Atlanta Braves scandal worsens daily

When news of turmoil in the Atlanta Braves front office broke it seemed overstated. It quickly developed into an organizational dung heap that smells worse every day.

First came reports from Ken Rosenthal of discord in the Atlanta Braves front office.  A month later GM John Coppolella and Gordon Blakeley resigned. As days pass we hear dribs and drabs about the depth of the problems and rumors that agents and other teams disliked Coppolella.

Many put those rumors down to angry employees but others began to speak out as well. In the meantime a front office roiled by the investigation vowed not to miss a beat. As always happens in situations like this, when you think things can’t get worse they do.

Agent stopped dealing with the Atlanta Braves

James Munsey graduated for Vermont Law School in 1984 and sits on the school’s Sports Law Board of Directors. According to the VLS site, Munsey also hold degrees from University of New Hampshire and Stetson University.  More relevant to this story, he also runs Munsey Sports Management.

Yesterday David O’Brien wrote that Coppollela angered Munsey so badly he vowed never to deal the Atlanta Braves again as long as Coppolella was GM.

Munsey’s client list includes catchers Rafael Lopez, and former Brave Jarrod Saltalamacchia, outfielder Sam Fuld, pitchers Neil Wagner, Scott Maine, Michael Crotta and Sean Burnett. Not a star-studded group to be sure but still professional baseball players who are entitled to honest negotiations.  Munsey emailed O’Brien to say that after his last interaction with the Braves, news of the investigation into Coppollela’s deals did not surprise him.