Can Cox return Braves to playoffs?
Posted: Friday, June 20, 2008 5:51 PM
In a week where Willie Randolph was fired as manager of the Mets with a .544 career winning percentage, where the woefully underachieving Mariners made another managerial change and the Blue Jays said goodbye to John Gibbons as their skipper, Bobby Cox calmly rolls along in his 19th consecutive season as Braves manager.
Atlanta’s aura of invincibility, borne out of 14 consecutive division titles, is gone. Consecutive third-place finishes the last couple of seasons took care of that. Hopes for this year have taken a hit with the disintegration of the starting rotation. Spring dreams of John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Mike Hampton backing up Tim Hudson have been ruined. Now for the Braves’ faithful it’s watching the growth of Jair Juurjens and Charlie Morton in hopes they are the future starters and it’s also monitoring the return of Mike Gonzalez from Tommy John surgery in hopes he can be a closer. And it’s watching Yunel Escobar bloom at shortstop while hoping that Gregor Blanco and other youngsters the Braves are banking on for their future grow into productive major-league players.
It’s interesting that there are a few rumbles from Atlanta about Cox. Rarely in baseball does a manager or general manager become “bullet-proof.” Cox appears to have gained that status. And with reason as he and former Braves general manager John Schuerholz built a model organization that won while developing new players at the same time -- a formula that is shockingly elusive for many teams in Major League Baseball. The Braves survived an ownership change and a stunning payroll reduction at the time their main competitor -- the Mets -- were spending. And Cox’s teams have always conducted themselves with class.
Talking through the years with various players, mostly veterans, who have played for Cox, one sentiment is universal: Cox runs the clubhouse. It is a professional work environment, no loud music without headphones, no dissent tolerated. Like most managers, Cox has relied on veterans as clubhouse policemen. So many have thrived in his environment. J.D. Drew was leaned on by Braves’ veterans, and because of such he stopped taking days off and produced his best season while with Atlanta. Andruw Jones, humbled by Cox in his early years, loved Atlanta so much that he personally negotiated his first long-term contract with the Braves’ management.
Now, it can be safely argued that those moments are now history. Can Cox return the Braves to the playoffs? That’s a fair question. And it strikes me that Cox should now be judged on the young studs in Atlanta’s organization -- do Escobar, Juurjens, Blanco, Morton and others advance their development in the current Braves’ atmosphere? And can Jeff Francoeur take the next step and become a standout?
Cox has been smart, never pushing the envelope for money (he’s still paid less than four other managers) or years (he works on one-year contracts). Those who know him well say he talks about retirement but like so many, he has discovered how much he loves the game. Can he rediscover October for the Braves? That’s one of the key questions in the second-half of the season.
FIVE MORE SWINGS:
1. ONE SMART MOVE BY THE BRAVES…was dealing Edgar Renteria instead of Escobar for pitching help. I watched the Tigers in San Francisco this week and was shocked by Renteria’s size. He appears too big for the position and when he couldn’t get to a groundball in the hole during a winning Giants’ rally Monday night, it reminded me of the whispers about his diminished range that surfaced last year.
2. GREAT COMMENT…by Mets general manager Omar Minaya about the Willie Randolph situation that applies to much of today’s sports world. Several weeks ago Minaya said, “Human nature will lead you to focus not on (your) job but on outside forces that influence you because of the position you’re in…family and friends who get you agitated and paranoid without knowing it, all in the name of love. They’re the ones who make problems bigger than they actually are sometimes. You actually have to ignore them much in the same way you’ve got to tune out everyone else.”
Great words of advice that should be gospel for all high-level athletes. Every moment of conflict I have experienced with an athlete has been rooted in what SOMEONE ELSE told the athlete that I said on air as a broadcaster. Never has the athlete actually heard the words.
3. HERE’S HOW TELEVISION HAS CHANGED…Recently Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis had a dugout scrap. NESN, the regional network owned by the Red Sox, showed their brief scuffle. Twenty years ago, I was at Fenway Park when Jim Rice attacked manager Joe Morgan in the Red Sox dugout. Televising the game to Minnesota that night while taking the Red-Sox feed as the video of the game, it was shocking that NESN would not show the incident. Thankfully for fans, times are different.
4. HAVE YOU NOTICED…that Johnny Damon is second the American League with a .331 average. He has been healthy and produced a .393 OBP as the leadoff hitter. Nothing has been more important to the Yankees offense.
5. THERE’S NO BETTER PLACE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…than Wrigley Field. Two first-place Chicago teams in a frenzied atmosphere squaring off in interleague play. The Cubs won the opener of the series this afternoon. No matter, these games will all be must-see.
