Braves Keep Fredi Gonzalez Hire Bo Porter

Fredi Gonzalez heaved a sigh of relief and the worst fears of most Braves fans have been realized; Fredi Gonzalez stays as manager for 2015.

Braves Interim General Manager John Hart announced a few minutes ago that the Braves would retain Skipper Fredi Gonzalez for the 2015 season.

And the groan from Braves fans was heard in Tokyo

Why did they keep Fredi Gonzalez

The retention of Gonzalez places the blame for the Braves consistent failure since he took over as manager squarely on Frank Wren.  In every other organization  four years of disappointment and collapse would have signaled the departure of the entire leadership team. Gonzalez however has a champion on the triumvirate in  the form of mentor and quiet but influential anti-Wren voice Bobby Cox.   While we lobbied hard for change meaning real change it was always likely to be a purge of everyone but Gonzalez and Roger McDowell.

The Braves started out their rebuilding  as I and others here hoped, by eliminating Wren and right hand man Bruce Manno.  They then held a news conference saying that the team had lost its way and they would return it to the principles that led to 15 consecutive post season appearances and 14 division titles. That looked very much like stepping back in time rather than resurrecting a philosophy.

Instead of suggesting a top down review of the people responsible for straying from the Braves way,  Cox almost immediately threw a defensive grid around Gonzalez by saying publicly that he felt his protégé had done an outstanding job. As is typical with the Atlanta press, Cox wasn’t asked to defend his position; he said it and therefore it must be true.

I held out hope that Hart was independent enough to hire an outside GM and allow him to swing the axe thereby allowing plausible deniability in personnel matters. But events turned quickly and pointed otherwise.

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Call to the Pen

Last week Greg Walker fell on his sword and resigned. I’m not pro or anti walker but no one who knows what hitting coaches actually do thought he was the cause. While not specifically supporting Walker even Chipper Jones made it clear that failing to hit was not the hitting coaches fault.

Hitting coaches are always fired when a team’s bats go cold and Walker however knew that he was going and decided to jump instead of being pushed.

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Predictors of future moves

Yesterday we learned that the Braves hired Gordon Blakeley away from the Yankees and appointed him special assistant to the general manager. That was a bit unusual because those appointments are usually made by the GM and not an interim GM.

Blakeley’s hire tells us exactly where the Braves front office is heading; Jon Coppolella will be the next Braves GM.  Coppolella worked closely with Blakely in the Yankees front office and adding him bring not only a self proclaimed mentor to Coppolella’s side but also provides him the experienced head to lean on when Hart steps back as I expect he will soon. Whether Blakeley takes the roll of GM himself for a couple of years as a mentor or remains a special assistant, Coppolella is heir apparent.

Today’s announcement included the news that former Astros manager and Nationals third base coach Bo Porter had been brought on board as outfield coach and would replace Doug Dascenzo a third base as well.  Dascenzo wasn’t a fan favorite – if there is such a thing – as third base coach notably deciding that Freddie Freeman was secretly fast and sending him home only to be thrown out by 10 feet. That’s not the only reason for his departure however.

Porter has connections to the kind of minor league system John Schuerholz said they want to return to.  Although he never played in Atlanta Porter signed as a free agent in April 2002 and spent the next 18 month between Greenville (AA) and Richmond (AAA) before being released and retiring. But most importantly he is also a long time friend and associate of Gonzalez

After brief stints as a minor league hitting coach and manager, Porter joined the Marlins at the same time as Gonzalez (2007) and served in the same capacity he will perform for the Braves through the 2009 season. In 2010 he moved to the same position Arizona until Kirk Gibson promoted him to bench coach in July of that year.

The following season saw him back in the third base coaching box with the Nationals. He became Astros manager in 2013 and widely considered as having done a superb job but disagreements between the fiery Porter and GM Jeff Luhnow led to his firing in September.

UPDATE: At 7:45 Friday night Bob Nightengale reported on another move in the Braves player development hierarchy.

That’s A Wrap

Apparently ineptitude and lack of demonstrated leadership are trumped by nepotism for the moment.  As I’ve pointed out before the Braves haven’t been good when facing the best teams for a while. Their recovery after the collapse in 2012 was most almost  entirely due to the rest of the division being composed teams either getting older, rebuilding from the ground up or experiencing internal upheaval of their own. But he does get a second. . .third . . . fourth another chance to prove he’s up to it. Noticeably missing from today’s announcement however was the word extension.

My read on this is that he’s on a short leash. His meeting with Hart on Wednesday ran long – he cancelled a radio interview on XM because he was still tied up. He wasn’t in to chat he was in to listen first and demonstrate he had a plan. He’s been allowed to bring in his man – Porter – to join his friend and bench coach in Florida Carlos Tosca leaving only his former first base coach and current Red Sox infield coordinator Andy Fox and his hitting coach Jim Presley who is currently doing that job for the Orioles missing from his “winning team.”

The announcement also told us that Terry Pendleton and Eddie Perez will return and we know from last off season that Roger McDowell is safe. Gonzalez staff now includes two former managers and friends available provide him what he has said he needs to succeed. He will likely get the hitting coach he wants instead of one hand picked by the GM.  Fletcher may the guy but my bet is they will look outside for that position.

UPDATE: 15:30 EDT The Braves announced about a half hour ago that Scott Fletcher has been fired as well. The hunt for a hitting coach continues.

I doubt Presley would leave a world series caliber team to join Atlanta but it would not surprise me to see them reach out to a friend of Porter’s – Kirk Gibson – as hitting coach. In spite of his trouble being a diplomatic manager, Gibby had success as hitting coach in Detroit from the middle of 2005 through 2007 under Alan Trammel and Jim Leyland.  If it is Gibson that would make three managers there to advise him It also provides at least two and maybe three former managers ready to take his place should he fail.

I and almost everyone I’ve spoken with  think this is a mistake but it’s a decision we have hope works; he’s the guy until he’s gone.  Gonzalez will be under intense scrutiny next season. Every bad decision will be amplified because he was saved not by performance but a political connection to an icon. If the team doesn’t perform as the supreme council of the Braves way expect, they will no longer be able to protect Gonzalez and he will find himself roving instructor in the minors or coaching third base somewhere. I heard he was pretty good at that.