Braves collapse, and the shine just came off Fredi Gonzalez
Fredi Gonzalez watched as the Braves blew an 8½-game wild-card lead in 23 days. (Curtis Compton/AJC)
Fredi Gonzalez was quietly handed the Braves’ managerial job before Bobby Cox ever stepped out the door in a wink-wink, nudge-nudge deal, and nobody really had a problem with it.
He had the resume and the personality. Everybody liked and respected him. He knew the players, the organization and the city. The Braves weren’t making over the manager’s office as much as they were changing a light bulb.
Something went wrong.
This is not a “Fire Fredi Gonzalez” column. But we’ve just witnessed one of the worst collapses in sports history, and the Braves can’t just assume that a few roster tweaks are going to fix the problem. When a team goes 10-20 down the stretch — including 0-9 against their two biggest competitors (Philadelphia and St. Louis) — and loses three consecutive series to the division’s flotsam (Mets, Marlins, Nationals), this isn’t about just injuries or a few guys going into a slump.
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.
I understand this isn’t football. Managers make in-game decisions, but they aren’t calling plays. They change the lineup and the batting order. Gonzalez did that. He pulled Chipper Jones out of the No. 3 spot. He benched Jason Heyward.
Ultimately, the question is whether a manager is making a team better, making it believe. The Braves clearly weren’t, therefore Gonzalez clearly didn’t.
Even with injuries, this was twice the team that reached the postseason last year and lost three one-run games to the eventual World Series champions in San Francisco.
Gonzalez doesn’t need to go. But he needs to change. Or maybe someone. Gonzalez said Thursday that all of his coaches are coming back. But for all the screams from the cheap seats about former hitting coach Terry Pendleton, his replacement, Larry Parrish, didn’t bring anything to the table.
Maybe Gonzalez just needs to change himself. Maybe he came in and, consciously or subconsciously, didn’t want to disrupt things too much in the first season after Bobby Cox retired. It was such a feel-good season last year, that would be understandable. But if that was the strategy, it backfired.
When asked about the collapse following Wednesday’s final loss, Chipper Jones said, “It’s cruel, because probably nobody in Atlanta sports is probably under as much scrutiny as he is filling in for Bobby Cox. To have it slip away in late September, it’s cruel. It’s really cruel. It’s not indicative of the way this team played, the way he managed, and what we deserved in this situation.”
Not sure about the “deserved” part of that quote. The Braves just played 162 games. That’s enough time.
They blew it. They blew it like no team in Atlanta sports history. That blew it like few teams in all of sports history. The only people who aren’t saying today that they blew it live in Boston — because they have their own problems.
What just happened is mind-numbing. But even before the collapse, the Braves seemed to have chemistry issues. They never quite came together like most anticipated. This was a team that figured to challenge Philadelphia in the National League East and possibly for a World Series.
There aren’t a lot of tangible things we can pin on Gonzalez. He certainly stuck with Derek Lowe too long, and the decision to start him Tuesday over rookie Julio Teheran blew up in the manager’s face. He made the bold decision to go with Jose Constanza over the struggling Heyward in right field for several starts, which seemed to ignite the lineup. But then he switched back to Heyward, who is the better player, but still seemed to be a mess.
But it never should have come down to that decision, or to a few starts by Lowe. When a team goes 10-20 to close the season and gets swept at home in the last three games, the issues are bigger than that.
Implosions like this are on the manager. He didn’t make the team better. The Braves underachieved. And Gonzalez just lost the benefit of the doubt.
By Jeff Schultz
•
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC; friend me at Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
845 comments Add your comment
bravesworstever?
September 29th, 2011
10:50 am
for the love of all that is good, just fire him. Give us a sign, upper management, that you’re serious about winning.
xdawg70
September 29th, 2011
10:50 am
The reason so many of the Braves are bald is that they’ve been “tipping their hats” to opponents for most of the past 30 days.
