Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: guessing between the drawn battle lines
Ken Rosenthal caused a stir yesterday. Now the question regarding the Braves is Shakespearean: is this Much Ado About Nothing?
Yesterday, Jeff let us in on a Ken Rosenthal piece about a ‘power struggle’ that might be going on within the Atlanta Braves front office.
The question that Rosenthal leaves us with (full article subject to subscription) is one suggesting both friction and faction among the top decision-makers. In short, will it be the philosophies of John Schuerholz that guide the Braves’ future or those of John Hart and Coppy?
Here’s another opinion on the subject – from the AJC’s Mark Bradley last night:
"Schuerholz is no longer the president of anything. He’s the vice chairman, doing whatever it is vice chairmen do, which is mostly christen stadiums and shake hands. The recently minted Hall of Famer didn’t tell Frank Wren, his successor as general manager, what and what not to do. (That became a source of some Schuerholz regret, you should know.) Schuerholz was the driving force in Wren’s ouster, but he then co-opted Hart and promoted Coppolella to run baseball operations. He has endorsed their shared vision in every public utterance. He has not, so far as I know, vetoed any Coppolella-proposed trade. (I’m told Hart has nixed one or two.)"
I will add that over the past 2 years, Schuerholz (age 76) has been the driving force that has been criss-crossing the state of Florida in the search for a local government willing to host the Braves at a new Spring training home. So his focus has certainly been on other matters entirely… never mind a lot of hand-shaking this Summer as a newly-minted Hall of Fame member.
What a Battle Really Looks Like
Let me give you a timeline here:
- Nov 2013 – John Hart was hired as ‘senior advisor’ in baseball operations. He is now 69 years old, by the way.
- Sept 2014 – Frank Wren was fired as General Manager.
- Oct 2015 – John Coppolella was promoted to General Manager.
- May 2016 – Fredi Gonzalez was fired as field manager.
- Oct 2016 – Brian Snitker named field manager, dropping the ‘interim’ title.
If you want to see what a battle for control looks like, this is the very definition of it.
Hart was brought in to essentially oversee Frank Wren. Near the end of his tenure, Wren was said to have wanted Gonzalez removed as manager. He may ultimately have been right, but his ‘faction’ lost both that battle – and the war – vs. Schuerholz, Bobby Cox and the rest of the Old Guard.
The result then was a total purge of ‘everything Wren‘ – a lot of his hires (including his brother) were summarily dismissed. Heck, even his son – a likely AAAA 4th outfielder type – was sent to Milwaukee for pennies on the dollar.
Are the actions of this week akin to that? Not so much.
I like the way Mark Bradley puts this in his discussion (emphasis mine):
"Are such moves – there are two other shuffles, neither involving anyone getting fired – the first fusillade in a battle for the organizational soul? I’m sorry, but I don’t see it that way. I see these as a way to play to individual strengths. To wit: The Braves were ecstatic at hiring Chiti and Wallace away from the Orioles last fall, and now they’ve placed a farm system built around young pitchers in the hands of two renowned teachers of pitching. Is that bad? Is letting Clark, one of the great scouts ever, continue to work in scouting in any way counterproductive?"
He also points out that others – like Scouting Director Brian Bridges – didn’t change positions. He’s obviously doing his job right. So this clearly isn’t a major upheaval.