The Rise and Falls of Fredi Gonzalez

Aug 30, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez (33) reacts in the dugout against the New York Yankees during the ninth inning at Turner Field. The Yankees defeated the Braves 20-6. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

A Manager’s job

Part of a manager’s job is to get the team back on track when they slump. Looking at those charts again you can see that when the other two teams slumped they rebounded, that trait hasn’t been in evidence for the Braves.  Please don’t ask me what he’s supposed to do, I do not claim to know how to manage a baseball team from day to day. What I do  know is that the best managers figure it out and Gonzalez hasn’t.

September hates Gonzalez and August doesn’t like him much either.

In the first four years since Gonzalez took charge the Braves have generally played well up to the All Star break and the except for last year, up to the first of August.  August’s been sort of a mixed bag of good and so-so but September – and October when we got there- reflect an unreported but pretty predictable trend; the Braves are bad. I added this year to the graph just to show it hasn’t stopped.

From Bad to Unwatchable

The Braves finished the first half of this season with a 500 record 42-42. They achieved that because many of the players performed either better than ever before or in the case of A.J. Pierzynski better than he had in a while. Taking a macro view the 500 record looked good but looking closer we can see that the Braves have really had one good month. . .and it wasn’t that good.

In May the Braves swept a rudderless Marlins team that lost 19 games and took two of three from the Reds who lost 14; while they broke 500 the opposition wasn’t exactly stiff.  The story post All Star break is sad and well known. The Braves finally managed to win two of three from the Phillies but from here forward results could be painful.