ESPN: Braves "biggest melt down" in baseball history....

[mwashuc06]

This is bad for the franchise and could be a permanent scar with them. If I were Atlanta i'd entertain offers for Kimbrel, whoknows he could be the next Scott Williamson who was amazing like Kimbrel then blew out and never pitched well again.

Heyward, donno what to think. If this is a one year thing with the injuries or hitting coach he should be fine. However, if he gets off to another slow start and is hurt I can't think he's nothing more than maybe a poormans Cliff Floyd and would have to be put on the block.

 

[alabamalongsnake]

comparing LaRussa to Michaelangelo??

::facepalm::

yeah a bit of a stretch. analogies are always hard and can be misconstrued. but you get my point - compared to Tony Larussa, Manuel, - gonzalez flat out stunk;

Heyward was a joke all season -from start to finish. Heck I might start him in the minors next year if it were up to me and make him earn his way back.

 

[cgilmo]

I am glad that none of you are Frank Wren


The worst thing you can do here is overreact.

 

[craftysouthpaw]

only thing good about this is that they will be accommodating on the caravan tour.

I'll believe it when I see it.

There are just no words that can do justice to this collapse and no excuses can cover it up. It is impossible to know exactly what is going on in the player's minds, but it sure looked like they played tight and scared the last six weeks. But who really knows?

The bottom line is they have to address the offense once and for all. The pitching mantra has been taken to the extreme for too long and they need to deal from that depth this winter to get an impact bat that can play a corner OF position. Easier said than done obviously. The last straw for me was drafting Gilmartin when there was still some major upside OF'ers on the board. What do they need with a poor man's Mike Minor at this point? I just don't get it.

And they have to hope Heyward's lost season was due to his shoulder and he will be back to form in 2012. I do have major concerns about the instruction he is getting as well.

The only silver lining for me right now is this team as it stands today had absolute no chance of making any noise in October and this saves me the further frustrationg of watching them flail their way to 5 hits a night.

 

[mlbfan10]

Fredi mismanaged the team. He's a disaster. Like asking a finger painter to commission a masterpiece while somebody else is using Michaelangelo (LaRussa).

I have to disagree with you Fredi did an amazing job all year. One bad month, team wise, doesn't make a manager bad or even close to a "disaster". We lost some key players and we could not score with runners in scoring position, we killed ourselves. This season is over and I have no idea what to do until next year. lol

 

[mlbfan10]

goodbye derek lowe, you will not be missed at @#)%(@*ing all. Agreed
goodbye larry parrish.
I wish goodbye to fredi gonzalez Why? I don't understand, why not wish good bye to players then? It's team not I.
heyward heal up and actually get some proper hitting coaching and work in your swing...it was beautiful last year...this year it was garbage.
heal up mccann, think you came back from the oblique a lil early. hopefully your hitting will be back after having the winter off now.
chipper...hope that knee isn't totally shot. go out with style and give up 3rd to prado if so, so we don't have to work on replacing you 1/4th into next year. as much as it makes me sad to think about him going.
sort out starting rotation next year, hopefully fair better than this year. a starting rotation that can actually pitch further into games...and on a regular basis.
goodbye derek lowe. (favorite part of next year already!)
profit?

 

[mlbfan10]

only thing good about this is that they will be accommodating on the caravan tour.

I'll believe it when I see it.

There are just no words that can do justice to this collapse and no excuses can cover it up. It is impossible to know exactly what is going on in the player's minds, but it sure looked like they played tight and scared the last six weeks. But who really knows?

The bottom line is they have to address the offense once and for all. The pitching mantra has been taken to the extreme for too long and they need to deal from that depth this winter to get an impact bat that can play a corner OF position. Easier said than done obviously. The last straw for me was drafting Gilmartin when there was still some major upside OF'ers on the board. What do they need with a poor man's Mike Minor at this point? I just don't get it.

And they have to hope Heyward's lost season was due to his shoulder and he will be back to form in 2012. I do have major concerns about the instruction he is getting as well.

The only silver lining for me right now is this team as it stands today had absolute no chance of making any noise in October and this saves me the further frustrating of watching them flail their way to 5 hits a night.

Great post! My thoughts exactly. When they drafted Gilmartin my mind was instantly blown. ::facepalm::
No offense to the kid hope he does well but I want run production from the offensive.

 

[leatherman]

All this does is save them the trouble of getting demolished by the Phillies.

Isn't that what JUST happened?

They got swept AT HOME by the Phillies, getting outscored 15-6 in 3 games.

This was essentially a playoff series for the Braves, and they got swept.

For what it's worth (as a Mets fan), it hurt far more to see Beltran watch Wainwright's curve ball than their late season collapses.

 

[19braves77]

The Braves problem is this:

There is a culture of acceptance that reeks thru this franchise. everyone is up in arms now, but after a couple of weeks everything will revert back to the way its always been – media included. there’s never any real pressure to perform with this franchise.

The Braves and the media of Atlanta kind of still live on the success of the 90's. The first step was getting rid of Bobby Cox and the 2nd step is paying Chipper Jones to retire. I challenge you to find one media outlet based in Atlanta that contested the easy hire of Gonzalez.

 

[hockeyfights]

only thing good about this is that they will be accommodating on the caravan tour.

I'll believe it when I see it.

There are just no words that can do justice to this collapse and no excuses can cover it up. It is impossible to know exactly what is going on in the player's minds, but it sure looked like they played tight and scared the last six weeks. But who really knows?

The bottom line is they have to address the offense once and for all. The pitching mantra has been taken to the extreme for too long and they need to deal from that depth this winter to get an impact bat that can play a corner OF position. Easier said than done obviously. The last straw for me was drafting Gilmartin when there was still some major upside OF'ers on the board. What do they need with a poor man's Mike Minor at this point? I just don't get it.

And they have to hope Heyward's lost season was due to his shoulder and he will be back to form in 2012. I do have major concerns about the instruction he is getting as well.

The only silver lining for me right now is this team as it stands today had absolute no chance of making any noise in October and this saves me the further frustrationg of watching them flail their way to 5 hits a night.

The offense is the problem. Sure, the 2 best starting pitchers were injured the entire 2nd half of the season, but we had plenty of young guys that could step up. I thought last year was bad offensively, but this year was worse. TP had his chance. Parrish had no impact on anyone that I could see. Even Chipper had to coach some of the guys when they were slumping at the plate. The talent is there, but opposing pitchers are exploiting the weaknesses of each player. I didn't see any adjustments made by the slumping players, except Uggla's patience at the plate during his hitting streak. I think the Braves should go after Don Baylor and buy his contract out from the D-Backs.

 

[rbadger]

At least this frees them up a couple weeks earlier, so Gilmore can sign them for some FCB store auto signings! (maybe at a lower price now too!)

See, there is always a "silver lining"!

 

[alabamalongsnake]

Fredi mismanaged the team. He's a disaster. Like asking a finger painter to commission a masterpiece while somebody else is using Michaelangelo (LaRussa).

I have to disagree with you Fredi did an amazing job all year. One bad month, team wise, doesn't make a manager bad or even close to a "disaster". We lost some key players and we could not score with runners in scoring position, we killed ourselves. This season is over and I have no idea what to do until next year. lol

Fredi was awful in terms of managing his staff. Not saying that he needs to be fired yet but certainly needs to be more aggressive and assertive. McDowell and Parrish should be gone for sure. Pendleton was helluva a lot better than Parrish. McDowell should have been gone after the embarrassing gay slur episode anyways. Braves were trying to win games in one swing.

Wren made the moves he needed to make. Bourn. Late additions of Wilson and Diaz were crafty.