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Braves just dropped bombshell manager update that'll have fans questioning everything

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

House That Hank Built

Chicago Cubs v Atlanta Braves / Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/GettyImages

The Atlanta Braves search for a new manager has had a lot of twists and turns. For a while, internal options like Walt Weiss felt like the logical choice, but then most of the reporting turned to external options while completely discounting the internal ones. Danny Lehmann was a popular name on the rumor mill as was David Ross, Mark DeRosa, John Gibbons, and several others. While it sounded earlier on Monday like the field had narrowed slightly, things took a real turn Monday evening.

With so much chatter about who will replace the recently retired Brian Snitker, it was a given that fans were going to be posting their opinions on Twitter/X and making sure the various Braves beat writers saw their thoughts. What wasn't a given was that MLB's Braves beat writer Mark Bowman would basically eliminate multiple leading candidates in just one simple tweet and then the Braves would just go ahead and name Walt Weiss as the Braves' new manager a few minutes later.

Walt Weiss ended up being the right choice for the Braves after all

That Bowman was speaking so clearly on this issue should tell fans everywhere something. He isn't a guy to make up information or cast his opinion as fact. He heard from somewhere of note that Lehmann, DeRosa (whose candidacy never got off the ground it seems), and Ross were not in the running.

As it turns out, that guess was spot on as Atlanta ultimately did decide to go with Weiss to replace Snitker. He has managerial experience, knows how the organization functions and uses analytics, and he knows all the players extremely well. When you sit back and think about it, it was weird that there was much of a search at all.

For Braves fans, Weiss was generally seen as the safe pick from the get-go, but it is pretty wild to see his name jump back into the running just like that. Even Bowman had basically eliminated him and Perez early on in this process in his reporting. Something very clearly changed and based on how this whole process went, one wonders why there was a delay in the first place and if some initial alternatives fell through in a hurry.

Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.