Abnerish
September 29th, 2011
10:50 am
All the experts are saying that this is LaRussa’s finest coaching job. Say what?!?! They were handed the wild card on a silver freaking platter and didn’t even say thank you to the Braves that gave it to them. They played well in September, but they weren’t exactly lights out. The Braves won 9 games the entire month of September. 9! LaRussa is the most overrated manager in baseball. He gets all the credit for something that was giftwrapped for his team.
Leo Mazzone
September 29th, 2011
10:51 am
I agree Terry. Everything’s fine. The fans need to shut up and be happy they have a team to give their money to.
bulldogbubba
September 29th, 2011
10:51 am
What happened to the leader of the team?Listening to Chipper talk from the side of his mouth lastnight he said “maybe I should have gone over and talked to the pitcher to calm him down”.WHY DIDN’T HE? Maybe Sunny Clusters was right he had deer on the brain and just could’nt think of nothing else.If these players can’t mentally stand at the plate and hit the ball they need to move on and give somebody else a chance..You make to July and all of a sudden nobody can hit consistently. PITIFUL!!!!
b
September 29th, 2011
10:51 am
When Fredi quit playing Georgie for no reason, it
ruined the Braves spark.
Mike
September 29th, 2011
10:51 am
Honestly, haven’t watched alot of the braves this year. Last nite, when I saw the line up posted, along with the batting averages….it said it all. then they proceeded to show why their respective averages were so low….like the balls around their ankles they swung at. And the walks….poor base running with no outs (trying to steal third!)….
this team needs some real fire in their bellies.
midway
September 29th, 2011
10:51 am
This the third straight September when the Braves have gone cold to end the season. In 2009 they ended on a losing streak when 2nd place was in sight but finished third. In 2010 they had the Division lead until August and stumbled through September, barely squeaking into the Wild Card. In 2011 they had a big lead for the Wild Card and stumbled out of it. Look at all the injuries to starting pitchers and relievers in all 3 seasons. Two questions: Did Leo Mazzone have injuries on his pitching staff like that? .And why do the everyday players run out of gas every September?
Theo Jones
September 29th, 2011
10:52 am
Hurt Pitching to blame? Pitchers don’t score runs. Coaching to blame? You said that the previous years and you changed the staff. The players are to blame! They simple do not know how to hit. Everyone of them refuse to choke up and go the other way with 2 strikes, swing to the opposite field to move a guy over. It’s time to get a true line-up. Chipper is done, 14 million is too much for an every other day player. If he comes back, Prado can ride the pine while Chipper is in there. We need an upgrade in RF, LF, and SS. I repeat we have enough sub .200 hitters.
Ozzie Guillen
September 29th, 2011
10:52 am
This Braves team is a good young nucleus. Don’t overreact. This wasn’t our year to win it all to begin with. Over the next two years, we will be in position to make that happen.
redneckbluedog
September 29th, 2011
10:52 am
Easy there….The Braves looked tired, and they had some injury problems…but how about that Jason Heyward, Freddy Freeman, Johnny Venters, and Craig Kimbrel….Sure, they didn’t make the playoffs, but they were a real pleasure to watch this year….Guess I’m pulling for the Diamondbacks and Devil Rays…..It would be the “Animal Planet” World Series……
Mac
September 29th, 2011
10:52 am
Yep. They were missing something as a team. Fredi has to be held accountable for that. What bothered me most were the camera shots of the dugout….
When the game was on the line … they sat there with somber stares… as if they were just waiting for the worst to happen. They weren’t up on the top dugout step cheering there teammates on …..
When Kimbrel walked the first guy a leader like Chipper should have walked to the mound…and said something lile “boy o boy this is fun… This is what it’s all about… let’s have some fun, collect yourselrf, throw strikes……. YOU CAN DO IT.”
I didn’t see any positive body language coming from the dugout at all.
For this Fredi has to be held acountable.
twoote
September 29th, 2011
10:53 am
Chipper is probably happy right now. He gets his $14 million and gets to go deer huntin’ now at his TX ranch.
