Official Give It A Rest thread

[Millwood1Hitter]

WHY SHOULD I GIVE IT A REST? I'm a Braves fan, a passionate Braves fan, that loves this team and organization and wants to see it do well, like most other fans of this team or other teams.

It would be one thing if myself and the others that are screaming and yelling are unsubstantiated, but it is not. Those that critized Bobby during his tenure here was more sour grapes and griping over little to nothing, because Bobby certainly had his faults but his positives outweighed his negatives. He had an unprecendented track record of getting the most out of his players, especially role players, and had the respect of the clubhouse and was in charge of one of the greatest runs in professional baseball history. Certainly he had good players and good teams, but it was unnecessary to be critical of his time here because of some shortcomings in the postseason. Did he make questionable moves, or in more occassion show favortism to a veteran player over a more productive young player....YES he did, but he also gave youngsters on many occassions and put them in positions to be success and eased them into their roles.

Anyone that watches the Braves religously like me can see that Fredi Gonzalez is a disaster and complete moron. And I'm not just talking about questionable on the field decesions which are negliable. His bullpen management is the absolute worse that I have ever witnessed. He has ruined a number of pitchers during his short tenure here due to mismanagement, and it was beyond stupid the handling of Tehran in that game against the Mets and hopefully he is not our next young stud that goes down. He doesn't seem to have control of the clubhouse and the respect that someone like Bobby did, and the team seems to lack confidence. The September collapses substanciate that. I could go on and on and on and on but I'm not gonna waste my time, as this has been hashed and rehashed many times on here. But the guy is beyond terrible.

AGAIN, I don't care about this year and the wins and losses but I do care about the long-term morale of this organization and building for the future. Fredi has not been the right guy to lead this organization over the past few years, despite having some flawed roster, and he's not the right guy to lead us right now or in the future.

[Julio3000]

Hey [MENTION=1695]Millwood1Hitter[/MENTION], what was your handle on the other board? I have a really ****ty memory for usernames.

[jpx7]

Mel approves

Truly, Mel Tormé is to jazz as Fredi González is to managing.

[NinersSBChamps]

Do you ever read your posts? Especially about the 49ers?

Stopped caring months ago about them as well.

[NinersSBChamps]

Even when we were winning 90 games a season people were complaining.

So it's just worse because we aren't winning anytime soon.

But were/are people actually expecting this team to be anything besides bad this year?

[Millwood1Hitter]

But were/are people actually expecting this team to be anything besides bad this year?

Nope. I thought we'd be a 90 loss team and at best .500 give or take a few games. All I wanted to see is improvement in a number of areas and see some of the youngsters get initiated and experience and look towards the future.

[Hawk]

Hey [MENTION=1695]Millwood1Hitter[/MENTION], what was your handle on the other board? I have a really ****ty memory for usernames.

*bump*

Inquiring minds want to know.

[NinersSBChamps]

Nope. I thought we'd be a 90 loss team and at best .500 give or take a few games. All I wanted to see is improvement in a number of areas and see some of the youngsters get initiated and experience and look towards the future.

That's where I was at. So this stretch of bad play shouldn't be a surprise. It's not even frustrsting.

[Millwood1Hitter]

*bump*

Inquiring minds want to know.

If you we're paying attention, I called out Bill Shanks a number of times and had some pretty big disagreements with him especially on minor league players and projections, and even got banned a few times for doing so and I was also one of Russ Ortiz's biggest critics. Nothing has changed on my thoughts on John Schueholz and his mismanagement and I called the Drew trade before their we're even the slightest amounts of rumblings about it. In fact I posted what I thought was going to happen in regards to Sheffield's replacement and that night Ken Rosenthal posted the same rumor, LOL.

[Hawk]

If you we're paying attention, I called out Bill Shanks a number of times and had some pretty big disagreements with him especially on minor league players and projections, and even got banned a few times for doing so and I was also one of Russ Ortiz's biggest critics. Nothing has changed on my thoughts on John Schueholz and his mismanagement and I called the Drew trade before their we're even the slightest amounts of rumblings about it. In fact I posted what I thought was going to happen in regards to Sheffield's replacement and that night Ken Rosenthal posted the same rumor, LOL.

You are clearly in your prime now, I must say.

[The Chosen One]

Plot twist, Millwood is actually MikeAdams.

[bravesnumberone]

It's frustrating, but I agree that it's becoming pointless to even criticize the buffoon anymore.

But I always find it interesting when people feel the need to say they'll place someone on ignore. Just do it or don't. If you see a thread that you think will piss you off, don't read it.

