A week after being named Atlanta Braves vice president of amateur and international scouting, Andrew Tinnish changed his mind and returned to Toronto.
According to a story on MLB.com, Tinnish left for “personal reasons.” The Atlanta Braves front office took a beating during and after the investigation into significant irregularities by the previous GM.
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Alex Anthopoulus arrived and began to get his arms around things, hiring Tinnish away from Toronto where he’d worked as Anthopoulos’ director of amateur scouting and later AGM.
Tinnish didn’t finish . . .or actually start
Anthopoulos hiring of his former AGM was something of a coup. Tinnish is considered one of the brightest young (he’s 41) executives in Canada. According to Gregor Chisholm, Tinnish not Anthopoulos masterminded the drafting key pieces like Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Anthony Alford. Daniel Norris and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Leaving before he even unpacks does seem to cast another shadow on an already reeling team’s leadership.
Yet another twist in #Braves’ front-office saga. Team announces Andrew Tinnish has withdrawn from recently announced position as VP of amateur and international scouting to remain with #BlueJays.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 2, 2017
Homesick?
Some speculate that the penalties imposed on the Braves meant he had no real job for at least four years. That’s not a well thought out rationale. He understood the penalties when he took the job.
Even if the Braves can’t sign expensive international free agent, scouting needs to continue in order to be ready when restrictions are lifted.
Others suggest that as he settled into the team he recognized that deeper issues remained than he wanted to try to correct. An executive of his standing and reputation would have asked and received enough information prior to accepting to insure no surprises awaited. It’s far more likely that his statement contains no spin at all.
"“After deep consideration. . . I feel the best decision for me and my family is to remain in Toronto . . .”"
Moving children from Toronto to Atlanta would certainly be a culture shock. A front office baseball executive depends Anyone with a family on his family as a stabilizing influence. If the kids are unhappy, his wife wouldn’t be ecstatic either, that would make coming home from a long day less than relaxing.