FanGraphs Article On Fredi
April 10, 2012 at 5:45 pm by Ben Duronio under Links
I don’t normally do this, but this article was so good that I feel I have to. Jason Roberts over at FanGraphs covered a few decisions made by Fredi over the first four games of the year. We honestly probably should have already written this exact article, but we’ve been through this a hundred times with Fredi and if we wrote an article after every decision we disagreed with, well we’d write a lot of articles.
Here’s a small excerpt of Jason’s article:
Things did not get better from there. Trailing by one-run after 5 innings, Gonzalez turned the game over to Livan Hernandez who promptly gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th. Hernandez is a useful guy to have around as a long-reliever or spot-starter, but he should not be used in medium or high leverage situations. Neither Jonny Venters nor Craig Kimbrel pitched on Sunday and were likely available. Kris Medlen and Eric O’Flaherty were also likely available given that they each pitched only one inning on Sunday, and did not pitch Friday or Saturday. When Hernandez entered the game last night the Braves has a .259 win expectancy that had plummeted to .115 by the end of Hernandez’s inning of work. Down by 1 run to what is expected to be the worst team in MLB is not the time to punt the game.
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For those that have not seen it yet, Frediot has updated his 2012 bullpen flowchart: http://i.imgur.com/eQN3m.jpg
Enjoy!
Absolutely brilliant! The best is “No more pitchers -> Jose Constanza -> In AAA -> Brian Snitker – > Not Allowed -> Matt Diaz”. I came close to having a stroke from laughing at that one.
Yeah that was the funniest part of that!
Way too funny but sadly it’s true….
This passage sums up my stance on last night’s lineup pretty well:
“Why was Francisco playing? According to Braves’ beat writer David O’Brien, Gonzalez wanted to “see him hit against a lefty.” It is hard to imagine what new information Gonzalez thought he’d garner by seeing two or three plate appearances against one pitcher, but even if Gonzalez thought he’d gain new insights into Francisco it is hard to justify weakening your team at the plate and in the field for a data-gathering exercise. That is what Spring Training is for, no?”
That pitching flow chart is hysterical….
“watch me manage”
i will admit that i was one of the people that thought that maybe freddi just needed time to adjust to the braves clubhouse, but it seems like his managing gets worse and worse, and he listens to what ever criticism he receives. last year; “you’re using your bullpen studs too much.” his response; use pitchers in situations that they were not brought to our club for at all this year. his press conferences are always “so-and-so hit a hard liner… he’ll come around. so-and-so pitched a good game. he just left a couple of balls up.” the NL east was supposed to be great this year, and while we have a limited sample, the teams that were supposed to be good have been anything but.
Why is chipper batting 6th and Prado 2nd? Does it just make too much sense to put your on base guy 2nd and your higher average singles hitter behind your power guys?
I just figured he’d be presented with the No. 3 hole, no questions asked. Consider this progress.
Well I think the McCann, Uggla, Chipper order works out well since it stacks the RBI potential forcing you to pitch McCann and Uggla well. Probably don’t need them in the 4, 5, 6 spots but the change works.
What do you mean “forcing you to pitch to McCann and Uggla”? Would they not pitch to those guys if someone else was behind them?
Long time reader first time poster. I love the analysis and articles you guys do. To Todd– that flow chart had me laughing out loud all by myself that was an awesome job and probably spot on!
Thank you but I can’t take credit, I merely stumbled upon that and HAD to share it to the CAC community!
I just don’t understand what the Braves were doing hiring Fredi. He mismanaged the Marlins, who had as much talent as anyone, especially the young players. He kills the bullpen and most of all, he is screwing Heyward and his development. Matt Diaz should never play over him. Diaz is terrible on defense, on the base paths, and worthless except hitting for a high average against lefties. He doesn’t have power yet Fredi keeps running him out there. Heyward has to be successful for the Braves to be successful. Heyward is the only 5 tool player on the Braves. Yet Fredi uses him as a platoon. It is hard to watch Braves games and not get visibly angry.