Could it be Dayton Moore for Atlanta GM?

Even while the iron hand of John Hart is now fully engaged in the process of reshaping the Braves’ Front Office, the mystery remains:  who is going to occupy the GM’s chair.  Fred has covered the reasonable possibilities, but at this point, we truly seem to have just three candidates:

• John Hart, who is wielding the “interim” tag like a broadsword
• John Coppolella, current Assistant GM
• Dayton Moore, current GM at Kansas City

Both Braves’ beat writers – Dave O’Brien of the AJC and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman have opinions about how this is going to proceed.  Since they are both keeping close tabs on the situation, let’s see what each one thinks.

O’Brien’s Take

As part of his blog post today, DOB writes:

"If they aren’t staying in-house for their next GM, then the Braves would have to be working in concert with someone from outside who has already agreed to take the job. That’s the only explanation for making all these moves before hiring the GM, the man who’d normally make most or all of those decisions. Did someone say Dayton Moore?"

He then goes on to explain that he understands the nature of the speculation, but cautions against going too far.  Moore has been with the Royals for about nine years (the 2005-06 off-season).  He’s also seeing actual results – finally – on his own plans.

Perhaps most noteworthy, he still has two years left on his contract.  Nonetheless, the Royals graciously offered their blessing if Moore wanted to leave, so pesky things like ‘contracts’ may not be a large obstacle.

But O’Brien also points out that Moore – a native of Kansas (I know – KC is in Missouri), and his children (he’s 47) have been growing up there.  He finally draws this conclusion:

"Maybe I’m wrong and I’m underestimating the pull on the Braves job for Moore, 47. But unless the Braves blow away the salary the Royals are paying him, I don’t see much reason for him to jump ship at this point."

Bowman’s Take

Speaking via twitter, Bowman has been more succinct, but he did do me the courtesy of engaging in a quick Q&A:

In short:  he believes the suggestion from DOB – that Moore is effectively running both clubs at the moment – is indeed the case:  that the moves being made by Hart are with the nod of approval from Dayton Moore in advance of the point at which his off-season actually begins… whenever that may come to pass.

My Take

I have been fearing that Moore might end up being ‘the guy’, and nothing above allays those fears.  As offered in my tweet, I would have actually expected Moore to do the dirty work himself if he were going to be GM, though there is certainly no reason that Hart could not do this task himself – as Moore’s proxy.

Meanwhile, I mentioned 3 candidates:  but by now you would have to believe that Hart has taken himself out of the running.  Why?  Given what he’s doing right now, he would have certainly accepted the full-time role by now if that were going to be his choice.

My hope, is that Coppolella might have been spared this particular culling task and ascend to the throne once this Purge of the Old Regime is complete.  Certainly he has been given that title of “rising star” and by all accounts seems ready to go.  At the same time, you have to understand that Moore is the disciple of John Schuerholz – not Coppolella.  While Coppolella has been thus far untouched by The Purge, there has been no public discussion – zero – about Coppolella’s role going forward.  That worries me.

Coppolella could be getting strung along as the Plan B Guy in the event that Moore ultimately says, “No thanks.”  In that scenario, he could vanish the day after Moore takes over.

The Moore, the Merrier

It does appear – to even the most casual observer – that the second version of the John Schuerholz’ Good Ol’ Boys Club is now under construction.  Dayton Moore would be the capstone to that building.

In my reading of this, all signs seem to be pointed in that direction.