AJC Q&A With Fredi Gonzalez

Like I said, you are doing a good job.

I want to be a fly on the wall the day Fredi posts on the bulletin board there will be mandatory bunting lessons at 10 AM tomorrow morning, July 22. What's he going to do, fine the ones that disregard the "mandatory ,$50 - $500. Fredi spends a day on the phone with agents, union people and General Managers. Besides he just insulted his whole team.
Spring training they bunt for days and days. They bunt at the beginning of every session of BP - purpose? Adjust their eyes. Ever been to a big lesague park 5-6 hours before the game nd watch pepper games. Some more competitive than the golf matches or card games. All the same they work on bunting they talk bunting they take pride in bunting. They bet money on bunting

How many big league players get paid for their bunting skills? "Chicks dig the long ball"

I respect you coach 8 yr old girls softball or 18 yr old travel baseball - although, there are worlds of difference between the mind set of the National League and a weekend in Chattanooga.
And believe me, I have a world of respect for those that spend their weekends on other peoples kids.

Certainly hope you are selecting your teams based on the Moms :)
 
Teams practice different defenses against the bunt. Those are the times when they can have hitters practice bunting. Pretty simple.
 
If you are a major league hitter then you should know how to bunt. This is something that should be on the players and not the coaches.
 
thewupk said:
If you are a major league hitter then you should know how to bunt. This is something that should be on the players and not the coaches.
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Exactly but if your team can't bunt for **** it is the Managers job to fix the problem. If that means telling the hitting coach to work on it with certain guys then you do it. We lost a lot of games this year not being able to bunt. We also lost a lot of games where we couldn't manufacture runs. That is one of Fredi's biggest flaws. He does not know how to manage a tight game late.
 
Another thing for you guys that don't think the manager job is important when it comes to wins and losses. Why even have one? Stop wasting money on a manager if they don't matter when it comes to wins and losses.

Plus please tell me what Fredi does well to the ones that think he is so great.
 
jason27nc said:
Another thing for you guys that don't think the manager job is important when it comes to wins and losses. Why even have one? Stop wasting money on a manager if they don't matter when it comes to wins and losses.

Plus please tell me what Fredi does well to the ones that think he is so great.
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I dont think he does much great but there isnt any manager that would do all that much better with this crappy offense.

So it's a useless argument.
 
Heyward said:
I dont think he does much great but there isnt any manager that would do all that much better with this crappy offense.

So it's a useless argument.
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So an area where improvement is possible, no matter how slight, should be ignored and is useless?
 
jason27nc said:
Another thing for you guys that don't think the manager job is important when it comes to wins and losses. Why even have one? Stop wasting money on a manager if they don't matter when it comes to wins and losses.

Plus please tell me what Fredi does well to the ones that think he is so great.
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Exactly. If manager didn't matter at all then why keep him around? I don't think coaches in baseball are as important as other sports, but it's hardly an unimportant issue.
 
jason27nc said:
Exactly but if your team can't bunt for **** it is the Managers job to fix the problem. If that means telling the hitting coach to work on it with certain guys then you do it. We lost a lot of games this year not being able to bunt. We also lost a lot of games where we couldn't manufacture runs. That is one of Fredi's biggest flaws. He does not know how to manage a tight game late.
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We didn't manufacture runs because our offense doesn't have the personal to do it. They are a bunch of hackers that strikeout a lot. Strikeouts are ok if you take your walks and hit for power (Hello Justin) but when you don't walk and have no power (Hell Chris) then you are ****. And as a collective whole this team did not walk or hit for power. So the strikeouts get magnified.
 
Dalyn said:
So an area where improvement is possible, no matter how slight, should be ignored and is useless?
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Sure it can be an issue. But I don't really care who is making the lineup out when BJ is going to be in center and Chris at third. I would rather bitch about those big glaring holes that need to get fixed or it doesn't matter who's in the dugout.
 
Dalyn said:
So an area where improvement is possible, no matter how slight, should be ignored and is useless?
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I've actually said i think Fredi should be fired but it wont make a gigantic difference like many seem to think.
 
