Former Mud Hens manager Larry Parrish was fired as Atlanta hitting coach Friday, one season after leaving Toledo to take the position with the Braves.
The Braves struggled at the plate this season, but especially during their late-season collapse in which they saw an 8 1/2-game lead in the National League Wild Card standings with just 23 games to play completely melt away as they lost 18 of their final 26 games and St. Louis knocked them out of the playoffs.
The Braves led the National League with a .339 on-base percentage in 2010, but was 14th this past season with a .308 mark. Atlanta scored two runs or fewer 10 times in September and five times in their final seven games. They also hit just .192 with runners in scoring position during the final 26 games.
Parrish was fired despite having a year left on the two-year contract he signed to take the job in Atlanta.
Parrish is the winningest manager in Mud Hens history, posting a 569-551 record in seven seasons (1994, 2003-07, 2008-09). He led Toledo to Governors' Cup titles in 2005 and 2006 and had four winning seasons; only Mike Rojas (82-61, 2007), Bruce Fields (81-63, 2002) and Joe Sparks (74-70, 1991) have had a winning season in Toledo since Detroit became the Hens' parent organization in 1987.
To read more about the firing ...
Click here to read the story by Mark Bowman of MLB.com, who wrote about how manager Fredi Gonzalez said his entire staff would return in 2012, only to have general manager Frank Wren deliver different news on Friday. Click here to read a story Bowman wrote Thursday in which Gonzalez said he wouldn't get rid of Parrish.
Click here to read the story by David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who wrote that GM Frank Wren said he didn't feel Parrish had a plan to help key Braves who struggled (namely Jason Hayward and Martin Prado) next season. Click here to read the story O'Brien wrote Thursday in which Gonzalez said he wouldn't get rid of Parrish.
Click here to read a column by Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which says Parrish had to go for the Braves to retain their credibility as an organization.
http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2011/09/30/braves-make-the-right-call-fire-larry-parrish/
"According to our David O’Brien, Wren met with Parrish Thursday afternoon and made the decision to fire him after no being satisfied with Parrish’s answers."
I am "no being satisfied" with crappy sports bloggers...
Hey Skip, c'mon back!
Posted by: Pepper Leach | 10/03/2011 at 12:56 PM
Hey Pepper, I resemble that remark about "crappy sports bloggers" ...
Posted by: John_Wagner | 10/03/2011 at 02:03 PM
Don't worry....I don't participate of crappy blogs, only the creme de la creme por moi!
Posted by: Pepper Leach | 10/03/2011 at 02:48 PM
with typos ala carte
Posted by: Pepper Leach | 10/03/2011 at 02:49 PM