Ron Roberts
September 29th, 2011
10:53 am
Honestly, he did a craptastic job in some key areas, no doubt; starting Lowe night before last gave us no chance. Not pulling him after the 1st killed the team’s swagger. He overworked the bullpen early in the season and in the process, trying to coddle the starters’ arms, didn’t build up their ability to go longer as the season went on. Hell, he pulled Huddy last night when Tim was every bit as capable, and at a manageable pitch count still to pull out of the jam himself.
But a lot of blame lies with Frank Wren. We’re anchored down with heavy-@ss contracts for Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami – money that could have been spent on a PRIME LF/OF to bolster our lineup, instead. Dude, you’re the GM – did YOU, of all people, not see we had young starters coming up the pipeline? Hell, even trading Lowe and paying $10 mill of his $15 million salary would have freed up money and a roster spot for ANYthing that would contribute. Javier Vasquez was pretty cheap this year, was he not?
“Hoping” Schafer or McLouth would step up and “guessing” Prado would slide to LF and not suffer at the dish and that Chipper would play a full season (for him, this was about as close as it gets – and ya can’t blame his production at 39)…
…no, we aren’t a $150 million per-season payroll type club, but with Kawakami and Lowe on the books, we might as well have been a $60 million payroll team – right there with the Washington Nationals and Toronto Blue Jays.
bball fan
September 29th, 2011
10:53 am
So long Fredi! As you’ve said all year “it is what it is”.
Leo Mazzone
September 29th, 2011
10:53 am
Constanza hasn’t been playing b/c he doesn’t fit the mold. We need home run hitters. That’s what we do – we wait on home runs!
The fans are morons and I’m smart!
ADS
September 29th, 2011
10:54 am
Chipper 0-5…that says it all!
BlockParty
September 29th, 2011
10:54 am
How could you not keep Constanza in the line up after starting the way that he did. That is how they got the big lead to start with. He tried to play too many people, to keep everyone happy!! How happy are yall now???? Trade Lowe, let the rookies pitch, and play Constanza. He deserves it!!!
STRETCH
September 29th, 2011
10:54 am
All they had to do was play .500 ball and make to the show and they couldnt do that! This off season, management must make some serious personnel moves. The mental toughness is not there and it showed.
And last night, the errors, mental mistakes and leaving runners on base continued with this team. Cant sit here and say, “well, we lost starting pitching” these guys just plain choked!
BravesFan
September 29th, 2011
10:55 am
Im sure Chipper is getting over the season end at his little Texas place. I bet he’s tickled he doesnt have to “suffer” through the playoffs. He can go shootin’ deer now.
http://www.doubledimeranch.com/
St. Richt
September 29th, 2011
10:55 am
Count me as a big Chipper Jones fan, but this team went downhill immediately after Chipper ran his mouth about being the only team that could beat the Phillies in the postseason. He should’ve kept his mouth shut, because that idiotic statement marked the beginning of this monumental collapse.
Schultz- you are spot on with this article. Fredi needs to re-evaluate everything about the team, coaching staff, and most importantly himself.
Great blog, full of blather
September 29th, 2011
10:55 am
Wow…Prado hits 25 pts below his career, as do Gonzo, McCann and Chipper, although for Chip, .270 or so is the new normal. Heyward forgot how to hustle, let alone work a count and we sustain injuries to three fifths of the rotation, one of those for the season assuming Medlen would’ve started, we lose Moylan for the year, probably next as well, and have to fill in the pitching injuries with rookies because there is no money left in the dime store budget, and it’s Fredi’s fault?
Leaving Constanza on the bench after he healed up was Fredi’s fault, but the rest of it? I mean, really, the only way to save wear and tear on O’Flaherty and Venters would have been to pitch Linebrink and Proctor, before he was released, or one of the rookies, who all proved to be inconsistent. Then we most likely would not have been in the race to begin with.
ken farrar
September 29th, 2011
10:55 am
very unfortunate, my concern is more toward the people who spend their lives trying to be first commenter. get a life
the braves wouldn’t get past the first playoff anyway
You Ain't-Know Gaily Whacker
September 29th, 2011
10:55 am
I quit caring about the Braves when the Marta rail line wasn’t extended to the new Olympic Stadium.
