Is having four potential managers-to-be a recipe for disaster for the Atlanta Braves?
By Colby Wilson
Awash with managerial candidates, could a curse on the Braves be continued?
Since the day the ink dried on Dan Uggla’s contract, the Braves have operated as a kind of theatre of the absurd, with weird and unpredictable becoming the norm thanks to a host of people that are no longer with the franchise and a couple who are.
- Think BJ Upton.
- Think low-balling Jason Heyward on his extension.
- Think extending Chris Johnson.
- Think the infield fly.
- Think pissed-off Craig Kimbrel watching Juan Uribe’s homer.
- Think chicken bones.
- Think about a sea of torn ulnar collateral ligaments as far as the eye can see.
- Think Jose Costanza.
- Think The Cobb County Heist
- Think Hector Olivera, 30-year old prospect/inmate
- Think Brian McCann, Moral Arbiter of Baseball™
- Think Fredi Gonzalez lasting long past his expiration date.
That’s all since 2011. It’s small wonder this team is 12-31 with that as background.
So it’s not completely insane that this franchise would bring Brian Snitker along as interim manager… and flank him with Eddie Perez, Bo Porter and Terry Pendleton, each of whom are also on the short list to become Atlanta’s next full-time manager.
(They could still go after Ron Gardenhire, Ron Roenicke, Ron Washington, Ron Weasley, Ron Swanson or Bud Black. But let’s be real here: this franchise NEVER looks outside the family.)
The Lineup
Perez, BP and TP are pros, as the logic goes, so they’ll all be content to toe the line behind Snitker and bring the young Braves along, making life easier on the next head man, whoever it may be.
Maybe that’s true. Maybe everyone will fall in line behind Snitker, who seems to be the least-likely choice among the quartet to land the gig on a full-time basis (thereby allowing everyone else an even playing field on which to audition, as Jerry Crasnick goes into here). Maybe everyone will excel and a true leader will emerge from the pack, ready to lead Atlanta into the next era.
Now look back to the top of this here article. This franchise has spent YEARS zigging when it should’ve zagged; John Coppolella seems cut of different cloth than those who got Atlanta into this mess, and maybe he is. But this looks like another situation that could get awkward in a hurry.
Four guys, each with a varying degree of skin in the game, aren’t going to join hearts and minds for three-quarters of a season without ego getting in the way somewhere along the line. Too much is at stake—redemption of sorts for Porter, a chance at the big job for Pendleton and Perez, maybe the only opportunity Snitker will ever get. When this is your life, your livelihood, your future… I mean, how would YOU respond?
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This is probably cynical—I should believe the best in everyone and all that. But the coach-in-waiting philosophy works if you have a beloved figurehead on his way out, with a firm successor in place. I’m not sure it will work as well for a group of guys trying to band together for a common goal (win and develop young players) while at the same time try to win a job next year.
It’s a tight spot. Good luck with that.