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.
Is Rosenthal Wrong?
It is possible that he’s simply misreading the tea leaves – or even sensationalizing his interpretation.
Are people getting “testy” in the Front Office? Possible – losing will do that. Is Coppy not happy with the performance of some few people under him? Also possible – that happens from time to time.
Could either Schuerholz or Hart be trying to suggest/implement/institute a few last-minute changes before either or both retire? Also possible.
Some other thoughts that might result in differing opinions amongst the senior leadership:
- Brian Snitker’s future (notably, his contract option for 2018 still hasn’t been picked up). As Fred suggested this morning, that decision may yet still be up for debate.
- How to construct the team from here (Schuerholz would be a ‘build from the farm first’ guy; Hart/Coppy would lean toward ‘use the farm to obtain premium talent’)
- Priorities involving specific personnel roles – both on-field and off-field
There could, in fact, be a bit of rivalry between Schuerholz and Hart: both were GMs during the 1990’s who enjoyed great success with their teams – with Hart on the short end of the 1995 World Series against the Braves. But it seems to be a friendly rivalry at that.
Hart built that club through a combination of the draft, trades, and free agents… assembling an awesome lineup that happened to run up against the best starting rotation in baseball (and 3 Hall of Famers). Turns out that Scheurholz built the Braves of the 1990’s in very much the same fashion.
At the same time, it was Schuerholz who hired Hart in the first place as Schuerholz was continuing to pull away from the day-to-day activities of baseball operations.
Bottom Line
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The organization isn’t particularly happy right now – the major league team has fallen flat since reaching .500. The veterans hired as stop-gaps for 2017 have had mixed results and there are precious few trade options that they have been able to take advantage of.
Reports of grim faces from Coppy and Hart after a recent post-game meeting with Snitker (can’t put my finger on a good source, sorry) likely stemmed directly from Jim Johnson blowing a game that Atlanta should have won against the Mariners on August 23rd. It is my own belief that Johnson would already be back home now except for his 2018 contract year.
Nobody likes losing, and Coppy has made promises about ending the losing that he can’t keep by himself. But this is becoming Coppelalla’s organization as Schuerholz and Hart prepare to exit.
Overall, these organizational changes look a lot more like ‘fine tuning’ and a lot less like a power play. This is a club setting itself up for a big off-season push, and all of their ducks need to be lined up appropriately.
Thus, this is hardly a time for chaos.
In the meantime… can we maybe beat the Phillies today? At least once?