Baseball fans are often very into the history of their teams and Atlanta Braves fans are no exception. The Braves have as rich a history as almost any team in baseball and, depending on how old a given Atlanta fan is, their eras were seminal in forming their fandoms and color their perceptions as to who the all-time best for the Braves truly are. Now that we have a nice sized sample of his tenure, it is time to start thinking about how history will judge current Braves front office head Alex Anthopoulos as well.
It is easy to forget that Anthopoulos took over the Braves way back before the 2018 season. Atlanta was emerging from scandal and there was genuine concern that their rebuild would be set back in a big way with the change in leadership.
Instead, the Braves immediately thrived under Anthopoulos and after their crazy run of success, even with how rough the last couple of years have been, he is on track to be the best executive in Braves franchise history. No, seriously...just look at who he is up against.
Braves' Alex Anthopoulos already has a strong case for the best front office exec in franchise history and he isn't done yet
There have been a lot of really consequential front office executives in Braves history. Way back when, general manager John Quinn brought the franchise a World Series title back in 1957, Bobby Cox was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Atlanta's early 90's success before he returned strictly to the dugout, and John Schuerholz is revered in Atlanta for his stewardship during the Braves' first massive run of division titles. As for John Coppolella, well...we will get to that.
So far in his eight seasons running the Braves, Anthopoulos has won a World Series (only Quinn and Schuerholz did that as execs, though Cox was around as a manager) and helped make the Braves a consistent playoff contender despite significant roster turnover. Schuerholz's run was incredibly impressive, but it only yielded one ring despite higher expectations than that and it came mainly because of the same core in the rotation. Anthopoulos has had to mix and match rosters because of departures and injuries. Hell, it was a miracle that 2021 was the year the Braves won it when you think about it.
As for Coppolella, his acquisitions and development certainly gave Anthopoulos a lot to work with and laid the foundation for the Braves' current success. However, his last two drafts were bad and then there was that whole "international signing scandal that set the Braves back years" thing that takes him out of the running. In fact, the mess that Coppy left is a point in Anthopoulos' favor as he cleaned things up pretty damn quickly.
If AA were to quit or get fired today, Schuerholz would probably still get the nod based on sheer longevity and prolonged success. However, if Anthopoulos can bring another championship trophy to Atlanta or even add a couple World Series appearances before he is done, he is going to have a much stronger argument. Thankfully, it seems like he is going to hang around long enough to find out.