Three of the last four Major League Baseball seasons have seen the Atlanta Braves qualify for the postseason. The Braves were once again expected to contend for a postseason spot in 2014. At the MLB All-Star break the Braves were 52-43 and they were in the thick of things in the National League East. By the end of August, the Braves had dropped ground to the Washington Nationals within the division, but they were still the mix for a wild card spot in the NL. When the month of September began the Braves were 72-65. But now with just four games left in the season, the Braves are only 5-16 this month as they are staring at their first losing season since 2008. The Braves collapse down the stretch has already cost their general manager Frank Wren his job as he was fired earlier in the week and you can expect more changes to come.
This week former Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers general manager John Hart was named as the Braves interim general manager. Already Hart has been offered the job on a full-time basis and he will more than likely accept it which means that he will begin evaluating things in Atlanta. Since 2011, Fredi Gonzalez has been the manager of the Braves and this season is the second year under his watch that the Braves collapsed down the stretch.
The Braves were hit hard with the injury bug this season as starting pitchers Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen both required Tommy John surgeries. In spite of this the Braves pitching staff has still managed to have the third lowest earned run average in the National League this season at 3.35. The Braves starting rotation has been kept together with spit and glue with the likes of Aaron Harang and Ervin Santana while relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel is one of the best in the business as he has 45 saves.
Freddie Freeman
But the Braves main problems this season have come on offense as they are near the bottom of the NL in most statistical categories. All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman has been the Braves best player all season long as he leads the club in hits (171), batting average (.288), and on-base percentage (.387) while outfielder Justin Upton leads the club in home runs (28), and runs batted in (99). Freeman and Upton cannot do it by themselves in the Braves lineup as this team has lacked a quality lead-off hitter all season long.
Last year Wren signed Justin’s older brother B.J. Upton to a five-year, $75 million deal to be the Braves lead-off guy. But Upton has failed to live up to those expectations. This season Upton is batting .207 with a .284 on-base percentage and he has struck out a career-high 171 times. Wren should have seen it coming from the elder Upton due to the fact that he mailed it in during his time as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are a small-market team and players there tend to showcase themselves for bigger contracts from other clubs, but Upton never did that. Upton continuously has mental lapses in the field as well as at the plate. In a game this past Sunday against the New York Mets, Upton was attempting to throw a runner out at the plate when he completely “air mailed” the ball as hit the netting behind the plate. The throw by Upton drew the ire of the fans at Turner Field in Atlanta as they began to serenade him with boos. What made matters worse for Wren was that he passed on a proven lead-off hitter in outfielder Michael Bourn in favor of B.J. Upton. Bourn spent nearly two seasons with the Braves and in his last season there he had 42 stolen bases along with a .348 on-base percentage. In spite of this Wren allowed Bourn to leave via free agency as he joined the Indians on a four-year, $48 million deal and he would have been the more logical candidate for the Braves. The Braves lack of explosion at the top of their lineup has been evident this month as in 21 games they have only managed to score 48 runs.
John Hart
If Hart is going to become the Braves full-time general manager for 2015 then there are some serious questions that he must answer. Will he retain Gonzalez as his manager? As I previously stated Gonzalez’s teams in Atlanta have had a penchant to falter down the stretch. Gonzalez is a good manager, but would Hart shake up his coaching staff? The Braves already have roughly $65 million committed to payroll for next season and their still must be upgrades to their roster. Santana and Harang have combined to win 25 games for the Braves this season and neither man is under contract for next season. Will the Braves want to bring either player back or will they be in the running for starting pitchers Max Scherzer and Jon Lester who are both expected to command a hefty salary on the free agent market? The Braves will also need to shore up their lead-off position and find a player that will get on base ahead of Justin Upton and Freeman.
Right now the Nationals are the class of the NL East while the Miami Marlins and Mets are young teams that should be improved in 2015. Therefore the Braves cannot afford to get lost in the shuffle within the division. If these issues are not addressed by the Braves front office this winter, then 2015 will be a very long season.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
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