Braves replace third-base coach with former manager Fredi González after multiple bad sends

New York Times

2 days ago

ATLANTA — The first casualty of the Atlanta Braves' disappointing performance this season is third-base coach Matt Tuiasosopo, who was reassigned Monday to a minor league position and replaced by Fredi González, the former Braves manager and third-base coach.
González, 61, most recently spent five years on the Baltimore Orioles staff including three seasons as bench coach before being let go along with two other coaches after the 2024 season. He was the Braves' manager from 2011 until being fired in May 2016, when González was replaced by current Braves manager Brian Snitker.
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González had been working this year as an umpire evaluator based in Philadelphia, where he visited with Snitker last week during the Braves' series against the Phillies that ended Thursday.
Alex Anthopoulos, Braves general manager and president of baseball operations, said this was the first time in his 14 seasons as a GM that he made a coaching change during a season, and indicated the move came down to several decisions made by Tuiasosopo to send runners who were thrown out at home plate.
'There's been some aggressive sends, and that's part of the job,' Anthopoulos said. 'But the results, from my standpoint — and in talking to Snit he understood and he ultimately agreed — I felt like we could do better. A guy like Fredi, all the work I've done on him as a third-base coach — he's had a ton of experience doing it, and people rave about him as the third-base coach. The reviews I've gotten is (he's) as good a third-base coach as you're going to find. So, the opportunity to get someone like him in-season is rare. He wasn't available in years past.
'And if he hadn't been available, I can't tell you we would have made this move, because it wasn't just make it to make it. It had to be the right person and someone that could hit the ground running that we knew would be successful at it. And Fredi's proven that at the big league level for years.'
González was a third-base coach for legendary Braves manager Bobby Cox from 2003-2006. After a stint as Marlins manager from 2007 through June 2010 — when he was fired less than years after winning The Sporting News 2008 Manager of the Year Award — González was hired as manager by the Braves after the 2010 season to replace the retiring Cox.
Under González, the Braves won an NL East title (2013) and had three second-place finishes in his first four seasons, but slipped to fourth with a 67-95 record in 2015, and were 9-28 in 2016 when he was fired and replaced by Snitker, another former Braves third-base coach who was promoted from Triple-A manager to be interim Atlanta manager.
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The interim label was eventually dropped and Snitker, 69, has continued to manage the Braves since. He's in the final year of his contract and the Braves are off to a 27-31 start, in fourth place in the division and 9 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets.
The Braves are 9-14 in one-run games and 13-20 in games decided by one or two runs, results that figured into the decision to replace Tuiasosopo, who was promoted from the Triple-A staff after the 2023 season to become Atlanta's third-base coach after Ron Washington left the Braves to become manager of the Los Angeles Angels.
Tuisasosopo, 39, had also shared infield instructor duties with bench coach Walt Weiss, the job that Washington formerly handled with such aplomb and accolades. Anthopoulos said Weiss would continue to oversee infield instruction.
'Ultimately it's the results at third base, and it's not for lack of preparation or effort or anything,' Anthopoulos said of changing third-base coaches now. '(Tuiasosopo) is beloved in the clubhouse, beloved by the coaches, did a phenomenal job in this organization for years in the minors, did a great job at third in Gwinnett. But unfortunately, like what happens with players, you see closers lose their jobs at times and change roles, you see players change roles over time.
'We've been in a lot of close games. We've got a lot of areas that we can still improve upon. And in my view as a front office and as a coaching staff, we need to look for every area that we can get better, you know? So, tough decision, but Snit and I talked about it initially on Sunday, spoke again (Monday) morning, talked at length this morning about it, and then finally came to the agreement that this was the right decision to move forward, and contacted Tui soon thereafter.'
(Photo of González: Daniel Shirey / Getty Images)