Latino Managers, Chicken Bones, and Plump Pussies: Dave Brown's Unscientific MLB Power Rankings

The Atlanta Braves' decision on Tuesday to fire manager Fredi Gonzalez wiped away what remained of a dying breed, so to speak, in Major League Baseball: The Latino field manager. The Cuban-born Gonzalez, who speaks fluently in Spanish and English, had been the holdout. Not that MLB has a deep history of hiring Latino managers. There have been 10 full-time MLB managers who were born in Latin America. Contrast this with nearly 30 percent of the sport's players, right now, being Latino. It does not add up. Taking it a step further: Gonzalez also had been one of three non-white major league managers. Good thing during the previous offseason that the Dodgers hired Dave Roberts, and the Nationals hired Dusty Baker. Otherwise, all 30 skippers might be as white as a baseball's hide. (This does not include Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, who sometimes turns a shade of purple when he gets angry.)

It's not outrageous that the Braves fired Gonzalez. While Gonzalez probably was a better manager when the Braves had better players, they have the league's worst record this season (9-28 at the time of his firing), and they've been sliding since the middle of 2014. Why the team didn't just replace Gonzalez during an offseason in which they continued to make an obvious play for the future is a mystery. It's also questionable as to why the Braves passed over three minority coaches for the interim job — Bo Porter, Terry Pendleton and Eddie Perez — in favor of longtime organizational coach Brian Snitker, who happens to be white.

MLB owners have the power to do something about this if they were actually serious about having more Latino managers. To MLB's credit, at least there are Latinos "in the pipeline" ready to be managers. Although there are only two Latino bench coaches in the majors — Dave Martinez of the Cubs and Rick Renteria of the White Sox — potential candidates exist elsewhere, Sandy Alomar, Joey Cora, Alex Cora, Manny Acta, Tony Pena, Carlos Delgado and Dave Martinez, among them.

Ever since Jackie Robinson put on a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform in 1947, baseball has been about inclusion. Everybody should have a chance. The manager pool should reflect the fact that 30 percent of players were born in Latin America.

Say what you will about former commissioner Bud Selig, but he made it a priority to kick the owners in the behind when they forgot about diversity. He's one of the reasons why the rate of minority managers increased in the 2000s. Rob Manfred needs to remind the overwhelmingly white power brokers that the game is better when it's not monochromatic.

This week's power rankings:

1. The Braves travel office (Last week: Not ranked)

The real power in the Braves organization resides with the travel office, and not with the board of Liberty Media, general manager John Coppolella or team president John Hart. When the Braves got around to firing Gonzalez, they neglected to tell him before changing his travel itinerary. And in this age of electronic… stuff, that created a problem. David O'Brien in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes:

[A] person familiar with the situation said Gonzalez received an email notifying him of his scheduled flight to Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon.That was a bad sign, since the four-game series in Pittsburgh runs through Thursday.

Awkwaaaaard. It's better than finding out from Twitter, or on TV, or from some fan on the street, but it's still unfortunate. Gonzalez was classy about losing his job, as O'Brien's story shows. Regardless, he's leaving an awful situation, one which has at least one player unable to eat properly.

2. The chicken bone stuck in Erick Aybar's throat (LW: NR)

Barely removed from their manager being removed, the Braves almost lost their starting shortstop via asphyxiation. Aybar required medical sedation Thursday in order to remove an errant chicken bone from his throat, which he had mistakenly swallowed during lunch at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. If not fixed, it could have been the worst choke job in Braves history since they went 9-18 in September 2011 and missed the playoffs after having an 8 1/2 game lead in the NL wild card.

Again, David O'Brien of the Journal Constitution:

He was sedated for a procedure to remove the bone, but by then it had dislodged and was no longer in his throat. Aybar returned to PNC Park and was unavailable for Thursday night's game against the Pirates because of the earlier sedation.

One Braves player said there was some blood coming from Aybar's mouth, and that the bone was so deep in his throat that he couldn't lift his shoulder because of the discomfort.