Jorge
September 29th, 2011
10:56 am
Clearly, Fredi Gonzalez should be fired. But the fault goes to the team, specially the veterans like Chipper and McCann. They didn’t seem to play at their level and that carry-on to the rest of the team. In the case of Heyward, he should have been demoted to AA or AAA in mid-july, so he can regain his swing in a less pressured enviroment, but they elected to keep him in the big leagues in a part time roll.
Great blog, full of blather
September 29th, 2011
10:56 am
By the way, Jeff,
Your quote of not being about injnuries or a few guys being in a slump? Could not disagree more, for the reasons mentioned in my above post.
rlinaug
September 29th, 2011
10:56 am
he should be fired, taking snitker and parrish with him. fired for taking constanza out of the lineup. fired for pitching to Carlos Gonzales instead of walking him and pitching to Ty effing Wiggington. He should be fired for not going a little deeper into games and giving his pen a break… this team never won many games by more than 1 or 2 runs. A little more from the startes would have spared the wear on O’Flahery, Venters, Kimbrel. He should be fired for hiring Larry Parrish. All the Braves–ALL of them except Chipper who’s a Hall of Famer and goes to his father for hitting advice, hit worse this year than last.
chief knock a homa
September 29th, 2011
10:56 am
not playing constanza doomed this team sticking with derek lowe mistake # 2 jason heyward what the hell happend there he has turned into jeff francouer WTH MAN!!!!!
bigbrave
September 29th, 2011
10:57 am
Off season to dos – Trade Jurrjjens while his stock is kind of high and dump Lowe. Find another hitting coach and move Pendleton to the minors in case he is interfering with the hitting coach and messing the players up. Bring up Hicks or sign another good 3rd baseman to fill in for the often injured Chipper who will probably retire before spring training is over due to injuries. Brink up Pastornicky to platoon with Gonzo until he figures it out.
Dave O'Brien
September 29th, 2011
10:57 am
Could someone possibly be suggesting that Uggla’s contract money would better have been spent on a left fielder while leaving Prado at second? How dare you question the wisdom of the Braves organization? How dare you!
Can’t wait to go motorcycle riding with Fredi in the offseason and serve him up some softball questions.
Adios braves
September 29th, 2011
10:57 am
nice choke. glad football is here. this city has one winning football team
St. Richt
September 29th, 2011
10:57 am
Fredi is a terrible interview and never sounds like he’s got too much going on upstairs. Not the sharpest tool in the shed…
elliott
September 29th, 2011
10:58 am
The hitters were the worse on a big league team I have ever seen. The bats have to swing not set on the should. They acted like they were scared to hit it
Jeff's freaking out
September 29th, 2011
10:58 am
Please, stop with blame game. That’s baseball. Peaks and valleys throughout the season, and the Braves just hit the low ebb at the end through a variety of reasons that occurred on the field. 30 MLB teams, 9 with better records than Atlanta.
Invincer
September 29th, 2011
10:58 am
With all due respect Abnerish, giftwrapped is also what I would call a 8.5 game lead for the wild-card with only a month to go. Sometimes being a good manager is taking advantage of what opportunities present themselves. We sure didn’t hold on to that gift, they did
Jojo
September 29th, 2011
10:58 am
Oh well, just wait till next year! We’ll be so excited all year——till September —- and it all goes to h— again. Who will we blame then? It’ the attitude! No emotion, at all. I want to see some coaches AND players PISSED!!! These are all professional , well paid athletes. It’s time to take responsibility and get the job done. It’s time for Lowe to GO. Imagine what would have happened if we had won just half of those 17 games he lost. It’ time for the starting pitchers to go more than 5 innings and the bullpen to have to pitch 4 innings almost every night.