P.S.: If any of you really think Fredi will fall on the sword and be gone, you are outside of your minds. Unless, the Braves are historically bad over these next two seasons, he's going nowhere. And, assuming we take care of our pitchers (I suspect we've already screwed Julio up), and they rebound and pitch like they're capable, we're going to stay somewhat competitive, even if we don't get in the playoffs.

Now if we blow it in two-three years, then Fredi might very well get canned.

[Julio3000]

If you we're paying attention, I called out Bill Shanks a number of times and had some pretty big disagreements with him especially on minor league players and projections, and even got banned a few times for doing so and I was also one of Russ Ortiz's biggest critics. Nothing has changed on my thoughts on John Schueholz and his mismanagement and I called the Drew trade before their we're even the slightest amounts of rumblings about it. In fact I posted what I thought was going to happen in regards to Sheffield's replacement and that night Ken Rosenthal posted the same rumor, LOL.

So, same handle?

[mossy]

You know it's a bad year when AJ is our best player. AJ FREAKIN PIERZI....SKI????? That first week REALLY screwed us.

[50PoundHead]

Nope. I thought we'd be a 90 loss team and at best .500 give or take a few games. All I wanted to see is improvement in a number of areas and see some of the youngsters get initiated and experience and look towards the future.

That's about where I'm at. I just want to see well played games. The sloppiness of the other night and the mental mistakes they've been making bug me more than the obvious talent gap. I just want to see good ABs and growth from some of the younger guys.

[Perfect Cell]

Makes no sense to keep him for two years then give him the boot. Either you boot him now or hes gonna be here for the long haul


and after his record the past 4 years he needs to get canned

[Knucksie]

Not exactly sure what the purpose is of this thread with Fire Freddi out to several pages, but you have to remember the organizational history.

Once again, Ted Turner attempted to be sort of a baby Steinbrenner. Firing managers made the owner seem flamboyant and got headlines. That strategy worked to better effect in NY and with franchise that won championships, not so much for a team with sporadic hopes of just making the playoffs and incapable of doing serious damage.

So, in my time as a Braves fan, they went through Dave Bristol then Bobby Cox. (Ted even managed one game in there somewhere.) Cox, not coincidentally had been up and coming, and supposedly the Yankees had future plans for him. Ted would later say that firing Cox was a mistake. We will never know for sure. Cox did good work in Toronto, and Joe Torre was a fine choice. Of course, then Torre would get the ax. Then they brought in Eddie Haas, who had the support of certain members upstairs. For those of you who rant and whine about the FO now, it was nothing compared with the amateur hour of the late '70's & first half of the 80's. To the best of my knowledge, Haas never had a decent baseball job after.

After that, they tried to appear serious by bringing in a field general, Chuck Tanner. He, unfortunately was overly-optimistic with an under-talented roster with a few of his former (washed up) players from the Pirates and White Sox. Hopefully, this did not damage his reputation. He received a pink slip to be replaced by Russ Nixon, who wasn't going to "give any BS." Well, the team was no better. Somewhere in there, Bobby Wine (good baseball guy) was interim manager, and probably wouldn't have been a bad choice to stay on if they even offered the option to him. Nixon lasted a couple of seasons with Cox returning to the dugout from the GM seat.

Since Cox returned, even with ownership change, the organization clearly decided that they wanted "stability" from the manager's role. Cox was never going to get fired again by the Braves. To this day, his opinion still carries A LOT of clout, which is why he's still there in the consultant capacity. It still hasn't sunk in with many of you. You heard it from me before, yet many of you still post dippy-assed rants about every transaction. Whether you like it or not, the strategy is to stockpile young pitching through draft and trades. This was the process that they began in '86, and it's what they've returned to doing. The other aspect, again, is stability, or at least the perception of it, with the manager. These are the 2 most obvious aspects of Cox's influence on the current state of affairs.

They've already practically admitted that this year and next year are expected to be washes. So, does it really matter who's managing? Of course Fredi is Cox's guy. Apart from future plans, nobody here knows what the FO thinks. Doubtful that John Hart focuses much energy on it, as he's busy showing Copollela the ropes and prepping for 2017.

[mossy]

Makes no sense to keep him for two years then give him the boot. Either you boot him now or hes gonna be here for the long haul


and after his record the past 4 years he needs to get canned

But the material point is......if they haven't done it by now, they probably wont right? Why must every other post on a gameday thread be trash about him needing to be fired?

It makes posting here not fun.