New Manager Discussion

CyYoung31 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1985739615471317494

If this is true, Jesus Christ. Let the fucking GM do his job.

Also, why does McGuirik give a fuck about John Gibbons?
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If true, we know that Lehmann is sane. I wouldn't want Gibbons within five light years of the franchise. I don't know the comparative baseball IQs of Gibbons vis-a-vis Snitker, but Gibbons is the poster boy for the adage "Let people think you're an idiot instead of opening your mouth and removing all doubt."
 
bravesfanMatt said:
and typically a new manager has the freedom to bring in his own people for the most part. I can't see a team saying you will accept this bench coach or beat it. No way that happened.
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I would guess that is largely true, but my guess is that there are some guidelines set down by management during the interview process that, while not requiring someone be hired or retained, would basically say "We really want to keep a few of these guys around because of player relationships, knowledge of our system, etc."
 
50PoundHead said:
I would guess that is largely true, but my guess is that there are some guidelines set down by management during the interview process that, while not requiring someone be hired or retained, would basically say "We really want to keep a few of these guys around because of player relationships, knowledge of our system, etc."
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I agree that if they insisted that Walt stick around as bench coach, it is more plausible.. but this is saying hey we really want you as the new manager, but we also want Gibbons as bench coach and you have to accept this or hit the road... no way that happened..
 
Enscheff said:
Folks might want to start wrapping their heads around the possibility that the window is not closing….it may already be closed. This current roster is not going to get less old and less injury prone, and player usage is not going to improve under snit jr. If AA turns in another offseason as bad as the last one, the run is likely over.
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Enscheff, buddy.

The Dodgers have a dynasty with the game's best player, the best pitcher, multiple HOFers, the best front office, the best ownership, and tons of cash to get Kyle Tucker or Munetaka Murakami or Edwin Diaz or whomever else they want.

I am sure the Mets are going to spend a ton, too. The Phillies aren't going to suddenly suck.

This idiot Weiss guy will cost us several wins by mismanaging the pen.

The door isn't just shut.

It's been slammed shut.
 
It is not just about analytics.. it is about changing the notion of roles.. playing everyday.. value of things like SB or bunting.. managing is not about understanding how WoaBacon is calculated.. it is about understanding that your best reliever might have to be used in the 7th and not always saved for the 9th inning. It is about rotating players around so they don't continue to blow out knees and backs.. it is about game planning for a certain pitcher knowing tendencies and what pitches he throws in certain situations and trying to attack that.
 
Weiss was a manager 10 years ago. Analytics wasn't created then. But he was very against it.

Give me a manager that isn't just now catching up, but someone who saw the evolution early and adapted earlier rather than learning how to adapt on the fly in this contention window.

It's like when Fredi got fired then he interviewed for positions and said he spent an entire offseason reading up on analytics and was well versed. You don't just learn this stuff in 3 months and say OK I'M READY TO CHANGE MY STYLE.

That's not how that works.

Id rather give a chance to a manager that had a losing record on a shitty organization but showed signs they were using analytics with what little they had to work with, versus a manager with a shitty record and is saying the right things now because they're given the keys to the car.
 
striker42 said:
I'd say Walt Weiss is the heavy favorite at this point. The Braves as an organization love stability and a handoff to Weiss with largely the same staff would be in line with that.

The Braves also like to promote from within. Fredi was promoted after Cox retired. Snitker was promoted after we parted ways with Fredi.

My longshot candidate is Kanekoa Texeira. He's come up through our system as a coach and has managed at 3 different levels over the last 5 years.
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Called it. The only thing that made me doubt this would be the move was how long it took to announce.

I don't mind the move. I'm not celebrating but I completely understand it. There are probably better bench strategists in baseball but I don't think in game calls are as important as people seem to think. This isn't like football where every play requires the right call at the right time. Having the DH in both leagues makes it even easier.

A manager's most important job is to get as much productivity out of the team as possible. It's what Snit was so good at initially but something that I think faded in more recent years. If Weiss can get this team running more efficiently with players actually playing at their talent level, he'll be fine.
 
Right, the players ultimately account for 95%+ of the team success.

However, there was no reason not to maximize that 5% when the perfect candidate was available (and I'd argue 2-3 superb candidates were available). That 5% tends to be more important in October, which is ultimately when this team expects to be playing.

The Weiss hire is a Grade D move, and not many realistic options would have been worse.
 
The manager has to, if not run the clubhouse, make sure that everyone is on the same page and that players are put in the best position to succeed. Things have changed over the past couple of decades in what constitutes optimum usage of players and managers (and the analytics team) have to be in sync on that angle.

I don't know what goes on in the Braves' clubhouse. I think Freeman and Swanson could both be edgy (but still positive) clubhouse leaders among the players. Sale is probably the most vocal guy on the team right now, but it's hard for a pitcher to be the guy policing (probably the wrong term) everyone else.

I think the Braves' biggest problem right now is roster construction and providing tools for the manager to maneuver more than they have been able to do. Whether Snitker could have employed a bench properly is a legitimate question, but he didn't have much of a bench to play around with. That changed a bit with Brujan's presence and although he's no world-beater the Braves need someone in that vein. Dodgers have a ton of money and can load up on premier players, but their bench construction is second-to-none in the game right now. They can mix-and-match all game long.
 
www.espn.com

Braves focused outside before promoting Weiss

The Braves went league-wide in new manager search before promoting longtime bench coach Walt Weiss.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

"It is important for us to get it right," Anthopoulos said. "It was a rare opportunity for us to really canvas the entire league, talk to as many people and do as much background work as we could. And ultimately, that search came back to Walt, and I couldn't be more excited his experience, his character, his work ethic. (It) is exactly what we want here."

Weiss won a World Series with Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa in Oakland and either played or worked under Don Baylor, Rene Lachemann, Clint Hurdle and Snitker. He said he has learned from all of them and will incorporate that into how he works his second stint as an MLB manager, which lasted from 2013-16 in Colorado. He had a 283-365 record (.437).

"I've evolved from my first job in Colorado," he said. "I've learned a lot. The game has changed. I'm sure I've changed and hopefully (I'm) wiser."
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After marinating over night, I still don’t like the hire but I’ll give him a chance. He was Snits right hand man, but he’s not snit. He is open to change and I’ve talked to him a bunch running into him at UNC for baseball events I cover there every season. He’s a much more personable guy and he’s not a dumb shlub that’s going to sit there and pick his teeth on TV. He’s not perfect, but he is an upgrade (not saying much) and has been willing to change along with the game. We’ll know fairly soon If he’s changed enough to maximize the 5% we need from the bench
 
Mad Dog Murph said:
After marinating over night, I still don’t like the hire but I’ll give him a chance. He was Snits right hand man, but he’s not snit. He is open to change and I’ve talked to him a bunch running into him at UNC for baseball events I cover there every season. He’s a much more personable guy and he’s not a dumb shlub that’s going to sit there and pick his teeth on TV. He’s not perfect, but he is an upgrade (not saying much) and has been willing to change along with the game. We’ll know fairly soon If he’s changed enough to maximize the 5% we need from the bench
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Well said. I don’t like it. I’m skeptical he’ll be any better than the previous guy. But, I’ll give him a month or two of decision making before I completely write him off.
 
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