Contractor
September 29th, 2011
10:59 am
My biggest problems last night was the fact that Craig Kimbrel did not go win the game. MAKE THEM BEAT YOU!!! You have a 99 mph fast ball and a killer sinker, so make them beat you. Don’t walk them and give them the game. Force them to hit your fast ball and take the game from you. I see this as a huge problem, because the Braves should have easily won this game, but they just gave it away.
My second issue was Dan Uggla playing at double play depth and location with two outs, making it very difficult for him to get to Hunter Pence’s squibber. If he was playing a normal second base, then he is on top of that and crisis averted. They must know something I don’t, but to let a run score in a big game like this that holds your entire season in jeopardy is crazy to me.
Obviously I am as mad as the rest of the fan base, because this was a lackluster performance the last month, and we folded like a house of cards. This is exactly why Atlanta will never be as big as a sports town as say New York, LA, or Boston, because we can never win the big one in football, basketball, baseball, or college football (University of Georgia included). Yeah Yeah we would have performed better with our best pitchers not being on the DL, but you know what, that’s baseball and that’s sports in general, things happen, and a team can’t hang on one or two guys. Atlanta franchises need to suck it up, spend the money, or draft the players it needs to win, and not continue to fold in the face of competition.
Scores/Schedule/Standings/Stats & Stories 9/29/2011 - Goodsportsart Blog = Baseball news and commentary
September 29th, 2011
10:59 am
[...] Braves collapse, and the shine just came off Fredi Gonzalez [...]
Hetch Hetchy
September 29th, 2011
11:00 am
Good article, Jeff.
The collapses of Heyward and Prado during the season, and McCann at the end were huge.
Chipper should retire. He is a drain on the team. Constantly injured, constantly blocking the acquisition and/or development of a new 3rd baseman. I doubt Prado is the real answer for 3rd.
Travesty
September 29th, 2011
11:00 am
This team was lacking fire. Some of that can be put on manager. But we also have too many empty seats and a quiet stadium. Although unlikely to happen, we need a smaller stadium that is consistently full and that can get loud. Turner Field will never be full. An enthusiastic crowd could fire this team up on a regular basis.
Mike
September 29th, 2011
11:00 am
Jeff, this is not a Gonzales thing. They almost blew it last year as well with a losing September record. They went from 3 games up in the division to finishing 6 games back of Philly and hanging on to the wild card on the last day. This team has forgotten how to hit, and it started last year. They also can’t stay healthy. Prado, McCann, and Jones are in and out of the lineup and have had very inconsistent years over the last two. Hanson and Jair havent pitched since August. Their first half production was sorely missed in the second half.
Face it, Jeff. This team isn’t as good as people think. The pitching is there thanks to outstanding young arms from the minors, but the everyday lineup has automatic outs all through it like swiss cheese. Heyward has disappeared, Gonzales/Wilson at SS hasn’t been any better, and the others take turns going ice cold. It was Uggla in the first half, now its been Prado and McCann down the stretch. CF was an auto out before Bourn got here. Bourn and Freeman are the only consistent hitters in the lineup.
1) The Braves need a better hitting coach. This lineup should produce better.
2) They need to get into the Prince Fielder sweepstakes and land him. Pretend Lowe’s contract doesn’t exist for one year. That’s all it would take…just pretend for one year. Chipper probably won’t be high dollar for more than that either. The ownership needs to do something. Counting on rookies for everything isnt getting the job done.
Mid Town Joe
September 29th, 2011
11:01 am
When BMac came to the plate in the 6th inning, runners and 1st and 2nd and no outs, and failed to move them over, I felt the Braves would pay dearly for that mistake. That was a coaching error.
ray
September 29th, 2011
11:01 am
agree 100% Gonzalez is a big culprit. couple him with Wren, Parrish and a disintersted owner, and you have a bad cocktail. this nix is lethal.
can’t fire 25 players , so mgr has to go. I didn’t like Cox as much as most, but I doubt this implosion would have happened with him around.
