After having two days to let the Braves roster decision sink in, second baseman Dan Uggla said his emotions were largely the same as when he was told Tuesday afternoon he would not be on the division series roster.
“Disappointed, mainly, disappointed, upset, (ticked) off, every negative emotion you can probably have,” said Uggla, who spoke to the media briefly during batting practice before Game 1 of the division series Thursday. “I’m not blind to my numbers. I know what they are. But at the same time I know what I’ve done in my career, and I still know what I’m capable of doing. So I was kind of blindsided by it.”
Uggla had a majors’ worst .179 batting average this season and he was third in the National League with 171 strikeouts, a franchise record. He still managed to hit 22 home runs, including a solo shot in a key win over the Nationals Sept. 18. He also walked a team-high 77 times.
Uggla got the news in a meeting with manager Fredi Gonzalez and general manager Frank Wren Tuesday. Uggla could still be added to the roster if there’s an injury to an infielder or potentially for the next round, though he said that didn’t come up.
“I didn’t let the conversation get very far,” Uggla said.
When describing the disappointment he felt, Uggla initially said: “It hurts that Frank doesn’t think I can’t help them to win.”
But when asked later if he got the feeling the decision was more Wren’s than Gonzalez, Uggla said he didn’t know.
“That’s who was in the room with me when they told me,” Uggla said. “I don’t know if it’s a combination or one or the other, but that’s who was in Fredi’s office when they told me.”
Wren didn’t want to get into the details of the decision, but indications are it was a collective decision.
“It was a difficult decision,” Wren said. “I’m not going to get into it right now, in-series. There’s too much on the line.”
Uggla put his emotions aside and joined the Braves on the field for batting practice both at Wednesday’s workout and Thursday for Game 1.
“Obviously when something bad happens to you your first reaction is anger and whatever, so once that calms down you can start thinking rationally again,” Uggla said. “And it was hard. I didn’t want to come (to the workout) yesterday, but I knew it was the right thing to do. You don’t feel part of the group. But once you get past that, and just calm down and realize that your teammates still love you, it’s whatever.”
Uggla said he planned to travel with the Braves to LA if the team wanted him to, and Wren later indicated that Uggla would travel with a group of potential roster replacements, as well as some of the veteran injured players.
“If that’s what they want me to do of course I want to travel with my teammates,” Uggla said. “But your first inclination, your first response to something like this is usually ‘Screw this, I’m going home.’ But that’s obviously not the right thing to do. So yeah, if I’m allowed to go to LA, I’m definitely going to go. I’ll show up with my suitcase and suit tomorrow and if they let me get on the plane I’ll go. If not, go back to the house I guess.”
Uggla said he’s taken solace in the support he’s gotten from teammates, both personally and in their comments to the media, as well as text messages from friends around baseball.
“I’ve got an amazing amount of respect for this game and the guys that I play with and play against,” Uggla said. “I’ve got a pretty good idea of what my reputation is around the game. It meant a lot to hear the comments from my teammates. That lets me know that they’ve got my back. And I’ve gotten a huge amount of texts from guys around the league, just saying they’re feeling for me, they’re behind me, showing support, so that was a huge deal as well.”
