Proposed 2017 Atlanta Braves New Years Resolutions

Leo and Bobby In their usual spot when the Braves were in the field. Bobby’s in the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame, why isn’t Leo? Photo Credit USA Today Sports

Your humble correspondent suggests three New Years Resolutions for the Atlanta Braves.

It’s a new year and the perfect time to shed some habits that aren’t making us better. With that as the goal here are a few suggestions for the Atlanta Braves that are way overdue.

Put Leo Mazzone in the Braves Hall of Fame

In 2009 the Atlanta Braves began adding key parts of the team during ‘the streak’ to their Hall of Fame. It began that year with Greg Maddux, since that time they moved one at a time through the core group.

In 2014 they also found space for Dave Pursley and Rabbit Maranville. In 2015 they apparently couldn’t find anyone of that group worthy of induction and chose Don Sutton.

I understand Pursley was a faithful servant to the team and a key member of the organization while Maranville holds a place in Braves Franchise (ancient) history. Sutton was never a member of the Braves until his career as a player was finished.

I have no problem with him going in as an announcer even if he left for greener pastures with the Nationals for a while. However there is one glaring omission from the list; Leo Mazzone.

Bobby Cox, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux head the 2014 Hall of Fame Class. Please credit Graphic created by Fred Owens

No Leo No Streak

Without Leo there would have been no streak. Ask his pitchers and check the various independent analysis of his effectiveness as a pitching coach; the proof is overwhelming. He was rocking at Bobby’s side throughout the streak and in 2004 Rob Neyer writing for ESPN concluded he was one of the greatest pitching coaches in baseball history.

. . . it seems likely that the very best pitching coaches really do have a significant impact on their teams’ fortunes. If they do, shouldn’t they be considered for the Hall of Fame? If they are . . . seems reasonable to start with Johnny Sain and his No. 1 pupil, Leo Mazzone. If not necessarily in that order.

In 2011 Terrence Moore writing for MLB.com wondered why Leo wasn’t back in the dugout.

. . . during 12 of those 14 years, the Braves finished with the best or second-best team ERA in the Major Leagues. It also wasn’t coincidental that Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz spent that stretch using Mazzone’s methods to become Cy Maddux, Cy Glavine and Cy Smoltz . . . his starting pitchers were noted for throwing more than 200 innings each regular season before adding a bunch more in the postseason . . . And they rarely got hurt.

So why haven’t the Atlanta Braves added him to their Hall? The only possible answer – the only one that makes sense – is that Leo really made someone mad and that person – or persons – aren’t willing to swallow their pride/ego/anger and give the man his due.

No Reasons Just Petty Ego

I know Leo left after 2005 but he was keeping a promise to an old friend – Sam Perlozzo – and wanted to live near his aging parents in Maryland. Even then the Orioles had to double his salary to get him to go, something the Braves didn’t offer to do. If that’s criteria for keeping him out then Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz shouldn’t be there either and that’s just stupid.

Mazzone was/is blunt; he has no idea what diplomacy means and that rubs people the wrong way. There’s nothing wrong with telling the truth, HoF manager Tommy Lasorda famously told the truth using very blunt terminology, including continuous and loud repetition of one of George Carlin’s seven words. No one suggest Tommy isn’t worthy of his spot in baseball history.

I don’t care if he opened the door and let your pet parakeet fly away, spilled red wine on your new white sofa or ran over your kid’s bike with his car. It’s past time to let bygones be bygones; get over it or outgrow it and induct Leo into the Braves Hall this year.

Better Announcers Please

Can we send Chip – I miss the Cubs – Caray back to Chicago or perhaps Podunk Falls? He’s awful and everyone knows it.

Chip has little idea what’s going on during the game or if he does he has no idea how to convey it accurately. He makes every routine fly ball sound like it’s going to be a home run and frankly would never have been hired at all were it not for his last name.

In 2009 TBS fired Chip from their post season announcing team because he was awful. Richard Sandomir detailed some of Caray’s faux pas in a piece for the New York Times for examples that are really bad I suggest you read his piece. Here’s how he opened it.

Caray is still prone to bad play calls, descriptive exaggerations and factual errors. Every announcer makes mistakes, but Caray’s lips form a pattern of an announcer out of his element. The producer, Glenn Diamond; the director, Lonnie Dale; and the statistician are either failing him or he is spurning their advice and support.

Talent is not genetic

I heard his granddad in his heyday with the Cardinals and listened attentively to Skip for years, Chip isn’t worthy of their tradition. In May last year Carson Cistull writing for Fangraphs ranked the TV broadcasts of all 30 teams – there are actually 32 rankings because a couple of teams have home and away broadcasters. The Braves TV pair ranked 29th ahead of only the Phillies. Toronto and the White Sox away broadcasters.

One might think that has to do with an analytics oriented crowd hating the idea that Joe spits on most modern stats and Chip can’t spell them but Cistull says that’s not the case.

. . . FanGraphs readers can be entirely content with a broadcast that largely ignores advanced metrics. The nearly universal praise for Vin Scully reveals as much. What they don’t care for — and, it would seem, reasonably so — is broadcasters who openly mock advanced metrics or progressive front-office/on-field strategies, in general. The Atlanta team appears guilty of that; Simpson, in particular. . .

Two weeks later Baseball Essential’s Dillon Cloud agreed saying “. . . the fact remains that the Braves sub-standard broadcast is making a bad team unwatchable.” He concludes by saying that it’s time for a change.

. . . the Braves feature Chip Caray as the team’s play-by-play announcer. . . his seemingly emotionless take on most baseball related topics makes the broadcast seem distant. Caray lacks the intimate feel that both his father and grandfather . . evoked from fans . . .the Braves are devoid of an identity in the broadcast booth, and it has made the pain of the rebuild run even deeper. . .

This is an organization that has always used its continuity as a source of pride, but continuity is not always a means of success. Sometimes change is necessary. . . For the sake of Braves fans, the next area to be addressed needs to be the broadcast booth. The team needs to find its next Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Ernie Johnson, or Milo Hamilton . . The current state of the Atlanta Braves is tough for fans, and it may be a while before that changes, but the Braves need to be watchable again.

Dragging everyone down

Chip’s ineptitude makes Joe Simpson’s performance worse as well. Joe was fine alongside Skip but with Chip he has to carry more of the load and he’s not up to that. Let’s send Chip packing and ask Joe how he’ll enjoy his retirement.

I don’t have any personal recommendations but I can say unequivocally that Mark Lemke and Bryan Jordan should not be considered.

I know a lot of folks will want a radio guy moved into Chip’s spot but that doesn’t always work. Jon Miller for example is a Hall of Fame announcer and excellent on radio for the Giants but just average on TV. It’s way past time to look make a change.

Less Chopping Please

I love to hear the chop. I love being in the ballpark when the stands are packed, the Braves are rallying and the whole ballpark echos with 40,000 voices singing it. The time has come however, to dial it back a bit.

It started when Neon Deion Sanders joined the Braves and brought with him fans from FSU and their rallying cry the chop with him. During the streak it became a fixture during Braves’ rallies but as the streak slipped into history and the team had it’s ups (a few) and downs (more than I liked) the stadium crew began to use it more often. Last season it seemed like every time an inning started I heard the chop; I know it wasn’t every inning but it did seem that way.