MLB Post Season

There is a lot of smiling going on in major league baseball's 2016 post season, but perhaps no one is smiling more than Brian Snitker. The Braves made it official yesterday that Snit's interim manager title is no more, the team opting to make him the new manager of their ball club.

As a Braves fan this makes me happy, really happy. The team was a mess earlier this season when the Braves let go of then manager, Fredi Gonzalez. Snit has been with the organization for a long time, close to 40 years I believe. He stepped in and did some remarkable things with this young team in the 2nd half of the season. Had it not been for that awful start the team got, the end of the season (and the post season) landscape may had looked a little different.

In addition to Snit being made the permanent manager, they also hired Ron Washington as their new 3rd base coach, moving Bo Porter into the front office. Ironically enough, Ron was also interviewing for the manager position. The team let go of long time pitching coach Roger McDowell in favor of hiring Chuck Hernandez. I don't know much about this guy, but supposedly he'll be good w/ the young talent the Braves have or plan to bring up from the minors.

If you combine these off season moves with the success the team had on the infield in the 2nd half of the season, perhaps this rebuilding theme the Braves have going on won't take as long as we all thought. Barring major injury, the future seems to be pretty bright for this ball club and this is one fan that is already anxiously awaiting Opening Day in 2017.

I'll be honest, watching the playoffs isn't as much fun when you're team isn't in it, but I love baseball so it's hard not to watch the games regardless. While I'm not a Giants fan, I was super excited to see Madison Bumgarner pull off the Wild Card win against the Mets. I haven't been able to watch many of the games against the Cubs, but I watched Game 4 last night and inbetween my heavy eye lids closing a time or two I was able to see the game through to the end. It's gotta be heartbreaking for the pitcher (Matt Moore) to pitch such a great game, only for the bullpen to absolutely blow it like they did last night. It was tough to see the Giants give up 4 runs in the 9th as they did, but kudos to the Cubs. Maybe this time really is as good as some people believe. Maybe this is really their year?

I guess I'll have to turn my attention to the Cubs now as I really don't care who wins against the Dodgers and Nats (though if I had to pick I'd choose the Dodgers). The Cubs have several former Braves players so I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon and give them my support. Jason Heyward, David Ross and even Tommy LaStella (when he can get on the field) will be fun to watch none the less.

Since I'm a NL fan I really haven't paid much attention to the AL. I was surprised to see Clevelend sweep the Red Sox however. Not sure who matches up well w/ the teams left in the NL, but at least I have a few more weeks of baseball to look forward too this season.

Gonzalez out, Snitker in

After 40 years of working with the Braves organization, Brian Snitker gets his chance to manage a major league ball club...at the expense of his friend, Freddie Gonzalez.

The Braves announced earlier today that they were making the switch and fired Fredi G. Snitker was the manager of the AAA Gwinnett Braves before today. I remember him fondly as the arm swinging third base coach for the Braves. When a move such as this is made and the new manager is from within the organization it has to make it a little tougher. I know it was a bittersweet moment tonight for Brian, but he's glad to be up with the team.

I watched the beginning of the game from a restaurant and saw the team immediately fall behind to the Pirates 9-0. Ouch. Several old guys sitting at the near by bar were just laughing and making fun of the team...and you know it was hard for me not to chime in. This version of the Braves are pretty horrible. It's not from a lack of trying however. These guys keep on playing day in and day out...they just don't have the Ws to show for it.

While I wasn't Fredi G's biggest fan, I get while the club made the move. However I'm not sure Snitker will have much better success. There are some good players on the team and there are a lot of young promising players currently tearing up the minors. However until they arrive it's hard watching this team on TV. There have been some early bright spots (Mallex Smith), but overall this team doesn't look like a major league team.

I know baseball is a business, but when I heard that FredieGonzalez found out about his firing my receiving his airline ticket back home in his e-mail before the team every approached him...well I think the organization could have handled this better. However what is done is done and I'll be interesting to see if Snitker can get something out of this team that Gonzalez wasn't able to.