Atlanta Braves GM choice: fan poll results

There were some interesting results on this poll, but realizing that the final selection will shape this team’s success for the next several years is going to be the more interesting result.

So the Atlanta Braves are GM-shopping… and who knows?  Maybe that shopping trip just got accelerated since the Nats dumped an ugly game to make their customary early exit from the playoffs last night.

I set this poll up differently from most, and that choice was intentional:  it wasn’t a straight up ‘yes or no’ or ‘pick your favorite from the list’ kind of choice.  Knowing that there might be nuances between candidates, I basically asked how happy you think you’d be if each one got the job… and the response was great, so thank you for that!

So let’s go ahead and see what you thought about the currently suggested slate of GM candidates… but don’t miss the write-in candidates named also:  some excellent options are among them.

DAYTON MOORE

Moore received the most favorable responses, with 45% ‘thrilled’ and 28.4% ‘good choice’ reactions… for a full 73%+ reacting positively  to the notion of him taking the helm.

That leaves 25% on the negative side (with a few ‘no opinion’ responses), and 7.3% still suggesting ‘No way!’ to the thought.

Still, having nearly half reacting this strongly is significant… it’s even hard to get that kind of plurality to agree among friends on having lunch at a new restaurant.

DOUG HARRIS

The recipient of the second best reactions, Harris nearly matched Moore in having fewer than 10% suggest that he’d be a terrible choice…. though most of his support came in the middle choices:  41.4% as a ‘good choice’ and 32% ‘I could live with that’.

BILLY RYAN

Ryan, who may have been a victim of Coppolella’s ‘purge’ of naysayers in his office, was still seen either as not experienced enough or too much of an insider for the job.

37.9% could ‘live with him’ as a choice, while only around 1/5th believed he’d truly be a solid pick.  A full 25% felt ‘no way’ – perhaps under the thought that he’d be a continuation of the old regime with Hart or Schuerholz pulling his strings.  However, 15% reserved judgment.

Now we get to the picks y’all truly disliked…

BEN CHERINGTON

40.2% said ‘No way’.  That’s a big number, but you’ll see that those numbers will get bigger as we continue.  But fewer than 19% of you thought positively of Cherington as a candidate (5% ‘thrilled’) and a full 1/3rd (32.4%) sighed and decided that you could tolerate his running the show.

JOHN HART

First off, it’s interesting that despite a lack of direct evidence (so far) implicating Hart in any of the current chaos, it seems that many of you have picked up on this notion that there needs to be a fundamental change in the executive management structure of this organization.

As such, a significant 57% made a statement – that being ‘No – never’ for Hart staying on to be the next GM… though it might actually be that the Braves could go in this direction in the short term.

Overall, over 80% of you reacted negatively to this suggestion (25.8% could ‘live with that’, but obviously weren’t thrilled with the idea).

9.4% called Hart a ‘good choice’ and 2.5% would be thrilled (probably members of his family or Nats fans sneaking over to try and skew the poll).

DAN JENNINGS

Here is where your wrath really came forth… but only barely more than that for Hart.

62% declared ‘never’ for Jennings, but 82.4% said either that or that they could ‘live with it’… compared to 83.0% for Hart in those two categories.

Jennings had a higher ‘no opinion’ slice, with just under 10% suggesting he’d be either a ‘good’ or ‘thrilling’ choice… and under 2% for that latter category.