I have questions about the Atlanta Braves’ investigation, and so should you

While the MLB’s investigation into the Braves’ international wrongdoings was announced immediately following the regular season, it doesn’t seem that the media’s coverage throughout the investigation quite matched the severity of the Braves’ wrongdoings. Even after the punishment was announced, very little was said afterward. Was there a reason behind this?

First things first: The Atlanta Braves haven’t been successful in recent years, but they’re still relevant in the world of sports. Their lack of success shouldn’t warrant something of this magnitude being kept so quiet.

Once the investigation (along with Coppolella’s resignation) was announced on October 2nd, there were stories from ESPN and Mark Bowman, as expected, but nothing more than routine speculation – mostly from the local guys – leading up to the announcement of the Braves’ punishment.

Was this by design? Could the ‘hush-hush’ manner in which the mainstream media handled the investigation be a sign that there was actually a lot more to it that no one wanted to cover? Let’s look at a couple of things.

The ‘Power Struggle’

On August 29th,  CBS Sports reported that the Atlanta Braves were shuffling their front office ‘amid rumors of a power struggle’. One team official said that there was disagreement between John Schuerholz, John Hart, and John Coppolella about who was running the show.

As we know by now (or at least as we’re told), Coppolella and Hart were making decisions. Seemingly, it was Coppolella more than Hart, but both were definitely involved, hence Hart’s resignation and otherwise weird ending to his Braves career.

Was the ‘power struggle’ a sign of the impending investigation (or announcement thereof)? If so, how long had the investigation actually been going on before it was announced?

The Timing

John Copolella resigned the day after the conclusion of the regular season, and MLB’s investigation was announced at the same time. That alone gives reason to believe that there’s more to this situation, and that the investigation might have been going on for weeks, or even months.

There’s no way Coppolella was informed on the last day of the season, or even a week before the season’s end, that the team was under investigation, and that he’d have to resign following the season’s end.

Furthermore, Major League Baseball wants Atlanta Braves fans to believe that they found enough evidence in less than two months to justify taking away a dozen prospects, as well as imposing some pretty serious international sanctions.

The situation is eerily similar to the way the Red Sox scandal in 2016 was handled. It was covered when the news first broke, as well as when the punishment was delivered, but not much in between. I’m no expert with puzzles, but it doesn’t take one to put a few pieces together.

Why isn’t this being covered?

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Throughout the entire investigation, fans were talking about the situation on social media more than the media was, but that still didn’t get reporters talking much. To this day, columnists haven’t written about the specifics of what went on within the Braves’ front office.

Why?

Has the MLB asked major media outlets to keep quiet about the situation, or are they just not doing so out of respect for the overall quiet nature of the MLB investigation process?

Either way, the lack of coverage has nothing to do with a lack of events to cover.  Instead, it has all of the earmarks of journalists trying to protect themselves, as well as the other people, from public scrutiny.

Next: Murph gets snubbed by HoF committee

I’m confident that there are more details to come from this investigation, and even more confident that someone is eventually going to report on not just what fans want to hear, but what they’d love to hear about.