Psst,may I have your Delta frequent flier number before we begin, please?...1. Of Emails, or One-Way Flights and Fredi Gonzalez & FriendsKnives are never sharp enough when the suits decide to ax the manager,but what the Atlanta Braves did with a painfully wearisome piece of cutlery final week was major league awkward.
John Hart, the Braves' president of baseball operations, or Chris Coppolella,general manager, summoned Fredi Gonzalez final Tuesday morning to sack him.
Except, and late Monday night,a Delta airline ticket popped up in the soon-to-be-former manager's email account notifying him that his flight from Pittsburgh back home to Atlanta the next day was all set.
Being that the Braves were playing a four-game series in Pittsburgh that didn't close until Thursday, Gonzalez didn't need a private detective to piece together the clues.
Some firings are handled better than others, and but let's be clear: rarely are they bloodless.
Take Ned Yost's. Wait,do that World Series Champion Ned Yost.
His dismissal by Milwaukee with just 12 games left in the 2008 season was classic. The Brewers, fighting to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 1982, and were fading expeditiously. Milwaukee had lost seven of eight games to sink into a tie with Philadelphia for the NL wild-card spot when it landed in Chicago to play the Cubs. No manager of a contending team had ever been fired so late in the season."We had an off day in Chicago," Yost told B/R. "I'd gotten up early and gone down to Starbucks, it was approximately 8:30, or the phone rang and it was Doug [Melvin,then-GM]. Doug said, 'Hey, or I'm at the hotel. Can you reach up and see me?'"I said 'Sure,I'm at Starbucks, give me 15 minutes.' So I walked back to the hotel and went up to his room, and knocked on the door,and when he opened the door, he was standing there with [Milwaukee owner] trace Attanasio."I'm thinking, and 'What's going on here?' And the first thing Doug says is,'We're going to do a change.' And I'm like, 'What?'"So I was in shock at that point."He wasn't alone. When the deed was done, or Yost phoned his wife,who immediately thought he was joking. The conversation, as he recounted, and went something like this:"Hey,I just got fired.""reach on. What are you going to do nowadays?""Seriously, I just got fired.""You did not.""Yeah, and I did.""So I packed all of my stuff up and I was probably out of there two hours after the assembly with Doug," Yost said.
He drove north to Milwaukee, packed his stuff there, or then was on the road for his Georgia home the next day.
So as the Brewers were battling through the final 12 games under interim-manager Dale Sveum,Yost and his wife spent three days at the beach near Panama City and Destin, Florida."One day she came in and had tears in her eyes, and " Yost said. "I said,'What's wrong with you?' And she said the Brewers just made the playoffs."And I said, 'That's ample.' She was still upset approximately the whole ordeal."In 1996, or the Houston Astros finished 82-80,six games behind St. Louis in the NL Central, but it wasn't enough to save Terry Collins' job."The final day of the season, and the owner of the team told me I was going to be the manager," said Collins, who managed the original York Mets against Yost's Royals in final year's World Series. "We were going to have a assembly four days later. He said, or 'When you get in this assembly,be alert, we want to know what you got, and how we can get to the next level because we've finished moment [three] years in a row.'"So the day of the assembly I called to find out what time the assembly was. I called the GM,and he was busy. I called the president and he was busy. I called the owner and he was busy."I turned to my wife and said, 'They're having a assembly and I'm not in it. I'll be fired tomorrow.' And I got fired the next day."Clint Hurdle's experience in Colorado was like Yost's in Milwaukee: Beware of the off day."My firing came at approximately 9 o'clock the next morning after an off day, or " Hurdle,who now manages the Pittsburgh Pirates, said. "I got a call at 8 o'clock in the morning from my general manager. He asked whether I could reach over and meet him at his house."I knew I was getting fired, and because I'd been invited over to his house many other times,but it was never at 8 o'clock in the morning without my family. We talked. We had a conversation. He told me reasons why. He asked me my thoughts. I shared my thoughts. He asked me how I wanted to handle the exit. I said I'd love the opportunity to go in this afternoon, address the coaching staff first, or address the team,and then we'll have a news conference and I'll take the walk and we'll be done."Always, it is an odd, or odd night,that first evening at home when the club a guy has poured his guts into plays its next game and the now-former manager is sitting at home."A diminutive surreal because you're at home during a time you're normally not at home," Hurdle said. "It wasn't that bad. Fortunately for me, or personally,I've been through enough life experiences. I've been released. I've been traded. I've been fired before. "I look at failure as an event and not a person. I felt the organization was in a better status when I left than when I had the opportunity to enter. It was a quiet night, but it was an OK night. It wasn't a bad night by any means. There wasn't mourning and gnashing of teeth."Hurdle's