Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Braves have 99 problems; Brian Snitker isn’t one of them

This is the time of the year in which people tend to pile on about how badly the team was managed and such.  Here’s a bulletin:  the Atlanta Braves have a really good manager.

Change is inevitable during the off-seasons.  On average, teams will change out 25-35% of there roster from year-to-year.  The Atlanta Braves are no different, but unlike many clubs, their manager – and coaching staff – needs to be retained if at all possible.

Some… disagree:

It’s extremely difficult to replace a legend.  Fredi Gonzalez learned that.  But it was the result of Gonzalez losing the fight and fire in his team that brought us to the place where Brian Snitker more-or-less accidentally became the manager of the Braves.

In the process, the team found someone probably about as close to Bobby Cox as they might ever see.

Brian Snitker has the backs of his players.  He’s their Dad when he needs to be.  He’s their disciplinarian when he needs to be.  He’ll also fight for what he believes is right.

Somehow, he’s managed to come up with the right words to make former All-Star players like Mike Foltynewicz and Adam Duvall understand and believe that they need some time in AAA to get themselves back on track.  He will thus also give a player every chance to succeed.

What more do you want out of a manager?

Sure:  there are times in which a substitute or a pitching change doesn’t work out as hoped.  That’s true for everybody.  Ballplayers are only successful at what they do roughly 25-33% of the time and managers rise and fall based on percentages like those.

It’s nonetheless clear that Snitker is well-prepared for situations when they come up.  Plans are made… and plans are adjusted when necessary.  That speaks of a significant amount of homework… which Snitker and his crew clearly do on a daily basis.

Saying that Brian Snitker isn’t Bobby Cox is a given… but Snit has made this job his own out of the Cox mold and his players will clearly do anything for him.  That’s what teams need.

So for all those who want to complain about some nuance of how he runs a game, then go ahead; but you need to look at the other 95% of what this manager does… much of which happens behind the clubhouse door.

Meantime, there’s a lot of other things that the Atlanta Braves need to concern themselves with this coming off-season… but finding another manager is the absolute least of their issues.

The Braves are lucky to have Snitker and need to keep him for as long as he wants to keep going.

As for the rest of the coaching staff?  The only concern there is that somebody might spirit away Walt Weiss or Ron Washington to another team.