Latest from the front office

[nsacpi]

Coppolella interview with JOB:

Q. Is this how you and John Hart thought this season might go, or could you have ever imagined that it would be this bad?

A. No. I think the way we envisioned the season going was the way the first half went, where you could walk parallel roads between building for the future and putting out a team (this season) that could fight night in and night out.

Q. Was the timing of Fredi Gonzalez and his coaches’ contract extensions (just after the All-Star break) an indication that you in the front office knew this could get ugly with the second-half trades that were coming?

A. I felt we overachieved in the first half, and I feel that’s a great credit to Fredi and his whole coaching staff. In my opinion, it wouldn’t be fair to go through this for this year and judge Fredi or his staff.


Nice to be able to have it both ways. Team was designed to be competitive. However, a record close to .500 represented an overachievement. Fredi deserves credit for the first half. But we shouldn't judge him for the second half.

[msstate7]

They're justifying their ridiculous decision to extend fredi when they did without looking as stupid as they do for extending fredi when they did.

[Dalyn]

This **** is exactly why I call it a Mukaki Rebuild.

[sturg33]

Unfortunately, Cop has lost my confidence

[Dalyn]

Unfortunately, Cop has lost my confidence

[CyYoung31]

He contradicts himself within 3 sentences. This FO can FO.

[AerchAngel]

He contradicts himself within 3 sentences. This FO can FO.

The Don, can you give CY around 100 thanks for that comment, SPOT ON!!!!!

Best post ever...............................

[Runnin]

He contradicts himself within 3 sentences. This FO can FO.

He's doing PR, part of his job. What were you hoping for? A detailed account of every screwup or trade that hasn't worked out? But I hear ya. I'm bummed having no baseball worth watching too.

Of course there's some egg on the face. They were hoping for a less ugly rebuild, probably around 75 wins. S#it happens. The FO is riding it out, just like the fans.

[weso1]

I agree with runnin. I don't really care about the PR stuff.

The important thing I gathered from the interview is when asked about free agency this offseason he mentioned that they had a lot more flexibility this offseason and much more next offseason. This is a much different answer then they have been giving, in which they've all but said they won't be active on the free agent market. Maybe watching our rotation be laughably bad has changed their view.

[nsacpi]

I agree with runnin. I don't really care about the PR stuff.

The important thing I gathered from the interview is when asked about free agency this offseason he mentioned that they had a lot more flexibility this offseason and much more next offseason. This is a much different answer then they have been giving, in which they've all but said they won't be active on the free agent market. Maybe watching our rotation be laughably bad has changed their view.

Circumstances do change and every front office has to adjust its strategy to reflect that. But this FO does have a tendency to talk out of both sides of its mouth. Earlier we had a comment from Coppolella that the free agent market for pitchers was the worst investment any team could make. Then Hart ruled out going after a top bat in the FA market. Now you have Coppolella talking about how much flexibility they will be having this off-season and next off-season. I wonder what he means if anything by that. I wonder when they say they want a team that battles night in night out if that means anything. I wonder if having a "palatable" team has any operational significance. I wonder if having a team that is like the girl at the dance that is fun to dance with means anything. Or is it all PR.

There have been things I've found troubling about the decision to punt. One of them has been communications with the team's paying customers. Customers who feel they have been misled tend not to forget it. Simply put it is bad business and it WILL have an impact on our ability to be competitive going forward.

[mfree80]

I really believe that flexibility will largely manifest itself in positioning in the trade market moreso than signing big time FA's. We have heard over and over how sparse the market is for FA hitters. This Front Office has been creative in using space under the salary budget to bring in additional resources. It is difficult to do, but means you are not just looking for FA's, but pretty much anybody if you are willing to pay the price. i know they are not willing to pay the price for many of the big hitters, except of course for the ones teams are wanting to part with.

I am hopeful that there will be a couple of well crafted deals out there that will bring a couple of good bats.

No, I don't have a list, nor do I have an idea how such a deal could be crafted. Those kinds of deals usually come as a complete surprise anyway, but I see enough to be hopeful and still optimistic.

