – I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he turned out to be a great manager somewhere down the line.
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper
October 13th, 2010
4:55 pm
I liked the Hub in the 80’s…and I still like him as our 1st base coach..TP will miss leaning against the railing the 1st base coach has nothing to lean on….
Matt
October 13th, 2010
4:56 pm
To Drez: Sweet Mother, Drez. Race Card, Race Card, Race Card. Thats all you ever hear anymore! It has NOTHING to do with race! It has to do with the fact that the Braves haven’t hit in years. Its the fact that Bobby was loyal to his old players and wasn’t going to reccomend a firing. TP is not an instructor. He’s a showboat. You need a guy who can work with young kid’s fundamentals. TP never did this. Get off your race card soapbox and think logically. Stop blaming race everytime someone of color gets fired. Thats ridiculous.
kirkinga
October 13th, 2010
4:56 pm
That Bobby Cox and now Fredi Gonzalez both wanted TP on their staffs should tell you people something.
You can’t say you love Bobby and Fredi, but then at the same time act as if they were both bamboozled by TP. If he his hired to manage another club, are you going to say that they too have been fooled by him as well?
People seem to have forgotten the days of Clarence Jones, and Merv Rettenmund. I have been far more impressed by the team’s approach at the plate since TP took over. The numbers don’t lie. Just as sure as there were high profile failures, there have been record setting success stories (both on an individual and team level) since the guy took over as hitting instructor.
It is good for the team to hear a new voice, and so it will.
Buh Bye Drez
October 13th, 2010
4:59 pm
Drez plays THE card with … “One has to wonder why so much hate is directed at the only coach of color in this organization.”
richbrave
October 13th, 2010
4:59 pm
Wouldn’t surprise me to see TP as manager somewhere else now that he’s been made first base coach. Wait HUBBY, all is not lost.
Mark's for the Braves
October 13th, 2010
5:00 pm
Talk Chipper into retirement and then make him hitting coach. Go get a young stud at 3B who can hit some dingers!
DawgDad
October 13th, 2010
5:03 pm
richbrave: McLouth and Ankiel are redundant. Since McLouth may be untradeable and has more versatility and upside I’d say he has the best shot to win a job next year. Best scenario would be for McLouth to clear his head, get healthy, and have a good spring.
I don’t dislike Ankiel, I just don’t think he has much value left when your other center fielder is also left handed and the lineup is overstocked with lefty hitters.
It's a chopper to Chipper.
October 13th, 2010
5:04 pm
I believe the hiring of FG has been done for some time now. As soon as he was fired by the Marlins, I think Frank Wren called him and made this happen. They just waited until the end of the season to break the news.
Vino Fino
October 13th, 2010
5:04 pm
Happy Days! Happy Days! The Braves made all the right moves today. Fredi will do an excellent job leading this team for years to come. I won’t (continue to) bash TP, but maybe Frank Wren said it best in that it is time for a different voice. Let’s find a true hitting coach who can win the ears and respect of the players.
Now let’s go get a serious right handed bat and a true lead-off hitter! Do that, and I think Fredi will take the Braves deep into the post-season in his first year.
Obama
October 13th, 2010
5:04 pm
Hate to tell you Drez but Perez and Chino are of color. Funny how some people want to turn everything into a racial issue. Grow up dude. This ain’t the 60’s.
Drez
October 13th, 2010
5:10 pm
Buh Bye Drez….
I haven’t played the card yet, but it’s definitely in my hand. I simply was trying to figure out why so much hate towards this one coach. How conveniently everyone ignores the numbers of these mediocre at best Braves hitters, excluding McCann, Heyward, Prado, and Infante. Somehow, he’s the blame for the lack of talent from mediocre hitters.
Kudzu
October 13th, 2010
5:12 pm
KEEP THE STAFF, GET BETTER PLAYERS…
Drez
October 13th, 2010
5:16 pm
Obama…Hate to tell you Drez but Perez and Chino are of color. Funny how some people want to turn everything into a racial issue. Grow up dude. This ain’t the 60’s.”
