Atlanta Braves at 0-9, and fans haven’t seen the worst yet
The Atlanta Braves are off to a historically bad start in 2016, and unfortunately for fans, the worst is yet to come.
The last time the Atlanta Braves sat at 0-10 in a season was 1988. They opened the season losing consecutive series to the Cubs, Dodgers and Astros, before finally breaking into the win column in the third game of a 3-game set in Los Angeles. That year, the Braves finished out the season with a 54-106 record, and 2016 may see that year of futility surpassed.
Related Story: Braves GM Refuses to Endorse Manager Fredi Gonzalez
In those first 10 losses in 1988, the Braves scored a combined 27 runs while giving up 60 – a run differential of 33. This year (to date), Atlanta has scored 24 and has given up 55 – a run differential of 31…eerily similar, isn’t it?
We didn’t hear from newly ordained Braves general manager John Coppolella until the record hit 0-9. His predictable response heading into the three game series with the once mockable Marlins reeked of corporate deodorant, with terms like “unacceptable” and “embarrassing” and “better days ahead”.
We’ll clue you in on this one John…when you’ve yet to win a game, there are always better days ahead.
“The Braves are a gold-standard organization, and to start out the season in this manner is embarrassing and unacceptable,” Coppolella told MLB.com. “… We have so many other great things going on in other areas of our organization, but we do need to start playing better and winning more games.”
Once again, a GM ignoring the facts and stating the obvious. They’re getting whipped all over the field, but Uncle John has lots of shiny things to distract fans from that fact. The Braves haven’t been a “gold-standard” operation since the new millennium turned on the calendar, and as for the closing of his statement…ummm…duh?
The canned drivel continued in his interview.
“We know we are better than our record indicates”
I beg to differ. You are exactly as good as your record indicates. Isn’t that what we hear all the time? This is a bad team, so stop trying to sugar-sweeten the castor oil.
“We all hope we can turn things around and start winning games. That will take the pressure off everybody.”
Oh, so now we’ve gone from better days being ahead to simply hoping we can turn things around.
And who are we taking the pressure off of? Skipper Fredi Gonzalez? He’s a lame-duck manager this year and everyone knows it. He lost this clubhouse two seasons ago, but the Braves revolving front office door couldn’t be bothered with trying to break in a new manager. Better to wait until the move is done, then send him on his way.
But none of this is news. Not one bit. The Braves weren’t built to win in 2016, everyone who is old enough to utter the name Henry Aaron knows that. Rebuilding, retooling, relocating, and recoiling from the backlash of all that is all coming back to haunt the leadership of this once proud and successful organization.
And it’s not going to get better; not with this roster; not with this management team; and not with a move to suburban Cobb County and a shiny new stadium and mixed-use development looming in the shadow of every Atlanta dropped ball and surrendered dinger.
There’s no time machine back to 1991 and Ted Turner isn’t walking in that clubhouse door.
Fans are stuck with this team, and stuck with the only record with any chance of being broken as the 1988 record of futility. A .338 winning percentage – the worst in Atlanta Braves history. It could go up in smoke this year.
But what about ownership? What does mogul-group Liberty Media have to say about all this?
Shockingly (or not), they announced in November a plan to issue a “tracking stock” tied to the economic performance of the Braves, and have now decided to move forward with that plan, disclosing recent financial documents to the Securities and Exchange commission. Yes, look for the Braves to show up on the NASDAQ exchange soon.
They’re looking at P&L, red and black, bottom lines and stock prices…while fans are looking down the barrel of possibly the most embarrassing and frustrating season since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966.
(I just summed up in one sentence why corporate ownership groups who buy teams as part of their “portfolio” are the worst thing that can happen to a franchise.)
Yet despite no real prospect of winning with any regularity; despite daily moves which make an already unrecognizable roster look like the new “everything dog” offered at Turner Field, ownership has yet to do anything in terms of lowering ticket or concession prices to ease the pain of the loyal fans who are still coming to games.
We can’t let a silly thing like being good to the fans stand in the way of a successful stock offering, can we?
So what do fans have to look forward to for the remainder of this season? Well, here are a few of the benchmarks from that 1988 disaster, ranked against all 26 teams in the league that season (stats via baseball-reference.com)
Runs Scored Per Game: 3.47 (25th)
Hits: 1,319 (24th)
Home Runs: 96 (24th)
RBI: 527 (25th)
Batting Average: .242 (24th)
Slugging Percentage: .348 (25th)
Okay, so they couldn’t hit in 1988.
Runs Allowed Per Game: 4.63 (22nd)
ERA: 4.09 (19th)
Complete Games Pitched: 14 (24th)
Hits Allowed: 1,481 (21st)
Strikeouts Thrown: 810 (23rd)
Saves: 25 (26th)
Alright, they weren’t much better at pitching and couldn’t hold a lead even when they had one.
Watch closely some of those numbers as the 2016 season progresses. As they are surpassed in terribleness, so too will the Braves overall record be reduced. Bottom line – there’s no way this ends well for anyone; not for Fredi Gonzalez, not for the Braves, and certainly not for the fans.
The only consolation in this grim tale is that the Braves’ American League compadre in that magical 1991 worst-to-first season, the Minnesota Twins, have yet to win a game this year either. Maybe we can actually top those guys this season.