Mad Dog Murph said:
Wow, the "Fredi Kills Babies" crew ridiculing every syllable out of his mouth. I am shocked. SHOCKED I tell ya.

I don't think Fredi is a great manager, but the outright hatred for the man by people on this board is quite hilarious. Especially considering that most of you probably work at Dairy Queen screwing up my banana split. After reading the game threads and anti-Fredi threads, where people here actually think they have original ideas or could actually manage a little league team....I am convinced 90% of you can't find your way home work without a Garmin Nuvi. I am starting a company on kickstarter where I hire writers to follow internet sports fans around their jobs and report every wrong thing they do. You would be surprised how many times Dalyn forgets to put pickles on the Big Mac....can't believe they promoted him from the fry station.
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Well, he doesn't pull out a pocket computer to tell him what decision to make, so he is a bad manager.
 
jason27nc said:
No, some of us are tired of having a guy that is clueless when it comes to managing a team. I am not saying he plays to lose but he sure as hell does not play to win A lot. The guy plays every game like it is game 10 of the season. Some times you have to manufacture runs when it is close. The guy does not know what that means. Until he is gone we will never be better than mediocre.
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He's so clueless that he has stumbled into winning 55% of the games he has managed as the Braves manager and 53% of his games overall.

Sorry. Clueless managers do not have that kind of success. The great Bob Melvin has won 51% of his games as a manager, but he's apparently a genius.
 
KB21 said:
He's so clueless that he has stumbled into winning 55% of the games he has managed as the Braves manager and 53% of his games overall.

Sorry. Clueless managers do not have that kind of success. The great Bob Melvin has won 51% of his games as a manager, but he's apparently a genius.
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Bob Melvin managed some pretty terrible teams. I have no real opinion on him, but I could go on.
 
This is just an obligatory Fredi support post because someone has to do it. With the '17 season being the new focus point for the Braves, it makes sense to give Fredi another year.

A new manager during a rebuilding year would create unnecessary expectations and potentially, unwanted problems. At least with Fredi you know what you're getting and he does still seem to have the support of the players and the FO. A lot of managers would crumble under the pressure and make enemies in the clubhouse. He knows how to lose with poise, which is no small thing in any sport, and can actually create strong bonds with players. He never threw anyone under the bus and lord knows he could have.

After this, the second horrible Sept collapse in 3 years, I wouldn't be sad to see him go, but the only other real criticism I can see was his gross overuse of the pen in that first year. But even then we had a ton of 1 run games and it's hard to blame him for wanting to win.
 
jason27nc said:
Another thing for you guys that don't think the manager job is important when it comes to wins and losses. Why even have one? Stop wasting money on a manager if they don't matter when it comes to wins and losses.

Plus please tell me what Fredi does well to the ones that think he is so great.
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Thing is he's won in the past but then we are told the players win in spite of him. So why even have the argument. You guys just hate him with a passion and nothing he does will be good enough, not even winning.
 
To me, a managers most important job is to motivate the ball club and get the most out of the players. What I've seen in Freddi's tenure is players constantly under performing, and now rumors of a clubhouse disconnect this year. This can't continue.
 
thewupk said:
We didn't manufacture runs because our offense doesn't have the personal to do it. They are a bunch of hackers that strikeout a lot. Strikeouts are ok if you take your walks and hit for power (Hello Justin) but when you don't walk and have no power (Hell Chris) then you are ****. And as a collective whole this team did not walk or hit for power. So the strikeouts get magnified.
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This was a team that was so bad offensively. It didn't have the personnel to play any kind of style effectively. I don't know if they ended the season as the team with the most swings-and-misses at pitches in the strike zone, but they did at one point. And if you can't hit strikes, you can't hit and what pitcher is going to throw anything but strikes if he can get away with it. Little speed (and one guy (M. Upton) with some speed couldn't get on base to save himself so what does that matter) and bad contact skills make playing any brand of aggressive "small ball" impossible to play. Just a bad team offensively.

I'm not a reflexive, "Let's keep Fredi around" guy. He has his noticeable warts, but you can't count on career years from hackers like Chris Johnson.
 
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