David O'Brien of the AJC posted the first part of his interview with Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. DOB and Fredi took a motorcycle ride through the north Georgia mountains, stopping along the way for a one-hour interview at a Starbucks in Canton.
↵My money quote:
↵↵↵The players read it. I think they appreciate it, but I think sometimes with them, when they play bad you’ve got to say, we played bad. But it’s always ‘we.’ I wouldn’t say, ‘24 guys played good and if this guy would’ve caught that ground ball we would’ve won today.’ It’s always ‘we.’ Because the game’s hard enough to play, I think, without them worrying about the manager and how he’s going to react.
↵
Fredi is definitely a student of Bobby Cox. He follows the same beliefs as Bobby on handling players and issues, and he likely will manage in a similar way *shudder*. During the interview, he cited the example of Greg Maddux's implosions early in 2003 and the way Bobby was quoted. DOB also brought up the Hanley Ramirez incident and Fredi's beliefs on that. Some of it is general stuff, and the first part is just about motorcycle riding, but Fredi gives some solid quotes in there. I'm looking forward to the second part, which will be posted Monday.