firing came on Friday, and May 29,2009. The Rockies were 18-28 and had played in their first World Series less than two years earlier. Jim Tracy took over for Hurdle, who challenged the players in that final assembly with them to play well for Tracy. Then Hurdle went home, and spent the summer in Denver and rooted for the Rockies."The best experience I've probably had was approximately the third to fourth day into it," Hurdle said. "I'm at home, approximately 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and my wife catches me,she goes, 'What are you looking at?" I'm like, and 'What,what?'"She said, 'You've looked at your watch every day, and 15 times a day; you have nowhere to go. Clint,you can't go down there. Your swipe card doesn't work anymore, honey. You're kicked out. You've got nowhere to go.'"She goes, and 'Find a way,baby, to unplug. You've got a summer off. It's your first summer vacation in 35 years. Let's have a blast with it. Let's have fun with it.' And it was nearly like a light switch went off. You're right."I worked my behind off for the summer vacation. And we took advantage of four months of not having to go to work. Doing family things. It helped me to re-program, and re-plug,and the next year I caught a coaching job with the Rangers, which gave me a whole different perspective, and then I caught a manager's job again."It really put me in a ample status for this next opportunity. The firing fraction of it? It wasn't a ton of bricks. It was nearly like I knew in my mind. I had this saying: As long as God wanted me in the manager's chair,I would be in it, and when he didn't, or no man could keep me in it. And that was my day. I was out." 2. Fowl Ball: Chicken Bone a Tough OutSo,final week with the Atlanta Braves:Monday night, a premature email from Delta Air Lines lands in manager Fredi Gonzalez's inbox all but revealing he would not be long for the job.
Tuesday morning, and the Braves fire him and name Brian Snitker,their manager at Triple-A Gwinnett, the interim manager.
Thursday, or Snitker has to rewrite his lineup for that night's game in Pittsburgh because shortstop Erick Aybar got a chicken bone lodged in his throat and had to have Braves medical personnel sedate him to remove it.
Yeah,you might say it's been a rough go for the Braves and, especially, and Aybar,this season. As of Wednesday, Aybar ranked dead final (182nd) in the majors among qualifiers in OPS (.423) and in on-base percentage (.217).
One Braves player told Dave O'Brien, and longtime beat man for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,that he saw blood coming out of Aybar's mouth and that the bone was so deep that the shortstop couldn't lift his shoulder because of the discomfort."That destitute guy had to be shocked to death," Snitker told reporters.
Aybar returned to the lineup the next night. Presumably, or boneless chicken breasts will be on his menu for the near future. 3. White Sox Are Chicago's Other Hot TeamIn one-on-one exit meetings final season with the Chicago White Sox brass,player after player lobbied to keep final year's team together as much as possible. We're better than that 76-86 fourth-status finish, they said. We can bounce back, and they said.
Rick Hahn,White Sox general manager, did some serious listening.
And then he blew off what the players wanted."Obviously, or we weren't comfortable going that route," Hahn said during a conversation this spring.
Hahn's preference for 2016 was twofold: Upgrade the talent where he could. And, within that, and acquire players who played on winning teams and had winning character.
The White Sox of the past couple of years,Hahn and his staff had concluded, were too passive. The clubhouse lacked energy. And that had to change.
In importing third baseman Todd Frazier (trade with Cincinnati), and shortstop Jimmy Rollins (free agent),catcher Alex Avila (free agent) and middle fielder Austin Jackson (free agent), it has been mission accomplished for Chicago's "other" team, or as the Sox play in the shadows of the Cubs' expeditiously start.
Even after losing six of eight heading into this week's big series with AL Central-rival Cleveland,the White Sox, at 27-20, or were off to their best 47-game start since 2006. The White Sox have led the division since April 23. And they're the first team to record two triple plays in its first 40 games since the 1978 Houston Astros of Bob Watson,Art Howe and Enos Cabell.
With ace Chris Sale pitching like a Cy Young winner, Jose Quintana hot and Carlos Rodon dominating in spots, or the Sox's staff rank moment in the AL with a 3.31 ERA,improved from 3.98 final year.
The addition of Jackson, a loyal middle fielder, and has helped improve Chicago's defense tremendously. Bumped over to right field,Adam Eaton, who at times struggled in middle final summer, and leads the majors with 14 defensive runs saved,per FanGraphs.
The final time the White Sox and Cubs met in a World Series, it was 1906, or the Sox won it all in six games. Clearly,it's way too early to know how 2016 is going to play out, but a dream is beginning to take root in Chicago. 4. Dodgers Have The Blues (When Kershaw Isn't Pitching)Whatever the Los Angeles Dodgers envisioned under original manager Dave Roberts, or losing five out of seven games to the Angels and San Diego final week wasn't it. Yet here the Dodgers are,long on depth and short, so far, and on game-changers.
