Rosenthal: Atlanta Braves Fredi Gonzalez has “Lost the clubhouse”
Sep 2, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves manager
Fredi Gonzalez(33) watches the action from the dugout in the second inning of their game against the Miami Marlins at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
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In a story posted this morning on several newsy issues around baseball, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez “essentially has lost the clubhouse” and questions why John Hart and the Braves Front Office would want to wait any longer in making a change at the helm.
This would not be a total surprise, given the performance of the team since “overachieving” in the first half at 42-42, but the schedule, injuries (chiefly Freddie Freeman) and trades of their better offensive weapons have left this club significantly powerless to stem the downward spiral that leaves the Braves with the 2nd-worst record in baseball and losers of their last 19 of 21 games.
The curiosity, though, is this question, which is clearly coming from more than me alone:
@Ken_Rosenthal From whom have you heard that Fredi Gonzalez has lost the clubhouse? I follow pretty closely and have only heard fans' cries.
— Paul (@BravesStats) September 8, 2015
No reply from Rosenthal – but here is the key quote from his piece:
"But I’ve been hearing all season that players are frustrated with Gonzalez, that he essentially has lost the clubhouse."
This “all season” comment is especially curious given that all seemed to be good in the clubhouse early on – particularly given the new leadership of Jonny Gomes, Jason Grilli, and others.
Stranger Commentary
Rosenthal states clearly “Obviously, Gonzalez is not to blame for the team’s collapse”, cited what we all know too well: that Hart and Coppolella effectively yanked the unstable legs out from under the offense by taking out Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe … never mind losing Freddie Freeman for almost 7 weeks… or other trades.
But then Rosenthal goes on to then to more-or-less blame Gonzalez anyway for a historic-level -101 run differential during this 1-19 run of failure… the second team to be outscored by 100+ in 20 games since 1900.
Sorry, Ken, but you can’t really have it both ways: either he’s the problem or the lack of quality players is the problem. And if this is truly a season-long issue, then don’t you have to also give Gonzalez credit for the initial 42-42 run?
I am not here to be a Fredi Gonzalez apologist, but it is very hard to assess Rosenthal’s comments without having any specifics to back him up. Clearly, the offense has been abysmal at times with few weapons to work with, and having four rookies in the rotation at times means that there will be growing pains.
There’s a famous adage that is often quoted in technology circles: “You can’t schedule innovation.” The same thing holds when waiting for rookies to improve/blossom/break out, or whatever description you want to put on it. If you’re in a funk, it’s your ultimate responsibility to get over that… but it’s not the manager’s doing, and the timing of improvement will be uncertain at best.
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