Fredi Gonzalez Supporters Thread

[The Chosen One]

I am not Fredi's biggest fan, but since it's all pretty much confirmed he's going to return next year might as well stand by our manager. Too much Anti-Fredi negativity seeping into all of the threads.

Achievements:

• Lead Marlins to back to back winning seasons in 2008 and 2009, despite having the lowest team payroll in the majors both years.
• 5 out of 8 seasons with winning records.
• .527 managing %, 634-569 W-L
• 2012 NL Wild Card (94-68)
• 2013 NL East Division Title (96-66)

Please refrain from bringing the trolling into this thread. No need for a "Failures" list. That's been milked to death since Wren got fired and long before that as well.


Also, you're free to use this image in your signature as I have.

[weso1]

He seems to be highly respected in the baseball community. That has to mean something. Kind of like how zito is highly respected in the message boarding community yet nobody is quite sure how to explain why that is.

[bravesnumberone]

I hope he will learn from some of his mistakes. That said, he's our guy, so I'm on board. Feel that way about everybody except BJ Upton. No use for him whatsoever.

[ChapelHillMatt]

Pretty good resume. I'm not as much of a supporter of his as I am just tired of everyone ganging up on him and blaming him for all things that went wrong this year. I wouldn't be upset if we let him go and I'm not upset that we are bringing him back. I think we can win with him, we did last year so he's fully capable of leading us back to the playoffs. Maybe next year we'll be healthy and some of our young players will have breakout years. It's possible, right? After all it's working for the Royals. If they can win then so can we. Our situation isn't as bad as people think. Something does need to be done to improve the offense however.

[keithlaw]

zito thinks he's a bad manager so he must be pretty damn good

[MrShwag]

The guy's an idiot. Every pre-game interview I hear, he stumbles over his words and ends up saying the same 5 sentences.

[Dalyn]

This guy is a professional manager. What more can you say?

[nsacpi]

Cut from the same cloth as charlie manuel.

[holden]

He's bilingual, which is a useful skill in today's tough economy.

[emk418]

I think he's an awful manager but our issues certainly cannot just be blamed on him. Unfortunately he's back but he's got my full support now that he's back.

[jason27nc]

I wanted change and I guess we got that with Wren being canned. If he can come back next year and show that his flaws were 90% because he was handcuffed by Wren and he actually shows he is a good manager then I am for him being back. I do not believe that is the case but I am willing to give him a chance. Now if it is not I want him gone!

[bravesnumberone]

It doesn't matter because our problems have apparently been solved by getting a new 3B coach.

[sturg33]

I'm disgusted he is being brought back. No accountability in this organization.

[Heyward]

I support Fredi and have said firing Fredi wont make a massive difference.

IE, firing him makes us 10 games better the way some have talked over Fredi.

Unless you're talking about Maddon or Showalter, no one out there makes us much better next year.

[jpx7]

I thought—and said so frequently at the time—that he was a bad hire; the bright-side is he's made me look really smart the past few years.

[CyYoung31]

The guy's an idiot. Every pre-game interview I hear, he stumbles over his words and ends up saying the same 5 sentences.

He speaks pretty well for english being his second language. How many languages do you speak?

[jpx7]

He also can't be a total idiot, given this perspicacious analysis, spoken upon being interviewed about keeping his job: "I don't think I'm a hot commodity out there."

[CyYoung31]

I thought—and said so frequently at the time—that he was a bad hire; the bright-side is he's made me look really smart the past few years.

I don't know about a bad hire, but the dude just has no idea how to strategically field a team to get the most out of a roster. In fact, sometimes it seem like he has no strategy at all.

He must be pretty good in the clubhouse, but it sure didn't seem that way this year.

[The Chosen One]

It's funny because Fredi does about 90% of the same things Bobby did.

His press interviews could be verbatim Bobby speak when a player under performs and it's like he was watching another game. Bobby gets credit for that player loyalty but Fredi gets called a moron and idiot for saying the same things like "BJ is my guy". And if it turns out that Frank was indeed forcing Fredi to play BJ often then that's even more remarkable that Fredi took the hit for Frank and BJ.

It's also telling that most of the worst stuff in the clubhouse has stayed in the clubhouse even in the social media age. With guys like BJ and CJ you'd think we'd have worst stuff leaking frequently about clubhouse fighting.

I don't understand why people rail on Fredi for not ejecting himself out of games like Bobby uses to do. He's not that fiery. Maybe when he gets older he'll get a bit more grumpy but he's always seemed cool headed. I don't see any reason why he should go get himself thrown out just because a player argues with a call. With the way umpires are so quick to give the hook over small things and Fredi not having the reputation Bobby had the ejection effect might be overstated.

Another thing which I've mentioned before is this group of players are from a different generation in cultural society than Bobby had to deal with in the 90s. The self entitlement in some of today's players is more absurd than what Bobby had to deal with before. The economics of the game have changed player egos as well and has shifted their influence in the way clubhouses are run. Bj's case is a prime example of this. Because of the money invested in him Fredi lost control over it and upstairs gave orders.

[Gary82]

The self entitlement in some of today's players is more absurd than what Bobby had to deal with before.

I don't believe that.