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Atlanta Braves Saturday Chop: News catch-up time

By Alan Carpenter

MIAMI, FL - SEPTEMBER 4: J.T. Realmuto #11 of the Miami Marlins hits a home run in the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park on September 4, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - SEPTEMBER 4: J.T. Realmuto #11 of the Miami Marlins hits a home run in the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park on September 4, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – AUGUST 18: Jake Arrieta #49 of the Philadelphia Phillies delivers a pitch against the New York Mets during the fourth inning of a game at Citizens Bank Park on August 18, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – AUGUST 18: Jake Arrieta #49 of the Philadelphia Phillies delivers a pitch against the New York Mets during the fourth inning of a game at Citizens Bank Park on August 18, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

Side Moves

This was an interesting situation… and yes, as further reported by Meghan Montemurro in theAthletic (link here – subscription required), the Braves were one of the clubs along with Milwaukee and Texas requesting permission to speak with Phillies assistant Pitching Coach Young.

So this created an awkward situation for the Phillies.  As Montemurro reports, the team had a nice situation for themselves:

"[They Phillies] were​ set​ to head into the​​ 2019 season with the same group leading the pitchers: pitching coach Rick Kranitz, assistant pitching coach Chris Young and bullpen coach Jim Gott. The trio worked well together."

However, they were suddenly faced with the likelihood that they would lose Young as a coach.  With 3 teams pursuing him, that looked all but certain.  Teams will traditionally not stand in the way of a staff member getting an opportunity to do better for himself and his family, and a promotion to Pitching Coach for another club would be just that:  a better job.

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So instead, they chose to fire Kranitz and promote Young to the top job.  Kranitz is 60 years old… Young is 37, and obviously the team made the call that they’d prefer to keep the apprentice at the expense of the master.

The Phils are said to be assisting Kranitz with finding another role elsewhere, but it’s still a part of a near-cutthroat reaction that they felt forced into.

And thus, the Atlanta Braves’ search for a new pitching coach drags on.

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