That you, Skip?
The Braves are having a rare week. Both opponents to visit Turner Field during this brief homestand have managers who came to their jobs with no managerial experience: Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash and Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell.
This is a relatively new phenomenon for the majors but when Mike Matheny was named to replace Tony La Russa three years ago with no coaching experience — he’d been a Cards special assistant and a Little League coach — baseball executives took note. That he had the Cards in the World Series within two years proved a point.
When the Brewers fired Ron Roeneicke 25 games into this season, Counsell had done some scouting and worked with minor leaguers but had never managed a day in his life.
“I’ve always said baseball, we as an industry, we don’t do a great job of necessarily grooming guys,” Brewers general manager Doug Melvin told the Associated Press. “It doesn’t happen like it should sometimes.”
Current managers with no previous experience and how they’re doing:
Mike Matheny Cardinals 301-224
Robin Ventura White Sox 239-283
Walt Weiss Rockies 154-206
Brad Ausmus Detroit 113-89
Kevin Cash Rays 22-18
Craig Counsell Brewers 8-7
Dan Jennings Miami 0-2
So long, Bruce
Former Brave left-hander Bruce Chen announced his retirement Monday, ending a 17-year career that included tenures with an amazing 11 major league clubs. Signed as an amateur free agent by the Braves in 1993, Chen was 8-2 with a 4.14 ERA in parts of three seasons with the Braves before he was dealt to Philadelphia for Andy Ashby in 2000.
He never posted a lower ERA in his stints with all other teams he pitched for, but he found a home when he reached Kansas City in 2009, where he lasted six seasons. The Royals designated him for assignment last August and he missed the chance to pitch in the 2014 World Series.
Chen, 37, finished with 82 career victories, tying him with Mariano Rivera for most wins by a Panamanian-born player. Remarkably, three of the five winningest Panamanians were one-time Braves: Juan “Senor Smoke” Berenguer (No. 2, 67 wins) and Randall Delgado (No. 5, 15).
They said it
“It’s hard to go through major league lineups and be locked in. I think he’s learning. We’ve seen it with all the young pitchers we’ve run through here in the last four or five innings. And he’s no different.”
— Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez after Tuesday starter Mike Foltynewicz yielded three runs to the last 11 men he faced.
By the numbers
26
Braves home runs through 38 games, 13th in the National League.
162
Braves runs through 38 games, seventh in the National League.
Upcoming
Friday: vs. Brewers, 7:35
Saturday: vs. Brewers, 4:10
Sunday: vs. Brewers, 1:35
Monday: at Dodgers, 8:10
Tuesday: at Dodgers, 10:10
Wednesday: at Dodgers, 10:10
