Atlanta Braves stay quiet on first day of Winter Meetings, but GM Alex Anthopoulos speaks to media

Braves stay quiet on Day 1, but Anthopoulos gives updates

By now we’ve all heard the two huge splashed of the Winter Meetings so far — Shohei Ohtani and Giancarlo Stanton, but what about our beloved Atlanta Braves?  Well, we’ve been quiet and we’re most likely going to stay that way.

Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos told the media on Monday that “it’s hard to be aggressive when you’re not certain.”

Anthopoulos was hired by the Braves less than a month ago (November 12) to take over the responsibilities of a once very aggressive GM…John Coppolella.  The Braves had something unique with Coppy…we weren’t sure how we were getting these deals, but they were being made.  Problem was, Coppy was pissing a lot of folks off in the background.

Now, new to the job, Double Aces is looking to take a more “cautious approach” to this job.  He’s sticking to the needs of a starting pitcher, bullpen help and a third baseman.  He told the media today that “the pursuit of a SP hinges on whether the right deal for a controllable piece materializes.”  You can probably take those words a couple different ways.

In any business, it’s tough to step into a new role.  If you stay cautious and try to figure out the job, people start the “what’s he doing” comments.  If said person gets crazy and starts changing things, the “what’s he doing” comments pop up.  Leaderships rolls are tough.

During his six-year stint with the Blue Jays, Anthopoulos was known to make slash moves.  Is he just baiting us and other organizations into this sitting back mode?

Double A’s is trying to get a good group around him, ones that he trusts.

He’s already hired Alex Tamin as director of major league operations, Jason Pare as assistant general manager in research and development, George Poulis as their director of player health and head athletic trainer, Andrew Tinnish as vice president of amateur and international scouting and the subsequent promotion of assistant general manager Perry Minasian.

"“As much as I’m soliciting opinions, not everybody is unanimous on every player,” Anthopoulos said Monday. “There’s an old saying, you can have a vote, but everyone’s vote doesn’t count the same. Knowing which votes to value — I’m not there yet. One person might be great (evaluating) shortstops, another person might be great with bullpen guys. I don’t know who they are yet, so to make real significant decisions, especially with young players – unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely, unless there’s real conviction amongst everybody in the organization. And with young players you’re not going to have that, you’re always going to have debate and split camp. So I think it’s just important to be thorough.”"

So what’s he going to do?  My guess is that the Braves will be pretty quiet during these Winter Meetings.

Next: Winter meeting schedule you need to know

Day two starts bright and early on Tuesday!  Stick around Tomahawk Take for all coverage of these meetings.