Perez and Chino don’t have high profile positions on the Braves staff. You can’t blame Perez for anything, cause he’s simply warming up pitchers. Chino was bench coach, but Cox made all the final decisions.
Secondly, I didn’t turn it into a race issue, i just pondered a question. Like my grandmother used to say, “A HIT dawg will holla!”
Chipper Jones
October 13th, 2010
5:25 pm
Why would I want to coach when I retire…Gonna take my money and go to my ranch and shoot things.
Sign a few baseball cards, write a book, speak at some dinners and visit waffle houses.
5150 P.O.A.D
October 13th, 2010
5:41 pm
Uga VIII’s real name is Big Bad Bruce. People you can’t make this stuff up. Big Bad Bruce gets Collard on Saturday for Homecoming against Vandy. LOL Comedy writers can’t come up with stuff this good.
Will they say Big Bad Bruce with a lisp?
stew
October 13th, 2010
5:42 pm
Bring back Lox Eggs and Onions. His Braves pitchers were at the top in ERA let alone third.
Neil
October 13th, 2010
5:43 pm
Why do you need a bench coach?? These are grown men. A “bench coach”, really? Wonder how much $$ they make.
a fan
October 13th, 2010
5:45 pm
TP taking Hub’s place is bad news. TP needs to be gone!!!!! But thank God TP is no longer hitting Coach…..Need to hire Greg Walker from White Sox as hitting Coach.
WELCOME Fredi..play ball.
poorbrave
October 13th, 2010
5:51 pm
Agree with richbrave. TP probably moving on looking for mgr job..I hope so.
Derek
October 13th, 2010
6:02 pm
Terry Pendleton was a very good hitting coach. It’s not like the roster was loaded. Look at guys like Infante and Prado. Infante experienced his best seasons since coming to Atlanta versus how he did in Detroit. Martin Prado has progressed every season and became an All-Star, along with Infante. You people who rag on Terry are a bunch of idiots, honestly. You will rip him every chance you get and then gloss over the times players actually got better. How’d Francoeur work out in New York? He was terrible in his 2010 there. He will experience streaks at first with his new team but always tails off dramatically. So I guess that’s Terry’s fault too, how he played in New York in 2010. I mean it’s the same pitching coach he had in 2009 after he got traded. So, I guess it was all Terry’s fault Jeff sucks. You’ll see next season in Texas after he’s there for more than 15 games. The hitting coach is always the scapegoat. When the Braves went 37-19 in May and June, I didn’t here any praise for the staff. Always ripping on Bobby, Terry, and anybody but the damn players who under-perform. It’s always a coaches fault. Fact is, the Braves hit two points below the Phillies team AVG. A Phillies team stacked with talent. The Braves were first in OBP and 1st in doubles.
Reid Adair
October 13th, 2010
6:06 pm
I just wish for one thing — the media to stop interviewing and quoting Frank Wren as the definitive answer on anything.
Frank Wren caused Bobby Cox to have the “hardest working” team in his history. Frank Wren brought Nate McLouth and Kenshin Kawakami to Atlanta. He brought Melky Cabrera to the Braves. He brough Troy Glaus (excluding May and early June), Rick Ankiel (.210 average in Atlanta) and Derrek Lee to the Braves.
Frank Wren is as much, if not more, to blame for the Braves’ recent struggles as is Bobby Cox or anyone else.
Seeing people give Frank Wren all the credit – or even most of it – for the hiring of Fredi Gonzalez makes me sick.
Terry P.
October 13th, 2010
6:07 pm
well said, Derek.
scottc
October 13th, 2010
6:15 pm
I agree with JP that the TP critique was one-sided. His success stories were not credited to him sufficiently, if at all, and he took all the heat for any player’s slumps. that said, I also dont think he was a roaring success either, so I dont mind the change.
