This Week in Fredi Gonzalez Think

Aug 15, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez (33) looks on from the dugout prior to the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

He’s not lost just bewildered

The worse the slide gets the more befuddled the Skipper looks. Clearly he wants to win and there’s no faulting that but his decisions under pressure are getting harder to understand. Fifteen years ago he could have simply used the matchup cliché and fans would have accepted it. Today however fans have access to most of the data that he has and under such scrutiny that dog won’t hunt.

His confusing and frankly inane comments serve only to make things worse.

In Gonzalez statement to Bowman he appears to be saying that only players who win and produce play and implies that Olivera hasn’t. That he isn’t hitting 300 should not be a shock as Olivera is effectively in spring training right now. Saying for the record that he won’t play until he does makes no sense when he is your future third baseman – ask your boss.

He goes on to bemoan how hard it is everyday to make those decisions. That’s the job Fredi, you should know that by now.  After managing this long saying it’s hard isn’t an answer its an excuse and one that a real manager doesn’t make.

Further insight into his current thinking from the Bowman piece goes like this.

"“I don’t want to go in there and say, ‘We’re playing for 2016.’ I’m not going to do that. I come in every day and try to put the best lineup together to win a ballgame.”"

No he shouldn’t say it out loud but he should understand that’s learning more about the players who will be part of the team next year is in best interests of the team.

Omitting Olivera in favor of Garcia does nothing to help planners decide on needs for next year and flies in the face of the goals of the front office. No one would have assumed he was tanking on this season had he played Olivera but everyone wondered why he did not.

At 30 years old Garcia is a young man compared to Fredi but he isn’t a kid whose attention you have to get in order to make a point. Embarrassing him in front of his teammates and in the press served no real purpose and the only thing Garcia learned was that Fredi has different rules for different people.

That’s A Wrap

Dredi Gonzalez is drowning in in the pressure of managing a losing team with a history of winning. At his best Fredi is an average communicator who often speaks before he thinks things through. Lately he’s less effective than ever before as evidenced by his post game quotes and interviews that get more Yogi Berra like by the day except they’re nowhere near as insightful or entertaining.

• “I want to see [Olivera] as much as I want to see him. . .” Huh?
• “We’re 150 games below .500 …” no we aren’t. We’re 23 games below .500 after playing 148 games.
• “…but sometimes there’s mistakes that, we don’t want to play those games here at the big-league level…” Uh-Okay, what games do we want to play at the big league level

Managing a losing team is not a job anyone wants because in many ways it’s harder than managing a champion. Handling the pressure of a team destined to finish at or near the bottom of the league while wondering if you have a job next year weighs on your mind. We;re seeing that manifested every game as this season comes to a close. We can only hope that we don’t see any more of it after October fourth.