A source told ESPN that neither John Hart nor John Schuerholz were involved in indiscretions of former GM John Coppolella.
I’m as tired of this investigation mess as anyone. Mostly the news we’ve seen is simply a rehashing of old news and further speculation about who the Atlanta Braves hire next. Neither of those things are more than background noise created by writers with deadlines to meet and nothing to say.
This morning however, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick wrote that neither Hart nor JS played a role in the rule violations.
"John Hart. . . did not play a role in numerous rules violations that forced two club officials to resign in early October, a source told ESPN . . . MLB’s investigation examined the Braves’ internal communications and determined that Coppolella acted without knowledge or approval from Hart or John Schuerholz . . . MLB is still trying to determine whether lower-level employees . . . were involved . . ."
Crasnick is one of the few high quality sports writers remaining at ESPN who know anything about baseball. He’s highly respected by his peers and a dependable voice in the useless noise bombarding us daily. That’s the only reason I’m even addressing this.
Atlanta Braves President of Baseball Operations not engaged
Crasnick’s post is short and to the point. His source answered the question I and others have asked since the beginning? Were Hart and JS involved or asleep at the switch?
Crasnick’s source called Hart’s management “disengaged.” In other words, asleep at the switch.
That being the case how will LMC and Terry McGuirk react to this finding? They should – and I believe will – allow Hart and JS to ride off into the sunset. Allowing lax upper management to remain after this debacle can’t be a consideration.
"“The fish stinks first at the head.” – old Turkish proverb"
The Turks had it right. When an organization suffers an event of this magnitude, the root cause is lack of high quality, involved leadership. While the history of both Hart and Schuerholz indicates that once adhered to those standards, it is clear that hasn’t happened lately.