But why the Glenn Hubbard firing? is there more there than meets the eye?
scottc
October 13th, 2010
6:16 pm
sorry . . meant JS, not JP above
dawg4u
October 13th, 2010
6:18 pm
If you are not going to retain Pendleton as hitting coach then why let Hubbard go and replace him with Pendleton. I never heard anyone complain about the first base coach plus it’s like a slap in the face to Hubbard and a demotion for Pendleton (although I am glad he’s not hitting coach anymore). He is smart to retain McD because our pitching has been good the last couple of years. Whoever is hired at hitting coach needs to rent and not own unless he already lives in the Atlanta area because I can see a scenario of Chipper getting injured for the season in June and moving into that hitting coach’s job.
Patrick L
October 13th, 2010
6:39 pm
Any “Hitting Coach” that can’t help a natural hitter like Heyward keep from striking out seven (or was it eight?) times in a must-win series, or teach any hitter to run like hell to first base even if it is a grounder (RE: Game 4: Gonzalez hits grounder with man on first, starts to run and apparently has a cell phone call or his brain disappears, so he stops. He sees the SS bobble the ball then makes some half-ass attempt to run to first. Instead of having two on with one out, we had one on and two out. You know the rest. Pendleton needs to hire a real hitting coach and maybe he could learn how to be one.
ajc pariah
October 13th, 2010
6:41 pm
Uh, that there Rangers hitting coach moved to the Windy City I believe.And if he straightened out Andruw and Jeff,uh,I am unaware of it.
The Realist
October 13th, 2010
7:00 pm
What’s the deal with Hubbard ? Will he have a job in the organization ? I always thought he was loyal to the Braves. He worked his way up to the bigs after starting in Macon,when they had the class A team.
Barnacle Bill Bavasi
October 13th, 2010
7:03 pm
I hate to see Hubbard lose his job, but that’s only because I liked him as a player. I don’t really know how good of a coach he is.
Dean
October 13th, 2010
7:06 pm
Oh enough with the sudden problem with the Braves being patient. The outcry before was that they werent patient enough. You people are amazing! It’s a good policy to wait for the first strike. Make the pitcher work and wait for your pitch. Suddenly you people want them swinging away. Well, that leads to quick outs and easy outings for pitchers. Especially for great pitchers like Lincecum or Halladay. You make them work and try to fatigue them. Pendleton was a fine hitting coach. Honestly, the hitting coach has little to do with things. These are professional athletes that are supposed to have the skills to hit the ball. the hitting coach can only scout pitchers and make recommendations that will either be accepted (Prado) or ignored (Francouer). I think Pendleton probably wanted out of the position anyway. Ignorant fans that post on here,,, just ignorant!
Dean
October 13th, 2010
7:09 pm
Reid, what are you talking about. Wren is an excellent GM. He has brought in a good mix of organizational players and talent with a minimum of payroll. What do you people want? A world series every year with a moderate payroll! It ain’t happening! You don’t like him then go root for the Pirates or Royals. There you have some real issues.
E-6
October 13th, 2010
7:10 pm
Some surprises in the coaching shuffles. TP to first base smacks of the good old boy system at the expense of Hubbard. Also surprising Snitker keeps his job after numerous questionable decisions at third base this year. Tosca is obviously Fredi’s guy which is important for a bench coach. The real key is yet to come – who becomes the hitting coach.
TROTTINGHOME
October 13th, 2010
7:14 pm
Braves will win another 90+ games next year…make the playoffs…every team in the league wishes they could do what the Braves have done…may all you haters rest in peace.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
October 13th, 2010
7:25 pm
package mcclouth, ankiel, glaus, dlee and KK for a solid 3B & CF. i’d rather keep hinske/melky/diaz for LF/RF platoon.
tjhook
October 13th, 2010
7:26 pm
I would have thought that Terry Pendleton would have been better served as a third base coach because he could anticipate what the infield was planning to do and what kind of positioning the opposition would take when we had men on base. And with a knowledge of the batters from working as a batting instructor, he would know what hitting decisions would serve the team better. As a writer, you should ask why they decided on Pendleton at first instead of third when that would obviously seem to fit his strength better.
