Braves fans

[msstate7]

How long will schlosser stay in the bigs? He's apparently not ready and FG insists on putting him in at crucial times.

Doumit? Is he the worst defensive catcher ever? He should never catch for us again.

FG really needs to be replaced...

[smootness]

I pretty much agree with everything you said. I will say, though, that Fredi Gonzalez seems to be a good manager from a team mentality/attitude standpoint, which shouldn't be taken lightly.

But I still don't like a lot of his actual decisions.

[cbrunt29]

Yeah, I think FG was too quick to pitch Schlosser and Thomas but especially Schlosser.

[smootness]

For the record, I don't think he was too quick to pitch Thomas. I think that guy is going to be a stud.

[msstate7]

For the record, I don't think he was too quick to pitch Thomas. I think that guy is going to be a stud.

He looked good last night. Any word on venters? Beginning to wonder if he'll ever pitch for braves again

[KB21]

My biggest issue with Fredi is how he manages the bullpen and how he manages the bench. A great example is the other night against the Mets. It was the bottom of the 9th, and they had the based loaded with one out. The pitcher spot was up. Who do they pinch hit in that situation? Gerald Laird. That's simply a horrific managerial decision. They had already used Doumit earlier, but in that situation, anyone else would have been better than Laird. I've said it on some Braves boards, but Fredi needs to stop carrying 3 catchers. Drop Laird, even though he's a better pitch framer than Ryan Doumit. Laird can't hit a lick. I also think they need to drop one of Pastornicky/Pena. Bring up Mejia and Terdo. Terdo played some catcher this spring and could be the 3rd catcher in emergency situations. Mejia would simply give us a power bat on the bench even if he will never play 1B with Freeman ahead of him.

As far as his bullpen management goes, he needs to realize that Kimbrel is a high leverage situation pitcher. If you are in a jam in the 8th, bring him in. He's also too set on who he uses and when. We have guys that throw entirely too many innings while we have other guys that might go 3 weeks without pitching in the pen.

[msstate7]

My biggest issue with Fredi is how he manages the bullpen and how he manages the bench. A great example is the other night against the Mets. It was the bottom of the 9th, and they had the based loaded with one out. The pitcher spot was up. Who do they pinch hit in that situation? Gerald Laird. That's simply a horrific managerial decision. They had already used Doumit earlier, but in that situation, anyone else would have been better than Laird. I've said it on some Braves boards, but Fredi needs to stop carrying 3 catchers. Drop Laird, even though he's a better pitch framer than Ryan Doumit. Laird can't hit a lick. I also think they need to drop one of Pastornicky/Pena. Bring up Mejia and Terdo. Terdo played some catcher this spring and could be the 3rd catcher in emergency situations. Mejia would simply give us a power bat on the bench even if he will never play 1B with Freeman ahead of him.

As far as his bullpen management goes, he needs to realize that Kimbrel is a high leverage situation pitcher. If you are in a jam in the 8th, bring him in. He's also too set on who he uses and when. We have guys that throw entirely too many innings while we have other guys that might go 3 weeks without pitching in the pen.

I agree. I esp agree about pinch hitting laird. That was a terrible decision

[smootness]

I don't think Doumit, at this point in his career, is a better hitter than Laird. Laird has turned himself into a pretty good backup catcher. Doumit shouldn't be on the roster. And who to have on the roster isn't Fredi's call. He has to use who he has, and in that situation, we had nobody better on the bench in that spot than Laird.

I do agree on Pastornicky/Pena, though I'm not in favor of Mejia. He literally can't play anywhere other than 1st, so he's purely a pinch-hit bat, and we don't know if he'd be a good enough hitter to justify that.

I do like Terdoslavich and wish they'd call him up. And fully agreed on Kimbrel.

Honestly, as much as I like Gattis, I think we're just biding time until we feel like Bethancourt is serviceable enough at the plate.