3-t. Bryce Harper and Mike Trout (LW: No change)

Harper's OPS: 1.024

Trout's: 0.975

Manny Machado's: 1.022

5. Clayton Kershaw's strikeout-to-walk ratio (LW: NR)

It's 88-4! No one has ever posted a ratio better than 11.6 to 1, thank you Phil Hughes in 2014. Right now, for the math-burdened, Kershaw is sitting at 22 to 1. The Dodgers probably would like to have better than a 1-1 Kershaw ratio on their roster, but cloning is not yet perfected. Until then, they just might continue to suffer:

#Dodgers lose, now 8-1 when Clayton Kershaw starts and 13-20 when he does not. Freeway Series: #Angels 3, Kershaw 1.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) May 20, 2016

6. Bartolo Colon's second family — what?! (LW: NR)

A week ago, Colon's home-run trot was the toast of New York and the world. He was pitching OK and hitting even better. He was the fat guy everyone at work could love. Well, it turns out Colon also had been working on having two different families. The New York Post has the details:

Colon has been living a double life that gives new meaning to his nickname "Big Sexy" — siring two secret love children with a woman while married to his devoted wife of 21 years, The Post has learned.

The 42-year-old hurler has been dragged into Manhattan court by Alexandra Santos, 38, who claims the $7-million-a-year player is a deadbeat dad who failed to pay child support for their elementary-school-age kids.

Colon — who has earned more than $100 million in his career — sired the children with the Washington Heights woman while he was also playing the dutiful family man with wife Rosanna and their four sons.

The MLB star has never publicly acknowledged the daughter, age 7, and son, 8, that he had with Santos, who filed suit a year ago demanding child support.

The only reason the public found out about Colon's second life was because he tried to represent himself in court, meaning he was listed as the attorney of record, essentially nullifying the agreement of confidentiality he and Santos had agreed upon. It's like they say: Anyone who represents himself or herself in court has a fool for a client.

7. You can't spell Khris Davis or Chris Davis without HR (LW: NR)

While he has been recognized as a legit power threat and a nice player, it's also been common baseball knowledge that slugger Khris Davis of the Athletics isn't as good as slugger Chris Davis of the Orioles. Oh yeah? Well some of the latest statistics say otherwise:

Stats since Aug 1st - Prior to today's action Chris Davis: 31 HR, 72 RBI
Khris Davis: 31 HR, 72 RBI
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 18, 2016

That's weird, with their names being Chris/Khris Davis and all. Going a little bit deeper into the stats, Chris Davis still has an advantage because he draws more walks. But Khris Davis does have better isolated power numbers so far in the young season. And he spells his first name like few other Khrises in nature, an advantage in the eyes of some. Also worth nothing: Despite having accumulated about three times as many plate appearances as Khris Davis, Chris Davis is only a year and a half older.

8. Jake Arrieta (LW: 9)

No, really. Have you seen this guy?

9. Rougned Odor's punch (LW: NR)

Not the actual closed fist to the jaw of Jose Bautista that cost Rougned Odor an eight-game suspension, but the crass marketing of the punch by a minor-league club in the Rangers organization.

.@RidersBaseball commemorating Rougned Odor's punch in drink form, complete w/souvenir cup. https://t.co/LkOCE5XnmI pic.twitter.com/Sedew9zXql
— MiLB.com (@MiLB) May 18, 2016

To celebrate Odor's haymaker the Frisco RoughRiders are selling 12-ounce cups of an alcoholic energy drink to fans age 21 and over for $5.15. May 15 is when the fight happened. The only reason this is OK is because it's based on a pun. Fighting is bad, people! Punching should only be done by pugilists, not infielders.

10. Dick Enberg's description of Matt Duffy's pet cat Skeeter (LW: NR)

For the under-informed, Skeeter Duffy (or Cat Duffy) is something of an internet phenomenon. He's lost some weight since the end of last season, but that didn't get communicated to the Padres broadcast team, which showed an older photo of Skeeter looking quite plump, prompting Enberg to say what everyone was thinking:

"That's a plump pussy right there."