Dozer is also right- this is acceptable in this sports town. in a short time, everyone will be fine. no urgency to win. they won their 14 division titles and that is it for the next few decades.
By the way, any Astros fans- you showed why you have the #1 overall pick in next years’ draft. getting outscored 18-1 after 3rd inning of 2nd game is disgraceful. didn’t even compete. I knew they couldn’t win more than 1 , but that is absurd. If I were Shafer I wouln’t be so happy to be with that bunch. I doubt Oberholzer and Clemens will resurrect them by themselves.
BravosFaninNYC
September 29th, 2011
11:01 am
I want Orel Hershiser to manage this team. He is the best sports analyst that I have ever seen and he could do wonders with our young pitching talent. That would be a fantastic fit for both sides. Where else would Hershiser want to go besides to a franchise laden with young pitching talent.
I like Fredi but he didn’t give this team the best chance to win. Prado and his .300 OBP and no wheels should NEVER be in the 2-hole.
And the team looked and sounded defeated the entire last week of the season. A good manager can’t hit w/ RISP but he could have affected our “deer in headlights” mentality that we had the last two weeks. When your leader says you’re living a nightmare on the final day of the season when the playoffs are still well within our grasp, something is very wrong.
UGADawg16
September 29th, 2011
11:02 am
I think it sux that the Braves missed the playoffs. What I think sux more is a hack, writing for the hometown paper, shoveling dirt on the Braves yesterday when they were tied for the wildcard. Bottom line is we were a lot better off than 2/3 of MLB teams – we were playing a meaningful game on the last day of the season.
I am and remain a lifelong Braves fan.
TrishaDishaWarEagle
September 29th, 2011
11:02 am
Turner field is cursed.. It was built on an ancient Indian burial ground, and was the setting of Satanic rituals, witch-burnings, and five John Denver Christmas specials.
cajdawg
September 29th, 2011
11:02 am
Hitting. That has been the G.D. problem for the past 20 years. Thank God we have 9 starters, doesn’t matter that we have a f..g AAA lineup, we have nine starters!
sidslid
September 29th, 2011
11:03 am
The lineup problems doomed the bullpen. Not enough 7-2 games. That being said, we don’t have that critical role player. Look at the Rays. Probably had four of five players with 300 or less at bats who contributed with Kyle friggin Farsnworth as their closer. Remember, the Braves won it all with Mike Deveroux (sp) as the MVP of an NLCS sweep of the Reds. Something happened with Georgie. I don’t think Gonzalez went to Heyward straight up. Either the injury was too severe, or something happened to which we will not be privy.
rc35
September 29th, 2011
11:03 am
The biggest indictment of Fredi is that, after being part of a team for five months, he could not figure out what pieces to put together during September to play better than .333 ball. Could he not see the consistently slowing bat speed of Prado and McCann? Constanza could never have been a one-man show, but after showcasing Constanza at #9 and Bourn at leadoff and finding that it worked, he inexplicably quit using that combo. Does he not comprehend a double switch? At least twice this year, Cristhian Martinez pitched multiple innings of great relief, so why pull him into the “do or die” game only to pinch hit for him so quickly and call on LineBrinkofdisaster?
True, this team hit so badly that it reminded me of the old joke about the guy who struck out, threw his bat at the ground, and missed, but the 1969 Mets weren’t exactly an offensive powerhouse, either, yet Al Weis, Rod Gaspar, and a bunch of low-production guys managed to pull off the upset. Given the proper leadership, I think our band of .240 hitters could have played .450 ball in September, at least.
Mike
September 29th, 2011
11:03 am
While the Braves hang their hopes on rookies down the stretch and spend much of their limited payroll on Lowe and Jones, the Cards spent and relied on a veteran lineup anchored by Pujols and Berkman that is one of the top hitting lineups in the league.