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.
Now we wait
Next we wait for MLB’s post World Series announcement of their findings and resultant disciplinary action. Nothing happens until then in spite of speculation otherwise.
Late last night Jeff wrote about speculation that Ben Cherington was a candidate to move to Atlanta. His post originated from short paragraph at the bottom of a story by Nick Cafardo.
". . . Cherington is getting a lot of attention as a possible GM candidate in Atlanta . . ."
He doesn’t source that or lead with it, so it’s likely no more than gossip. It’s a bad idea; Cherington would be an awful choice for more than one reason.
Reasons to avoid Cherington
The first thing to do when restoring your organization after a scandal; hire unsullied leadership. Cherington fails that test.
After Theo Epstein left Boston to resurrect Chicago, Cherrington took over as executive vice president and GM of the Boston Red Sox. His tenure ended in August 2015, shortly after the international signing period began. We’ve since learned why.
In May 2016, Baseball American reported that the Red Sox were under investigation for violations of the rules regarding international signings in Latin America. Sound familiar?
On July 2 2016, MLB cancelled the contracts of the five players involved, allowed them to keep their signing bonuses totaling $1.5M. MLB also banned the Red Sox from any signing any international players until July 2 of this year.
If Cherington didn’t know what was going on, he’s guilty fo the same disengaged management as Hart. Cherington then fails the first litmus test; credibility.
Secondly he’s not proven himself a good decision maker as a GM. In fact many of his decisions were awful.
I Choose
Cherington’s biggest success came when he traded half of the Red Sox – okay just Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Nick Punto and a big check to the Dodgers for Ivan De Jesus, James Loney and Allen Webster, Rubby De La Rosa and Jerry Sands.
That was clearly a purging of salary, broken players and bad signings with the Red Sox eating the contracts. The signing of Yoan Moncada, and Rafael Devers and drafting Andrew Benintendi turned out very well too.
On the other hand, his first big decision brought Bobby Valentine on board as manager replacing Terry Francona. Oops.
In 2013, he signed Rusney Castillo to a nine-year, $724M deal that’s seen Castillo do most of his work in the minors.
Castillo’s stay in the minors lasted longer because Cherrington also signed SS/3B Hanley Ramirez for 4 years at $22M AAV + a $3M signing bonus to play left field. Oops.
At the same time, he also signed 3B/1B Pablo Sandoval for five years $95M with a $3M signing bonus (he seems to like $3m signing bonuses). Oops.
Castillo might have solved some of Boston’s power issues this season. Those two bad contracts and the addition of David Price meant that Castillo’s arrival in the majors would’ve pushed Boston into a higher luxury tax bracket and increased the outfield log jam.
Castillo looks like a good player. The nine-year deal to a player yet to face major league pitching makes no sense.
That’s a Wrap
I can’t imagine Terry McGuirk and LMC allowing Hart to remain. Both understand business and the need for accountable leadership. I believe JS will go as well since he was the prime mover – some say sponsor – of John Coppolella’s rise to GM.
JS fired Frank Wren then allowed Coppolella – the architect of the Melvin Upton Jr. deal which eventually forced Wren out – to remain and move up the power chain.
The departure of both Johns would leave a void and require a good baseball man and a good GM to right the ship.
Dayton Moore was never coming, interviews and quotes from the beginning indicated he wasn’t interested. That the Glass family refused permission to talk to him was simply a way to protect him from having to say no to the Atlanta Braves.
I look for someone like Dan O’Dowd or Jim Duquette to come in. Please note, I am not saying these names are on any list or speculating they will be named. I’m just that they fit the type of individual needed. Mark Bowman suggested (Twitter link) failed Cubs GM Jim Hendry this morning.
Details will come forth after this exciting – if not always well played – World Series ends. At that time we can cheer or whine about them.