Hit A Single
October 13th, 2010
7:32 pm
As a longtime Braves fan I hate to see Hubbard let go. Even if Pendleton was given a managers job and I hope he is, if I were Hubbard I definitely would not come back. When Hubbard coached at Macon, my sons and I got to talk to him after a game one night. He was so passionate about his job and you could tell he loved the Atlanta Braves. I hate to see him not retained.
Jay
October 13th, 2010
7:35 pm
When the braves hitting sucks next year, what will all you TP haters say then. We need better hitters, the hitting coach by the numbers is top shelve. He took a team 20th in team batting average in his first year to second in the MLB by his third, and that is without the aid of a DH. Did he suck then? Women are emotional, men are logical. This board sounds like a bunch of girls…pathetic. Learn to hit a baseball and then hate on TP
Hit A Single
October 13th, 2010
7:37 pm
How many years did the Braves make the playoffs with Fredi as third base coach?
Hit A Single
October 13th, 2010
7:38 pm
Jay – great post!
Hit A Single
October 13th, 2010
7:39 pm
Pendleton = scapegoat Hubbard = screwed
rabiddawg
October 13th, 2010
7:40 pm
As I stated last night. FG was very well respected and liked among his players in FLA except mabye Hanley. Hmmm…. There seems to be a slugging, all star second baseman in FLA that happens to be a free agent now. wonder if he’d follow his former skipper to the ATL. Sure would be nice to see Uggla in the middle of our lineup.
CG
October 13th, 2010
7:40 pm
Agree with the whole waiting on the first pitch non-sense. Tony Gwynn made a hall of fame career by NEVER swinging until he got a strike and Chipper is not above taking pitches either. Everyone whined and complains about not being patient enough (ie Francour, Andruw Jones) but then you are going to whine on the flip side when a hitter is willing and able to work the count (which seeing more pitches increases the chances of getting to the other teams bullpen).
The bottom line with the offensive struggles is Braves lacked the overall offensive fire power. It was slim coming out of spring training and the margin got very tight after the injuries stacked up.
On another note, I am very interested to see what options come available for 2011 season. The pitching in pretty much locked up. So there is only one area to focus and that is increasing the lineup. We will see what Chipper has left in the tank, but bottom line will need to make an acquistion (which the Braves has resources in the form of pitching talent to work with).
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper
October 13th, 2010
7:42 pm
I’m mad that Hub got canned…..I’m 42yrs old and I can remember him turning a DP with NO FEAR…….I’ve never heard a bad word spoken about him…as my dad would say..He’s a “good ole boy”….I would have loved to drink beer w/ him and Bob Horner in 1982
Burgess
October 13th, 2010
7:43 pm
Jeff,
Any word on Hubbard….does he have a job in the organization ?
roja
October 13th, 2010
7:44 pm
And I stand by my prognosis that Frenchy will go farther in the 2010 postseason than McCann
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper @ Burgess
October 13th, 2010
7:47 pm
good question…..I’m thinking they do…but without the big league per diem…hopefully “the Hub” can make it off his MLB pension and a job in the minors…I love the guy…he’s a Brave..(I doubt he’s going to the Dept of Labor in the morning)
Jay
October 13th, 2010
7:48 pm
Thanks Hit A Single. I just hate to see mindless people dog a good coach. TP is a great guy and a great hitting coach. The mentality of these idiots is equal to those calling for Mack Browns head at Texas after they played in the national championship game 9 months ago. Fair weather fans make me sick. Bet ya none of these fools could hit a baseball, but they are experts on TP’s job.
Hit A Single
October 13th, 2010
7:49 pm
roja – Frenchy will be carried farther, but McCann is the man.
Hit A Single
October 13th, 2010
7:51 pm
I wonder if Frenchy blamed TP for his troubles in New York. TP gets blamed for everything else.