Parting of the Ways: Is It Time for the Atlanta Braves to Release Bobby Cox?

In 1990, the Braves were the worst team in baseball, posting up a 65-97 record.

Throughout the first half of the season, Russ Nixon was the manager, but he was replaced midway through the year by a man named Bobby Cox.

Cox once managed the Braves from 1978-81, but he was replaced by Joe Torre.

Then from 1982-1985, Cox managed the Toronto Blue Jays, and took them from the worst team in the AL in '82 to the best team in '85.

The Braves thought bringing Cox back would turn the team around.

It did.

After overcoming a .500 start in 1991, the Braves became the best team in the NL and played in quite possibly the best World Series ever.

In the next 13 seasons, the Braves would make it to the playoffs in every year, something no other professional team in any sport has ever done.

With five pennants and a World Series title, players flocked to Atlanta because they wanted to play for Cox, a "player's manager."

But now those glory days are gone.

For the past three seasons, the Braves haven't been able to sniff the playoffs, and this season appears more of the same.

So what is the problem? Is it the players, coaches, or the organization?

If the Braves want to make the playoffs anytime soon, a massive shakedown of the entire team needs to occur.

One possible solution is the removal of Cox.

To some Braves fans, it would be absolute heresy to fire the manager who brought the city of Atlanta 14 consecutive playoff berths, or to force him to retire.

But some that are thirsty and hungry for another chance at being in the playoffs clamor for Cox's head on a stake.

That particular group now seems to be growing each day Atlanta slips back into the cellar.

Are these fans right to want one of the all-time winningest managers to just fall away?

If you look at the past and present, you might see that these zealous fans may actually be right.

Take a typical game from the '90s and early 2000s. A pitcher like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Kevin Millwood, or Denny Neagle would come out and pitch about seven innings of one- or two-run ball, and the Braves offense would jump out to an early lead.

The eighth inning would see a reliever, and the ninth would see the closer to shut down the opposing team.

More often than not, under this strategy, the Braves would win. And using this formula, Cox would take an AL approach and let the game manage itself.

Now, the times have changed.

New stadium's fences are back farther, and we are now entering the post-steroid era. Speed and power to the gaps are the teams' new weapons, and the glorious "small ball" of "get 'em on, get 'em over, and get 'em in" has returned.

Coaching is now just as important as playing. Baseball made a return back to the fundamentals, and has left some players and coaches in the dust.

One such person is, regretfully, Cox.

Watch a Braves game and you'll understand. Any lifelong fan of the Braves will tell anyone that Cox does not play small ball.

In Wednesday's loss to Cincinnati, Atlanta had runners on first and second with a one-run lead and no outs in the fifth inning.

Every Little League coach throughout the land was probably screaming at the TV for a bunt to move the runners over. The bunt did not come, and the Reds came out of the inning unscathed.

In the Reds' half of the inning, they snatched the lead away.

Small ball could have given the Braves the opportunity to score more runs.

Fans also call for Cox's removal because of recent events.

Atlanta's No. 5-8 hitters simply aren't producing the numbers they should be (see this story), and day in and day out, Cox marches the same people out onto the field with no changes.

Many people point to that fact alone as the main reason why there may need to be a change in Atlanta. Angry fans believe Cox puts too much faith and loyalty in players that simply aren't producing, and by time Cox makes a change, it's too late.

If Cox is removed, who would replace him?

The jury is still out on hitting coach Terry Pendleton, with many fans criticizing him as much as they do Cox for the Braves' recent troubles.

One possible replacement is former Braves coach and former Brewers manager Ned Yost.

Yost was the third base coach for Atlanta, and before that, he served as their bullpen coach during the Braves' reign.

Yost went on to manage the Brewers, and he made them playoff contenders. He was relieved from coaching in September 2008, reportedly for squandering the Brewers' chance at the playoffs in 2007 and nearly again in 2008.

Whether or not Yost was able to cope with the late-season pressure, he did turn around the Brewers organization. Maybe that is what the Braves need.

Bobby Cox joined the Braves when they were the worst team in baseball, replacing at man who wasn't getting the job done.

He turned the team around to great success.

Now the Braves are floundering year after year, and Cox may leave exactly the way his predecessor left.

All that is left of the Braves dynasty is Cox and Chipper Jones, after John Smoltz and Tom Glavine unceremoniously left Atlanta this year.

Fans, now more than ever, are looking more to the future than to the hallowed days of the past of Braves baseball.

They want another playoff berth and will do anything to get it, even if it means removing the legend of a manager that is Bobby Cox.