A day after the Braves finished their first losing season since 2008, manager Fredi Gonzalez met Monday with several writers for a wide-ranging interview. Topics ranged from his job status — the Braves have said a new general manger would have input into the managerial decision — to whether the Braves need major upgrades to be a playoff contender in 2015.
Q: Have you started to go over next season? How does that work until a permanent GM is in place?
A: We've met with all three Johns (interim general manager John Hart, team president John Schuerholz, assistant GM John Coppolella) and the staff, went over our evaluation of our club. Really that's all we've done. I'm meeting with John Hart Wednesday to go over some things.
Q: Have your heard anything about your job status?
A: Nothing. I think we'll find out some more stuff on Wednesday. I think until they hire a GM … That's the first piece, hire a GM. I think everything will go pretty quickly after that.
Q: Do you think coaching decisions will happen before your future is determined?
A: I think after Wednesday we'll know some stuff. It's so easy to blame the coaches, in any sport. And they understand. That's what we signed up for. Would I like to keep my staff? Absolutely. Is that going to happen? I'll call you as soon as I get out of the meeting.
Q: What went wrong this season?
A: Collectively, we didn't produce offensively. I think our pitching was good the whole year. But offensively we just didn't do the same thing we did last year.
Q: It seemed like you had five or six guys slumping at once a lot of the time, sometimes even more.
A: That's why I said collectively. At times there were, like you said, five or six guys that struggled. For whatever reason, we didn't produce.
Q: Seemed like you had a legit No. 3 (Freddie Freeman), and maybe Justin (Upton) and Jason Heyward fit there at 4 and 5, or Jason at the top, but it just seemed the other guys didn’t fit specific spots.
A: Yeah, you could say that. I've been told that before. We didn't have a prototypical leadoff hitter. We had to deal with what we had. You can't have six guys hitting seventh, you know?
Q: You had the two second-half trips, 0-8 and 2-7….
A: I don't think we got shut out on that (0-8) trip. But at San Diego we had the bases loaded, nobody out, it seemed like every day (and failed to score). Whew. All of a sudden, we just went dry offensively. Darndest thing I've ever seen..
Q: Did you ever meet with the players to really let them know they needed to play better?
A: I had a meeting in Seattle. That was the last meeting I had collectively as a team. This last series in Philly, I met with three, four or five guys, and there's three or four other guys who live in the area, we'll sit down and talk some more.
Q: But was there ever a closed-door meeting where anyone really laid into guys?
A: You mean players only?
Q: Players only, or you, or…
A: Well I told you in Seattle, I had it. Three minutes, at the end of the last game in Seattle. Prior to that series, yes, there was one meeting in San Diego where the guys got together and tried to — some of the veteran guys spoke. I don't know exactly what the message was, but I'm pretty sure it was, "We're a good club, relax and let's go out and play some baseball."
Q: All of the playoff teams this year have at least one or two veteran guys you can point to as leaders, guys that have been around, that others rally behind. You guys really didn’t have that.
A: (Hitting coach Greg Walker) and I have been talking about that, because Walk was with the World Series (championship) team in Chicago when they had (Paul) Konerko and some of those guys. I think (Juan) Uribe was there, (A.J.) Pierzynski. …" (Jermaine Dye, Scott Podsednik, Aaron Rowand, Carl Everett and Joe Crede were other veterans in the 2005 White Sox lineup; eight of nine regulars were 27 or older, Uribe was 26.)
Walk goes, “These (Braves) are going to be really, really good in a couple of years.” … We were young. And I think at times it showed, some of the at-bats. But like I always say, you can’t put them in a simulator and make them experience this.”
Q: Seems like you didn’t have those kind of take-charge leaders you had in recent years, even a backup like Eric Hinske or David Ross.
A: We had a couple. Gerald (Laird) was pretty good about that. It takes a little while. Those guys, Hinske and Ross, started doing that when they were nine, 10 years in the league. Chipper (Jones), in my first two years (as manager) and his last two years, was about as good as you want a leader to be — vocal, and also producing.
We lost four guys who were pretty darn good players and good people. Maybe not the vocal, tip-over-tables (types), but you lose Huddy (Tim Hudson) and you lose (Eric) O’Flaherty. You lose McCann, and then Chipper. And then sometimes we forgot (Martin) Prado, how impactful he was with some of the young Latin kids.
Q: Did the situation with Uggla, when he had to go to the bench, affect the team? Naturally he’s not going to be happy (being benched), and it’s a small clubhouse.
A: I imagine it was tough. It was tough on Danny, it was tough on … because like you said, he's about as good as you want as a teammate. Maybe the best teammate. And when you see a teammate getting benched, and this guy was a three-time All-Star, and you see him every day and he's hurt, he's hurt because he wants to contribute, and he's a teammate. … But I don't know if that had any effect on the other guys. I really don't.
Q: Can you talk about (rookie catcher Christian) Bethancourt’s season? (Plenty of passed balls, particularly in September.)
A: I think Betty made some strides. He went through some stuff in September that he had never experienced. He'd never experienced (playing through) September. He's one of the guys I spoke to for a long time (Sunday). He told me that this is the most he's ever caught in his career, for the last five years in the minor leagues he's home in August, taking a little rest, maybe go to the fall league. It's not the same, playing for the Sun City Solar Sox.
Q: Watching the last series in Philly, were you thinking of major changes needed for the roster?
A: I didn't even think that way. I've been thinking, if we add a piece here, if we add a piece there, to complement the guys we already have. I'm not going to say we'll go out and win 160, but you feel like it could be a good team without making a lot of changes.
Q: What about (Evan) Gattis? Is that going to be a big point this offseason, what to do with him if Bethancourt is going to be the main catcher?
A: I've not thought anything about Gattis as far as how many games is he going to catch next year, is he going to play another position or that kind of stuff. We've talked about it internally a lot, and I tell you what, in this day and age with the way offense is going now, it's hard to get 22 home runs.
Q: Could he play left field and catch and get 140 games?
A: That's an option.
For the full, significantly longer version of this interview, please go to MyAJC.com or use this link.
