The Braves don’t yet know what attributes they’ll seek in a permanent manager. They could opt for an analytics-based man. They could go old-school. They could wind up promoting from within. Theirs is now an almost-blank slate, but here’s the “almost”:
The new man has to want to be part of this. He has to want to manage the Braves as they are, which is in transition. There’s a plan in place. You might think it balderdash, but the Braves believe this is the only way they can get and stay good again. They’re not backing off because they fired one manager and, via an emailed one-way flight confirmation, botched the firing.
This isn’t to suggest that Fredi Gonzalez was a non-believer — he always expressed support for the “process” — but the job he had wasn’t the job he’d taken. He’d inherited a team that made the 2010 playoffs. The club he managed to the 2013 division title led the league in home runs but also in strikeouts. Frank Wren built that team. Frank Wren is gone with the wind.
New management kept Gonzalez after Wren was “terminated” in September 2014. It handed him a year’s extension at the All-Star break last summer, which was both an apology in advance — John Coppolella and John Hart knew they were about to trade a slew of veterans at the deadline — and a mistake. When the Braves crashed from 42-42 on July 7 to 67-95, the Two Johns had to ask: “Do we fire the guy we just extended?”
They didn’t. Should have, though. Fredi G. has his strengths as a manager, but righting a team gone wrong isn’t among them. He knew he was a lame duck when he drove south to spring training. Instead of the hope inherent in every new baseball season, a fatalism hung over the team. The team’s Grapefruit League record was 6-20-6, which should have been a sign. The real season saw the Braves start 0-9. Barely having begun, the year was essentially gone.
From 0-9 on, every week became a referendum on Fredi. (The manager himself was speaking publicly about his lack of job security in April.) Sure enough, 0-9 became 9-28, and enough was finally enough. Even if Gonzalez had been handed the worst team in baseball, should the Braves have been playing like the worst team in the history of baseball?
The Two Johns weren’t going to fire themselves. They believe in what they’re doing. (They also believe this team, while bad, isn’t the worst assemblage ever.) So does the third John, meaning Schuerholz, for whom this rebuild will be a plus/minus on the ol’ Legacy Ledger. He was the best general manager ever. He doesn’t want to watch years of losing in SunTrust Park, which sits 2 1/2 miles from his Vinings condominium. He wants a good team that will stay good, same as his Braves did. He absolutely believes in Coppolella and Hart.
The next Braves manager will need to share the Johns’ vision. Bud Black is the name that pops up most, and he’d make sense. The Braves are rebuilding around pitching, and he has worked under Schuerholz and Hart. That’s not to say he’s a lock. There is no lock.
Ron Gardenhire was among the baseball’s better managers when winning six division titles with the not-profligate Twins. Would he commit to a rebuilding project? (Like Black, he’s 58.) Terry Pendleton and Eddie Perez, beloved Braves who are now coaches, are possibilities. The ex-Brave Mark DeRosa has been mentioned, but he hasn’t managed. (The big-league skipper apt to be fired next is Detroit’s Brad Ausmus, who came to this job having managed only Israel’s team in the World Baseball Classic.)
As for the fanciful notion of Chipper Jones: I can’t imagine him wanting to manager, and I can’t imagine him being good at it. That axiom about great players making bad managers? There’s a reason it’s axiomatic.
Dave Martinez has served as Joe Maddon’s bench coach with the Rays and the Cubs. Maddon and Baltimore’s Buck Showalter are seen as the best in the business. (San Francisco’s Bruce Bochy is the best every other October.) The Rays are an analytics-driven organization that spends wisely; the Cubs are seeing the fruits of a deep-dish reboot. The caveat: The Rays interviewed Martinez for the manager’s job when Maddon left but hired Kevin Cash.
Another name: Don Wakamatsu. He took a brief turn managing Seattle, which was heavy into analytics; since 2014, he has been Ned Yost’s bench coach with the Royals, who’ve graced consecutive World Series. He worked under Showalter (and Hart) as a Rangers coach.
Again, for emphasis: These are just names. If Brian Snitker can take this roster to .500, he deserves to be manager for life. (He’s 0-1, though the Braves did score more runs Tuesday than in any game this season.) The Two Johns don’t have to decide anything for a while. They’ve given themselves the chance to choose the manager who fits their process. They won’t botch this.