[Runnin]

Circumstances do change and every front office has to adjust its strategy to reflect that. But this FO does have a tendency to talk out of both sides of its mouth. Earlier we had a comment from Coppolella that the free agent market for pitchers was the worst investment any team could make. Then Hart ruled out going after a top bat in the FA market. Now you have Coppolella talking about how much flexibility they will be having this off-season and next off-season. I wonder what he means if anything by that. I wonder when they say they want a team that battles night in night out if that means anything. I wonder if having a "palatable" team has any operational significance. I wonder if having a team that is like the girl at the dance that is fun to dance with means anything. Or is it all PR.

There have been things I've found troubling about the decision to punt. One of them has been communications with the team's paying customers. Customers who feel they have been misled tend not to forget it. Simply put it is bad business and it WILL have an impact on our ability to be competitive going forward.

I wonder is that unique to our FO? I don't know but I'd guess that most professional sports fans quit paying attention to their FO long ago and only the fans of a few solid organizations like the Braves even have that luxury.

But I'm an admitted homer whose default position is to give them the benefit of the doubt. I assume they wanna win at least as much as I do, but are still human and capable of stepping in a pile now and then.

[jpx7]

He contradicts himself within 3 sentences. This FO can FO.

They just contain multitudes, bro.

[50PoundHead]

Coppolella interview with JOB:

Q. Is this how you and John Hart thought this season might go, or could you have ever imagined that it would be this bad?

A. No. I think the way we envisioned the season going was the way the first half went, where you could walk parallel roads between building for the future and putting out a team (this season) that could fight night in and night out.

Q. Was the timing of Fredi Gonzalez and his coaches’ contract extensions (just after the All-Star break) an indication that you in the front office knew this could get ugly with the second-half trades that were coming?

A. I felt we overachieved in the first half, and I feel that’s a great credit to Fredi and his whole coaching staff. In my opinion, it wouldn’t be fair to go through this for this year and judge Fredi or his staff.


Nice to be able to have it both ways. Team was designed to be competitive. However, a record close to .500 represented an overachievement. Fredi deserves credit for the first half. But we shouldn't judge him for the second half.

I think what he's saying is that the team was competitive (and overachieved) in the first half and Fredi did a decent job. Let's remember that we've made a ton of moves that have really left the team short-handed since the non-waiver trading deadline. Maybin and Jace Peterson came back to Earth and the bench is pretty much AAA level. If we stand pat at the deadline and are still running Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, and Alex Wood out there (and have Johnson and Avilan in the bullpen), we're a markedly better team for the rest of 2015. If the front office is deluded on anything, it's on the notion that we would remain competitive after making the deals we made in late July and early August.

The jury is out on how good we will be in 2016 and beyond. My only gripe is that the last set of moves beyond the trade of Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe are really odd. There are guys on this board who would have unloaded the whole darn team at the deadline except for Freeman, so it's not like Coppolella is the only person who seems to want to have it both ways.

For the record, I have no particular admiration for Gonzalez as a manager, but I'm not going to give him too much credit for the first half and saddle him with too much blame for the second.

[mqt]

So, we're blaming a baseball exec for sidestepping a question about the team's performance and its manager? Isn't that baseball exec 101?

[cajunrevenge]

So, we're blaming a baseball exec for sidestepping a question about the team's performance and its manager? Isn't that baseball exec 101?

Glad to see I am not the only one using common sense here.

[yeezus]

So, we're blaming a baseball exec for sidestepping a question about the team's performance and its manager? Isn't that baseball exec 101?

no the Braves FO is unique in this.

[57Brave]

The Astro's.

Fredi and the coaches were given extensions to take the pressure of winnng off and to simply let the younge players make the mistakes, younger players make. Without the threat of being fired over the win-loss rcord. Again, the Astro's -- Bo Porter bless his heart has lived through this twice.

The Mets.
Terry Collins was given similar rope. Last year at this time the Mets were 2 pitchers an oft injured 3rd Baseman and very little else. Collins I think 2 years ago was given a similar extension.

This Braves season is not unique in post steroid baseball