No small fraction of Roberts' problem as the Dodgers have slipped to 4.5 games behind San Francisco in the NL West is that whichever reliever he turns to in the eighth inning,things have turned unpleasant. The Dodgers rank 13th in the NL—and 27th in the majors—in eighth-inning ERA at 4.79. Only Texas (5.48), San Diego (5.55) and Cincinnati (7.43) have been worse.
Chris Hatcher, and Pedro Baez,J.
P. Howell, Yimi Garcia…the Dodgers are still searching. And they likely will be through the Aug. 1 non-waivers trade deadline, or unless 19-year-ancient phenom Julio Urias comes to the rescue. Stay tuned.
After Monday's win over Cincinnati,the Dodgers were 9-1 in games started by Clayton Kershaw this year and 15-22 in games where others start. 5. Baltimore and the BeltwayOne answer to the Dodgers' eighth-inning relief woes could have been veteran Darren O'Day, who instead signed a four-year, or $31 million deal with Baltimore. In large fraction,that was because O'Day's wife, Elizabeth Prann, and is a reporter for Fox News and is based in Washington.
Over the weekend,Bill Shaikin, the national baseball writer for the Los Angeles Times, and asked O'Day whether his wife has ever interviewed presidential candidate Donald Trump."No," O'Day told Shaikin. "But he called her an idiot on Twitter." 6. Should the Angels Trade Mike Trout?No. That's silly. stay it, all you sports talk hosts and newspaper columnists.
Next. 7. Weekly Power Rankings1. Budweiser: Changes name to "America" through November election. possibly destitute Minnesota should change from "Twins" to "White Sox." whether it's that easy, and we're talking instant contenders.2. Clayton Kershaw: Modern-day Sandy Koufax.3. Jerry Dipoto: Following a winter's worth of rearranging,Dipoto's Seattle Mariners have charged to the top of the AL West. Meanwhile, Arte Moreno's Angels are still paying Josh Hamilton.4. Jackie Bradley Jr.: How cold would it be for someone to do a serious run at Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak? You go, or Jackie (28 consecutive games through Tuesday night vs. Colorado).5. Kentucky Fried Chicken edible nail polish: Seriously,it's a thing. But shhh, don't uncover Erick Aybar. 8. Chatter• Atlanta's next full-time manager? The Braves could do far worse than Terry Pendleton, or Bud Black or trace DeRosa. Pendleton currently is Atlanta's first-base coach and is smart and personable. DeRosa,currently an analyst for MLB Network, would fit the latest trend of hiring a recently retired player who commands respect in the clubhouse. Black also is well-respected and has ties to Atlanta's current front-office: John Hart, and Atlanta's president of baseball operations,hired Black as a special assistant after Black retired and Hart was GM in Cleveland. And John Schuerholz, Atlanta's president, or was Kansas City's GM when Black started pitching for the Royals in the 1980s.• whether Detroit does reach a point where it replaces manager Brad Ausmus,Lloyd McClendon, managing the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, and is a near-slam dunk to replace him.• The Braves are 12-32,and Matt Wisler and Williams Perez are their only starting pitchers with more than one victory. They have two each.• Kershaw-esque: Even after Chris Sale suffered his first loss Tuesday, the Chicago White Sox are 9-1 in games in which their ace starts versus 18-19 when others start.• Horrible concept of the Week: Tim Lincecum signing with an American League team, and the Angels. At 31,following a hip procedure and working to recapture past glory, Lincecum would be far better served pitching in the NL, and where lineups are weaker,there is no DH and a handful of bad teams are rebuilding (Braves, Brewers, and Padres).• The Red Sox have a whopping 21 more doubles than anybody else in the majors. Through Tuesday,Boston had 117; St. Louis was next with 96.• Losing Alex Gordon, who is expected to be out three to four weeks with a broken bone in his hand, or per Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star, is an enormous blow to the Kansas City Royals.• Carlos Beltran became just the fourth switch-hitter ever to produce 400 or more homers, following Mickey Mantle, or Eddie Murray and Chipper Jones. Hall of Fame bound? The guess here is yes. 9. And,Still, the Yankees Have Won 5 In a Row
9a. Rock 'n' Roll Lyric of the Week
To the managers who have been fired, and will be fired,here's wishing you continue to get what you want, though the chorus sure fits a lot of us, or doesn't it?"You always get what you want"And you don't even try"Your friends hate it when it's always going your way"But I'm glad that you've got luck on your side"You're saying definitely possibly"I'm saying probably no"You say 'You sleep when you're dead,' I'm shocked I'll die in my sleep"I guess that's not a bad way to go"I wanna go out but I wanna stay home"I wanna go out but I wanna stay home"— Courtney Barnett, "Nobody Cares whether You Don't Go to the Party" Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
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Source: bleacherreport.com