House That Hank Built
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Coppolella on the Atlanta Braves’ Rebuild Progress

By Alan Carpenter

Dec 9, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart speaks to the media during the MLB winter meetings at Gaylord Opryland Resort. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 9, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart speaks to the media during the MLB winter meetings at Gaylord Opryland Resort. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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Coppolella’s Remarks From Fan-Fest Require Some Parsing

Mark Bradley of the AJC reported on remarks made Saturday from the Braves’ hierarchy during the Turner Field Fan Fest.  Danny Farris of FOX Sports then reported on Mark Bradley’s reporting on these quotes from John Coppolella.

Bradley’s headline declares that Coppolella said that the Braves’ rebuild “Has Accelerated”.  Farris’ headline tells us that Coppy said that the Rebuild is “Ahead of Schedule”.

I don’t want to be too critical here, but there isn’t a single quote from Coppolella that uses those words at all.

Bradley does quote the Braves’ GM as saying words like these:

  • “I feel so much better about where we are now than I did a year ago”
  • “I knew we were on the right track, but to see where we are is exciting.”
  • “We feel a lot of our best prospects are close. You can see with teams like the Houston Astros and the Cubs and the Royals that when those young players come up, they can have an immediate impact.”
  • “I don’t want to put a timetable on it, but I’ve been here 10 years. I’ve never been more excited about the young players we have than I am right now. There are so many young players that we know and love that the mainstream prospect experts haven’t found out about yet.”

Those are good words… they should be appealing to Braves’ fans.  He went on to talk about some specific deals and specific players that he’s excited to see.  But honestly, there was nothing in there about ‘timetables’ or ‘schedules’.

So please:  do check your expectations at the door.

Is there a schedule for the Braves?

Bradley himself actually interjected the notion of schedule as he was writing:

"John Coppolella has never doubted his daring course: … But after only 16 months, this raze-to-raise process has accelerated at a rate even its architect couldn’t foresee."

Perhaps so, but that’s Mark Bradley‘s interpretation and his words.

Sure:  a year ago, John Hart led us all to believe that he wanted the Atlanta Braves to be competing for titles the moment they walked in to SunTrust Park in April 2017.  We have that from multiple sources… although the tenor of his comments does seem to have softened over time:

  • Nov. 24, 2014, ESPN.COM: “We’re not going to do [1994 Cleveland model] here,” he said. “There’s just too much at stake — and no guarantee that if we did that, it would be a slam dunk [to have a championship team] going into the new park.”
  • Jan. 14, 2015, ESPN.COM:  President of baseball operations John Hart acknowledged that the Braves made all the trades with an eye toward their long-term future.
  • Dec. 14, 2015, USA TODAY:  “We’re building something, and it’s not going to happen overnight. I do know we’re going to be better next year than we were this year.”

Back a year ago, writers were admiring the chutzpah in those remarks, but all the while suggesting that being ‘contenders’ – and that was the word being used – by 2017 would be a significant feat… faster than most any other club that anyone could think of.

So even as the Braves have frankly pulled off some eye-popping deals over the past 16 months, you’d think that the ‘C’ word (Contending) might be coming up more now.  You’d think that Coppy and Hart might actually allow a schedule indicator to slip by in their remarks.  You’d think that you might hear them suggest that the Braves might be just a bat or a pitcher away from really making some waves in the NL East.

But that’s not really what was said.  And neither Mark Bradley nor Danny Farris seemed to pick up on this.

Next: Being in the Right Place, Right Time

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