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Braves reportedly narrowing the field as search for new manager drags on

The Braves manager rumor mill is heating up.
Eric Cole
Eric Cole

House That Hank Built

New York Mets v San Diego Padres / Orlando Ramirez/GettyImages

The Atlanta Braves' search for a new manager to replace Brian Snitker feels like it has been going on for ages even though the World Series just ended. Instead of time bringing more clarity to the search, it feels like more and more potential candidates keep getting added to the pool and what direction the Braves will go becomes even more unclear. However, it does sound like Atlanta could be narrowing the field finally.

According to most sources, it felt like Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann was leading the pack or at least was among the leaders. A lot of names have been floated along with Lehmann, however, including John Gibbons who Alex Anthopoulos knows well from his days in Toronto.

However, if the latest intel from MLB's Mark Bowman is any indication, Gibbons may be out of the running and the odds that Lehmann gets the job are declining adding even more chaos to the Braves manager speculation.

Latest rumors have John Gibbons out and Danny Lehmann's stock declining in Braves' manager search

The first part of Bowman's tweet is really, really important here. Getting information out of the Braves' front office is notoriously difficult if not impossible. Things can change very quickly depending on recommendations from around the organization and based on how various interviews go.

What we can tell is that Atlanta is working diligently to find their next manager relatively quickly now. Gibbons was once a dark horse candidate to fill Snitker's position, but that Bowman has heard enough to cross him off the list is noteworthy. It is pretty curious that he also seems to be a good bit less confident in Lehmann's chances, but we still don't know who is on the rise in Atlanta's search and keeping his name in mind still makes sense until we get a more firm denial.

There are also other potential candidates we know nothing about their chances. A lot of names have been floated as theoretical fits and David Ross publicly expressed his interest a while back, but there has been no traction in the rumor mill there. If this report is a sign of things to come, we should find out soon who is going to be the Braves' skipper and it may be someone no one suspects.

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.