As the MLB investigation into alleged rule violations allegedly carried out by former GM John Coppolella nears its end the question of who leads the Braves moves center stage.
Yesterday I wrote that no evidence found to date linked current Atlanta Braves President of Baseball Operations John Hart with the violations in question. The same report suggested Hart’s ‘disengaged’ management did not go unnoticed.
Hart made some perfunctory moves to stabilize the ship and keep the team moving forward, albeit slowly. However, a new GM and potentially a new president of baseball ops must be named before serious postseason decisions are made.
Many names floated so appear to be reporters rounding up the usual suspects. While one of those individuals could be hired, that’s by no means a certainty.
The usual suspects
Whenever a GM position opens, old reliable names appear of the list. The criteria seems to be either:
- a past tie to a club or to the president of baseball operations for the club,
- or a GM who recently found himself unemployed or
- somebody who floats through a some sports writer’s brain near a deadline
In this case the individual whose name the press most often mentioned – Dayton Moore – made his lack of interest known in various interviews.
In a news conference on October 18 (video link), Moore says pointed that he is passionate about being a leader in Kansas City and with the Royals. He says that he loves the Glass family and can’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be. That’s pretty definitive.
Nevertheless the Atlanta Braves reportedly contacted the Royals and owner David Glass turned down their request. When Frank Wren departed Moore’s name topped the list. Glass said then he would never stand in the way of Moore’s personal desires. Turning the request down now shields Moore from the need to publicly refuse and offer from his former team.
Other names mentioned include Ben Cherington, Omar Minaya, Dan Jennings, Doug Harris and of all people architect of the Cubs collapse, Jim Hendry. Of that list, I find Harris the most appealing but, If I was going to present a fresh face with winning credentials I’d look elsewhere.
Not the usual suspects
The genesis of this idea came when I replied to a comment on to the post linked at the top. The essential idea is that the Braves need new thinking the people Terry McGuirk uses as advisors to the front office management team.
Atlanta Braves
First thing on the list of things to do is bring in an outsider such as Omar Minaya or Dan O’Dowd to fill the Schuerholz role along with a number two to take the reins within eighteen months. My choice for that number two; Tom Glavine.
Glavine would serve as VP of baseball operations, the same role he would have held had the sale of the Marlins gone his way. That clears the top shelf, onward to the next tier.
Atlanta Braves GM candidates you don’t know
Next I want a young, forward thinking but baseball grounded individual. This individual would be:
- New to the organization, because I want fresh eyes and no bias for or against anyone
- Familiar with modern analytics but not addicted to them and willing to let the manager interpret the data provided
- Grounded in traditional scouting at both draft and professional levels
- Looking for a promotion
- Understand the goal of consistently competing for a championship requires strength from the bottom to the top of the organization.
The obvious place to look for these paragons? Teams that currently follow a similar path. Here are a couple of suggestions.
Jason McLeod
According to a Baseball Prospectus post last year, the first draft pick McLeod made as Scouting Director for the Boston Red Sox was Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia wasn’t a top ten pick; he wasn’t even a top 50 pick. McLeod selected him at #65, that seems to have worked out well.
The following season the Sox selected Jacoby Ellsbury (23), Clay Buchholz (42), Jed Lowrie (45), those guys were high enough that they were expected to be good. Picks like Charlie Blackmon (618). Josh Reddick (523rd in 2006) and Anthony Rizzo (206th in 2007) aren’t as easy to find.
Currently McLeod acts as Cubs’ senior vice president of scouting and player development. He came to the Cubs from San Diego where he served as AGM under Jed Hoyer. He remade the Cubs farm system growing it from a bottom third to a top five system in less than three years.
After last season the Cubs extended McLeod through 2021 but his boss, Jed Hoyer, expects him to be a GM before that. He told Mark Gonzalez he was surprised someone hadn’t already signed him.
"“We dodged a few bullets the past few years with him. I’m sort of expecting, if not now, soon. . . There’s probably not a better scouting and player development guy out there. . .he has all the skills to do . . .the (GM) job. He’s got a great way about . . . manages people very easily . . They love working for him. . . we probably know it’s somewhat inevitable that at some point he’s going to get an opportunity, which is great.”"
Mike Elias
According to the Astros bio page, Elias is a Yale graduate who started his front office career as an area scout for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2007. The Cardinals liked his work and made him Manager of Amateur Scouting in 2010
He came to Houston in 2012 as Special Assistant to the GM-Scouting advocated strongly for the selection of Carlos Correa 1-1 that year. Under his guidance the Astros selected 10 players made their debut, including Correa, Lance McCullers, Alex Bregman and Preston Tucker.
That work led to his promotion to AGM in August of last year.2016. He’s currently in charge of amateur scouting Astros and leads their player development department.
J.J. Picolo
I’ve mentioned Picolo before, he’s Dayton Moore’s right hand man and a respected AGM throughout the game. He’s a former Braves front office guy having joined the team in 1999 as the Assistant Director of Player Development. In November 2005 the Braves promoted him to Director of Minor League Operations.
A year later he followed Moore to Kansas City as Director of Player Development earning promotion to AGM Scouting & Player Development in 2008 and Vice President/Assistant General Manager-Player Personnel in 2015.
Picolo led the 2008 draft and signing on Eric Hosmer, Mike Montgomery. He had success in 2009 as well, signing of Wil Myers, Aaron Crow and current Braves outfielder Lane Adams. The draft over the next three years wasn’t as successful. The bounced back in 2013, signing Hunter Dozier and Sean Manea and 2014 saw Brandon Finnegan sign and appear in the World Series.
That’s a Wrap
These options offer a younger, fresher face and a new outlook for the team. I put them in order of fitting my stated preferences for moving the team forward.
Next: Don't blame me I didn't choose it
There are surely others out there that fit the mold. I hope today’s Tweet by Mark Bowman that Braves are looking for a president of baseball ops is correct. I feel that and a new GM from the outside is the way forward.
Of course, no one asks me.