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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > September > 10
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Cox not ready to call it a career
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Attention, bashers: You will — repeat, will — have Bobby Cox to kick around next season. As much as he hates losing, he loves his job more.
“Nothing will change my mind about returning — not winning, not losing,” Cox said Wednesday. “It’s still fun for me. Being here is fun.”
By “here,” he meant Turner Field, not fourth place. By won-lost percentage, this is the worst full season any Cox-managed team has endured since the 1979 Braves. By depth of disappointment, this is the worst, period. Leaving spring training, Cox said he liked this team “a lot — you could win with it.” Then everybody got hurt.
Even then, the world’s most optimistic man was the last holdout. Asked how it felt, in the wake of the Mark Teixeira trade, to quit on a season, Cox said: “I didn’t, frankly. I don’t give up very easily.”
But now the manager who has won 15 division titles gets his pennant-race fix from watching former lieutenant Ned Yost’s Brewers play an afternoon game on TV. Yes, that’s different. “Even the last two years, we’ve gone down to the last two weeks,” said Cox, whose team was mathematically eliminated Monday. “This has not been good. You want to be in the chase — that’s what we preach.”
Then, brightening: “This year has been a bummer, but it’s still fun to come to the park and be a part of it.”
For six weeks now, the Braves’ emphasis has been on 2009. “We have a lot to do during the winter,” Cox said. More to do than ever before? “I think so … We’re going to have money. We’ll spend until we’re at the top of the budget.”
Will the recently frugal Braves actually buy a big-ticket free agent? “We are going to try to do that, I can tell you. And trades, too. Frank [Wren, the general manager] will pursue every angle on free agents and trades.”
The rotation will be the top priority — “We’ve got to get that in order,” Cox said — but he doesn’t believe the Braves have seen the last of John Smoltz and Tom Glavine. “I’d lean on the side of them coming back. But we have to make moves and then hope they come back.”
Asked specifically about Charlie Morton, the heralded rookie who carries a 6.32 ERA, Cox said: “Some of the young guys have got to prove they can stay here.”
Asked if he’s worried about his outfield, Cox didn’t answer. The interrogator reframed the question: Could the outfield use another bat? “That’s a better way to put it,” Cox said. “We could use another bat.”
Barring a major acquisition, who would be his 2009 center fielder? “Hmmm,” he said. “[Gregor] Blanco or [Josh] Anderson.” What of the prospect Jordan Schafer? “He missed an awful lot of games this year [due to suspension]. He’s going to play winter ball.”
And Jeff Francoeur, whose flailings have been documented in excruciating detail? “Jeff is making a little bit of a comeback. He’s a very determined kid. He has [hit] before, and that makes you think he’ll do it again. He’s on the right path right now.”
And has the 67-year-old manager, as a host of AJC.com bloggers insist daily, indeed lost his touch? Said Cox, flashing a rakish smile: “I’m probably better now than I’ve ever been.”
He has every intention of honoring the extension he signed earlier this year and leading the Braves throughout 2009. And his wife, Pam, Cox reported, has raised no objection. “She hasn’t mentioned [retirement] one bit,” he said. “She has a million times before, but this year she feels bad about what’s happened.”
He shrugged. “Everyone’s used to winning.”
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