Mark WiedmerWatch the Atlanta Braves for even an inning or three these days, and your first thought is sure to be that they need to fire the manager. The Peachtree Pitifuls entered Wednesday night's game in Boston with the worst offense, the worst defense and the worst bullpen in all of Major League Baseball.
Other than that, of course, Atlanta skipper Fredi Gonzalez is leading these guys to Cooperstown, N.Y., site of baseball's Hall of Fame. And they might actually get there for winding up with the worst record in the modern game's history.
Atlanta's stunningly bad 4-16 record entering Wednesday projects to no better than a 33-129 finish, which would dwarf the dumpster fires turned in by the 1962 New York Mets (40-120) and 2003 Detroit Tigers (43-119).
So the easiest solution for a bitter Braves Nation would certainly appear to be to start a "Fire Fredi!" campaign. The sooner, the better. Especially since Atlanta's next seven games are on the road - at Boston again tonight, at the Chicago Cubs over the weekend and at the Mets for three games early next week - and all against teams with winning records.
Of course, those few sappy souls still in Gonzalez's corner might also argue that's a reasonable reason to stick with Futile Fredi until the Braves return home to face the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 6. Love him or loathe him, Gonzalez would have a hard time winning at Boston, Chicago and New York if he had the 1995 world champion Braves, which he clearly does not.
Yet Atlanta's next two opponents at Turner Field, Arizona and Philadelphia, both stood .500 at Wednesday's dawn - not Braves awful, but also not unbeatable. If Gonzalez is right that, in his words, "these guys give it everything they have every single night," then maybe there's just not much there to give, which isn't his fault.
Instead, that's the fault of upper management and former general manager Frank Wren and, possibly, current GM John Hart, whose strategy to basically burn this franchise to the ground and start over is certain high risk for possible high reward.
Nor is it wrong to point to the schedule as at least part of the reason for so sorry a record 20 games into the season. Pretty much everyone the Braves have played thus far is .500 or better - the Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Mets and Red Sox - and the one team on the schedule thus far that's nearly as awful as Atlanta - Miami - was swept by the Braves in the Marlins' own ballyard.
To his credit, Gonzalez has shied away from that excuse, even telling MLB.com on Tuesday night following a second straight home loss to the Red Sox: "I'm tired of hearing about how the schedule is tough. It's not going to get any easier. We can't call Major League Baseball and ask them to change the schedule because it's too tough on us. Shoot, they're lined up to play us right now, the way we're playing."
The problem for Gonzalez is that the Braves have been playing this way since the middle of last season, when they fell apart down the stretch on their way to 95 losses. Now 95 losses, terrible as that would be, almost seems strangely encouraging.
And that's why Gonzalez needs to go. Now. Before the Braves return home. Now. Before some microscopic miracle at Turner Field leads to just enough wins to give the fan base false hope to avoid a bummer of a summer. Now. Before whatever small sliver of Braves Nation that still cares about this season gives up for good.
One memory from Wednesday night. In the bottom of the second, with Braves pitcher Bud Norris struggling again, Gonzalez went to the mound to sternly address his pitcher.
If this was meant to somehow motivate Norris to quit pitching to the 6.75 ERA he held going into the game, it didn't work. Dustin Pedroia soon smashed a grand slam off the right-field foul pole to stake the Sox to a 6-1 lead.
So much for pep talks.
The reality is, Futile Fredi's Braves teams have consistently played their worst when it mattered most, collapsing most every September, failing to advance in either of their playoff appearances and now threatening to lose at least 100 games for the first time since 1988.
So while Gonzalez may be right that his guys are giving him all they've got to give every night, what they're giving the fans is loss after loss after loss.
But just in case you're still not sure it's time to lose the manager, consider a line from Futile Fredi after Tuesday's 11-4 loss to Boston at the Ted.
"It never crosses my mind," he said, "to go in there and turn a table over or yell and scream."
When you're 4-16 after 20 games, when you're on your way to 129 losses, when you have the worst offense and defense in all of Major League Baseball and you haven't even considered yelling and screaming, it's time for management to turn the tables on you.
It's time to fire Fredi, if only to see if there's someone, anyone, anywhere capable of lighting a fire under the Peachtree Pitifuls before 2017.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.