Hired To Be Fired
There was a time when Fredi Gonzalez was considered one of the top young managers in baseball. In three seasons with the Florida Marlins he'd led the club to more wins every year, including a second place finish in the NL East in 2009. He was let go in 2010 after 70 games & a 34-36 record, but nobody outside of Marlins management really blamed him or is surprised that the franchise hasn't accomplished anything since letting Gonzalez go.
Baseball thought highly of Gonzalez, and he landed a pretty sweet gig in 2011: Manager of the Atlanta Braves. He had a pretty tough act to follow in Bobby Cox, who had managed the Braves for the previous two decades & taken them to the postseason in fifteen out of twenty-one years. Prior to taking over in Florida, Gonzalez had played for Cox & coached under him, so it was no surprise when Cox recommended him as his replacement. He inherited a pretty good team, and the first three seasons were like his first three seasons in Florida, but even better. 89 wins, 94 wins & 96 wins, though their two postseason appearances both ended before the NLCS.
Most of the criticism Gonzalez would receive from fans was due to his failings in the postseason, and in the second half of the season in general. The Braves would get off to a hot start, which would usually be enough to carry them through a mediocre second half. Then there would be failure in the playoffs, which is enough to get any manager some heat. Now that the team isn't anywhere near the playoffs, it makes sense for the manager to get the axe because obviously he isn't connecting with the team and it's not like you can fire the players.
So it didn't really come as a surprise when Gonzalez was let go this week after a 9-28 start, with a dreadful 2-17 home record. The question I have regarding this move is pretty simple: What did Braves management expect would happen on the field the last couple of years once they traded away all of their good players except for Freddie Freeman?
I used to be on the Fire Bryan Price bandwagon due to the Reds' failings over the last couple of years, but the more I watch the more obvious it becomes that Bryan Price never had a chance to succeed as a manager. His bullpen is a mess, his top starting pitchers are all injured, his starting catcher will play thirty-nine games during the 2015 & 2016 seasons combined, his superstar first baseman is batting somewhere around .200...it never stops. Gonzalez has been handcuffed in similar ways the last couple of seasons, and he was let go this week because the front office needed to do something.
1975 Sparky Anderson couldn't succeed with the 2016 Cincinnati Reds. 1995 Bobby Cox couldn't succeed with the 2016 Atlanta Braves. There are plenty of instances where managers have deserved to be dismissed, but when their teams are designed to lose & lose big, I don't see the fairness in throwing them on the sword. It's nothing more than a move designed to take some heat off the front office.
And if you listen to sports talk radio, you'll find that it usually works. Firing the manager is the common fan's answer to everything. It's never that easy, but that doesn't stop us from yelling for heads to roll. There's something about a dude losing his job that makes us feel better about things. Schadenfreude, I believe the term is. We get happy because the manager loses his job. Their misfortune brings us happiness.
Though, in the case of managers of teams like the Braves, I'm not sure getting fired is misfortune. They still get their money, and they'll get a job somewhere in baseball. Fredi Gonzalez will be employed by an MLB team in some capacity next season. When Bryan Price gets sacrificed by the Reds front office, he'll find a coaching job somewhere. And it'll be a job that he might actually be able to succeed in.
Reds Update
Yup. The Reds lost four straight games to their in-state rival Cleveland Indians by a combined score of 43-16. Two in Cleveland, two in Cincinnati. They will not win a single game against the Indians in a season that they've played each other for the first time since they started meeting in interleague play in 1997. There aren't many things less acceptable than getting swept by a team from Cleveland.
The Seattle Mariners came to town for the weekend. Seattle was 10-2 against the Reds all-time heading into this season, and the Reds didn't make up any ground on that account. Bullpen blew it on Friday, there was no offense on Saturday against King Felix Hernandez, and the bullpen did well on Sunday but Alfredo Simon had already blown that 4-2 lead before they got in. Seven up, seven down.
After Saturday's games, the Reds had given up 35 more runs than any other team in Major League Baseball. Their -86 run differential is the worst by 14 runs. I'm getting the feeling that keeping track of historically awful statistics will be the best way to get through this season.
The most impressive thing the Reds accomplished last week? They outdrew FC Cincinnati, a new USL team that's become the trendy thing in town, on Wednesday night by somewhere around 12,000 people. They also got 38,000 people in attendance Saturday for Ken Griffey Jr. Dual Bobblehead Night.
Yeah, I wish I'd gotten my hands on one of those. I saw Marty Brennaman leaving with two of them, which just goes to show that calling Reds games for 50 years has some perks.
Next up for the Reds: ROAD TRIP! Three games in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, a day off, three games in Milwaukee and four in Colorado. None of these teams are currently over .500, so maybe Cincinnati can improve that 3-14 road record a little bit? Maybe?
The Even Year Champions
2010. 2012. 2014. We've made reference to the San Francisco Giants' ability to win even-year World Series before. That's why a lot of people picked them to win the World Series this season, even if they missed the playoffs last season and the Dodgers & Diamondbacks looked like stellar competition in the NL West. They got off to a bit of a slow start in April along with the rest of their division, but they've finally taken off over the last week and a half and are currently the hottest team in baseball.
They took a road trip to Arizona & San Diego & won all seven games in impressive fashion to give themselves the second-best road record in the NL. As a fan of a team whose bullpen regularly gives up three or more runs, seeing a team win seven straight games where they give up no more than three runs is a refreshing change of pace. A team with a starting rotation featuring Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto & Jeff Samardzija is going to be very tough to beat in a playoff series, no doubt.
Another thing to remember when all of these National League teams head into October: playoff experience. As much as we like to think it doesn't matter, there's a reason certain teams win in October over and over again. The Cubs & Nationals have better records than the Giants right now and seem like sexier picks on paper, but both franchises are known for coming up short in the playoffs. If you had to bet on the Giants or one of those other teams in a best of seven in October, wouldn't you take the Giants? I'm pretty sure I would.
Three Series To Watch This Week
1. Indians at White Sox (Monday-Wednesday): It's a rare 4 games in 3 days series thanks to a doubleheader on Monday, which only increases the importance of this meeting between the two current best teams in the AL Central. I say "current" because we're still waiting for the Royals to take their rightful spot at the top of the division, but the Sox have been pretty solid all season and the Tribe have been on a hot streak lately. Sure, playing the Reds four times helped with that, but Cleveland's got some good young talent.
2. Cubs at Cardinals (Monday-Wednesday): Don't look now, but the Cubs are coming back to Earth. Since sweeping the Pirates & Nationals a couple of weeks ago, they dropped two out of three to the Padres, one out of three to the Pirates and two out of three to the Brewers. They're resembling an actual baseball team, which means they could be in trouble heading to St. Louis and facing their always dangerous rivals.
3. Pirates at Rangers (Friday-Sunday): OK, so this isn't exactly a storied rivalry, but I just get the feeling that these are two teams that could end up rubbing each other the wrong way. Pittsburgh always seems to get into these beanball wars with teams because how dare anybody hit one of their batters with a pitch, and well, we've seen the Rangers' act lately.
That will never get old. So keep your eyes on this series, cause I got a hunch that somebody's gonna get mad at somebody before it's over.
Welp, that's all we have time for this week! Thanks for reading, see you next time!
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