Fredi Gonzalez set be named new Braves manager
The hunt for a new manager didn’t take long for the Atlanta Braves. Bobby Cox retired after the Braves were eliminated in the National League Divisional Series by the San Francisco Giants on Monday. Now
they’re set to announce Fredi Gonzalez as his replacement on Thursday.
The news was revealed by Mark Bowman, a writer at MLB.com, the league's official website.
Cox managed the team for the past 20 years, and 24 years in total. He also made 14 playoff appearances with the Braves, but won only one World Series with them.
On 23 June, Gonzalez was dismissed by the Florida Marlins. The move surprised many. The Marlins had a 34-36 record, and were 7.5 games back of the Braves in the National League East, but Gonzalez is a
well respected manager around the league. There was some speculation that he was fired because he didn’t get along with the team’s star shortstop, Hanley Ramirez.
Gonzalez served as a member of Cox’s staff from 2003 to 2006 before taking the job as skipper of the Marlins prior to the 2007 season. Over his three and a half seasons, Gonzalez compiled a 276-279 record,
but led the team to winning records in 2008 and 2009 despite managing the team having the lowest payroll in the league.
Pitching coach Roger McDowell, who worked with Gonzalez when he was with the Braves the first time, Eddie Perez, and first-base coach, Glenn Hubbard, are expected to stay with the team.
Perez is the bench coach for the Braves right now, but it is rumoured that Gonzalez would prefer Carlos Tosca in that position. Tosca was the bench coach in Florida and was dismissed with Gonzalez in June.
The Braves players have expressed their desire that the team retain Perez and third-base coach, Brian Snitker, who has been with the organization since 1977. Snitker replaced Gonzalez as the third-base
coach when he left for the Marlins in 2006.
So far Chipper Jones, Tim Hudson, and Brian McCann have all shown support for Gonzalez. He’ll have all the support he’ll need from players and management; still, he’s got some mighty big shoes to fill.
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