The button has finally been pressed in Atlanta – the Braves have reportedly fired manager Fredi Gonzalez after five-plus seasons at the helm of the team.
The Braves have fired manager Fredi Gonzalez. A replacement has not yet been revealed.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) May 17, 2016
Gonzalez will be replaced on an interim basis by Brian Snitker, the Braves’ former third base coach who was serving as the manager of the AAA Gwinnett Braves.
Brian Snitker will become the Braves manager today.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) May 17, 2016
The Braves were an MLB-worst 9-28 under Gonzalez this season, and have been outscored by a whopping 67 runs through their first 37 games, the worst run differential in baseball.
But this firing goes beyond Atlanta’s struggles in 2016. Gonzalez won a whopping one game as Braves skipper, and made the Postseason in just two of his five full seasons with the club. Since the Braves hit .500 at 42-42 on July 7th of last season, they’ve gone 34-81, a ghastly .296 winning percentage.
Much will be made of this firing in relation to the Braves’ poor start this season, but it’s really not about how awful the Braves have been this year – it’s about how much they’ve underachieved through Gonzalez’s tenure as manager. The Braves won 89, 94, and 96 games from the 2011-13 seasons, and came away with one playoff win over that time. That’s simply unacceptable.
Snitker will likely just be a placeholder for the Braves before GM John Coppolella hires the next full-time manager. Many names have been linked to the job, including Braves bullpen coach Eddie Perez and MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa.
Sure enough, the Braves didn’t just stop at firing Gonzalez – they also canned his bench coach Carlos Tosca, moving first base coach Terry Pendleton to the bench and the aforementioned Perez to first base.
The Braves also fired bench coach Carlos Tosca. TP becomes the bench coach. Eddie Perez the 1B coach and Marty Reed the bullpen coach
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) May 17, 2016
It wasn’t a matter of “if”, it was a matter of “when” for the Braves firing Gonzalez. He wasn’t the team’s manager of the future, so pulling the trigger on letting him go simply made sense for Atlanta, though the timing does seem a bit odd considering the Braves are halfway through a ten game road trip.
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