The Atlanta Braves’ trade deadline acquisitions came through with some heroics again Friday night as Adam Duvall hit a solo home run to get the Braves on the board. Then, later on in the game Jorge Soler crushed a three-run shot to left field that would give the Braves the lead. Finally, Joc Pederson made a leaping grab at the right field wall that sealed the 6-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, since his tenure started with the team, has been praised for his free-agent signings, player extensions, and of course trade deadline moves. While there is no doubt that Anthopoulos should receive a lot of credit for the Braves midseason turnaround for the moves he made at the deadline, Nick Kayal believes it’s also time to put some respect on the name of manager Brian Snitker, and he started his show today explaining why that is.
Now let's be clear, Nick is not a Brian Snitker fan by any means. But he does believe that Braves fans are too hard on him.
Nick says he can “no longer tolerate” the Brain Snitker omission. Nick also says “this team has won 17 of their last 21 games, and it’s as if like Brian Snitker doesn’t even get a mention.”
It does seem like ever since Snitker won Manager of the Year back in 2018 when the “Baby Braves” blew everybody's expectations out of the water and won 90 games, that he has been overlooked. Now, that may be because of expectations changing and Snitker and the Braves just doing what is expected of them. Or maybe it goes deeper than that, and ever since that season the Braves fans feel like Snitker is not only not living up to expectations, but maybe even holding this team back.
Now, other than the decision to start Dallas Keuchel in that infamous playoff game against the St. Louis Cardinals, the blame isn’t to be put on Snitker for the Braves playoff blunders. You were never going to beat the Dodgers in 2018, and the lack of starting pitching due to injury is what truly led to the Dodgers coming back from a 3-1 deficit on the Braves last year in the NLCS.
Again, Nick doesn’t think Snitker is the best manager since sliced bread. But Nick doesn’t think he’s a “boob” either.
Sure Snitker leaves a guy in too long, takes a guy out too quick, puts in a questionable bullpen guy in a bad situation, and is too loyal sometimes. However, Snitker also kept this team afloat with the talent he had after losing Mike Soroka, Ronald Acuña Jr, Marcell Ozuna, Ian Anderson and Huscar Ynoa for an extended period of time, so Anthopoulos could make the moves he did at the trade deadline.
Snitker’s loyalty is the reason he’s so liked, respected, and loved in the Atlanta Braves clubhouse. Nick Kayal said it best today in his opening monologue.
“Did it ever occur to any Braves fans that maybe this team likes Brian Snitker, and they like his style? You might not, but perhaps this nucleus and this roster does,” Kayal asked.
At one point this Braves team was five games out of first, and now they are in first by 5.5 games and on their way to a fourth straight division title. So Braves fans put some respect on Brian Snitker's name!
