House That Hank Built
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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Anthopoulos poured gas onto his own fire

By Alan Carpenter

FORT BRAGG, NC - JULY 03: A detailed view of baseballs prior to the game between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves on July 3, 2016 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Fort Bragg Game marks the first regular season MLB game ever to be played on an active military base. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
FORT BRAGG, NC - JULY 03: A detailed view of baseballs prior to the game between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves on July 3, 2016 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Fort Bragg Game marks the first regular season MLB game ever to be played on an active military base. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – MAY 7: New York Giants new head coach Tom Coughlin speaks to the media following mini camp on May 7, 2004 on the practice field at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – MAY 7: New York Giants new head coach Tom Coughlin speaks to the media following mini camp on May 7, 2004 on the practice field at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

As you probably know already, the Braves’ top officers sat down with writers from TheAthletic to discuss the off-season.  It didn’t go particularly well.

This is a mess of their own making… and the attempted cleanup by the Atlanta Braves General Manager and its CEO did nothing to quell fan angst.

We’ve already talked about much of this interview last evening in Matt Browning’s discussion of the topic, but I wanted to add a couple of additional points.

Can you explain the difference to me between ‘having no flexibility’ and ‘spending nothing when you have flexibility?’

The result is the same.

Alex Anthopoulos has been quoted in interviews that he’s always looking to make the team better and that he does not take for granted the position of being competitive for the playoffs… if he’s close, he wants to push for more and for the win.

Indeed, he did that in 2018:  the Gausman/Brach/O’Day trade was nothing short of brilliant.  So too, was the first moves of the off-season in getting both Josh Donaldson and Brian McCann to sign on… albeit for just a year apiece.

Since then, we as fans have been left collectively with the “Okay… what’s next?” anticipation.  Other than Nick Markakis, there hasn’t been a ‘next’.

Apparently, the word has reached the Front Office that fans don’t understand, aren’t happy, and are expressing frustration.  I can’t even tell you about how “Braves Twitter” is reacting… this is a family-friendly publication.

So the purpose of this interview was obviously to lay out an explanation and reasoning for Why Things Are The Way They Are.

Problem is… the explanations and answers didn’t really help matters.

Let’s continue to break this down, for there was indeed a lot to cover in this… and *sigh*… it really wasn’t satisfying to see it in print.

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