Gonzalez Fired

The Braves fired manager Fredi Gonzalez.

There was considerable criticism of Gonzalez during much of his time as Braves manager, despite the fact his teams won 89, 94 and 96 games in his first three seasons through 2013 and won the National League East in 2013, their first division title since 2005.

The Braves were 82 games over .500 (296-214) during his first three-plus seasons as manager through a 17-7 start in 2014. But they were 62-86 the rest of that season and, after a surprising 42-42 start in 2015, the Braves spiraled during an injury- and trade-plagued second half to finish at 67-95.

That record was the Braves’ worst since 1990, the year before their worst-to-first turnaround season.

Gonzalez is a bit of a stat-head, and I guess some moves he made due to that didn’t sit well with fans or some reporters. It’s goo bad, as having managed some bad teams, he is still slightly above .500 for his managerial career.

I also wonder if Gonzalez didn’t want to be the caretaker of a rebuilding Braves team. Other opportunities may open up this season, and he would be a good person to bring in almost anywhere.

Brian Snitker, the manager of the Braves AAA team takes over for the rest of the season, with the interim label. The Braves AAA team owns a 77-67 record this season, and they might be setting-up Snitker to manage the prospects coming through the system. He’s been a manager in the Braves system since the early 1980s, but never played major league baseball.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1Nx0Wbh