Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop 9/30
By Jeff Schafer
Walker on Braves offense: ‘Huge disappointment’ would be understatement
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Braves had an awful year in 2014, no way of getting around that. But going into the season, most believed our weakness was the pitching staff – mainly the starting rotation. We picked up Aaron Harang and Ervin Santana late and they helped our rotation out tremendously. What turned out to be our biggest flaw was the offense. Mostly because we had power/free swinging hitters throughout the lineup that weren’t willing to change their approach…or weren’t coached to change. Now that the year is over, we are expecting hitting coach Greg Walker to be released from his duties.
"Braves hitting coach Greg Walker will turn 55 next week and the Georgia native knows he might be unemployed by his birthday. The Braves missed the playoffs and suffered their first losing season since 2008, primarily due to an offense that ranked next-to-last in the majors in runs with the fourth-worst OPS.“A huge disappointment would be an understatement,” Walker said Monday, a day after completing his third season on the coaching staff. “Especially when a majority of the issues came on my side of the ball. We went into the season with expectations, which we created by the season we had last year with basically the same players.“So, disappointing is … I don’t want to use another word, but it’s an understatement.”"
For Braves, a shaky future after dismal finish
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: I’m in the same boat as what Fred thinks, John Hart, Bobby Cox and John Schuerholz will bring in Fredi Gonzalez and lay things on the table. They will say, “Fredi, we really like you as the manager and believe you can take this team to the playoffs and win us a World Series but as we go through the process of finding a new General Manager, we have to rely on his thoughts about the Manager role. We will take everything into consideration and try to push for you to stay but it will ultimately come down to what he thinks is the correct fit.”
"General manager Frank Wren has already been fired. Manager Fredi Gonzalez isn’t sure if he’ll be back.Gonzalez plans to meet Wednesday with interim general manager John Hart, though any decision about the manager’s future will likely be left until the new GM is hired.“I think the first piece is hiring a GM,” Gonzalez said, sitting in the office he inherited from Bobby Cox after the Hall of Famer retired in 2010. “Everything will go pretty quickly after that.”"
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt nominated for Hank Aaron Award
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: It’s about that time of the season to start handing out awards. Most players wish they were playing for more but it’s always nice to be recognized for your accomplishments on the field. The Hank Aaron Award will be given away shortly and one of your Atlanta Braves made the list…Justin Upton.
"Major League Baseball announced on Monday that Paul Goldschmidt is the Arizona Diamondbacks’ nominee for the 2014 Hank Aaron Award.Other nominees this year include Justin Upton (Atlanta Braves) and Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh Pirates) in the National League, and Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels) and David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox) in the American League.Fans can vote for the winners of the award on the MLB’s website, as well as each team’s website. Voting ends on Oct. 5, with the winners announced at the 2014 World Series."