It remains deeply odd that after all of the back and forth as to who would be their next manager over the last month, the Atlanta Braves just ended up hiring Walt Weiss who was the obvious internal candidate from the beginning. Perhaps the Braves just did their due diligence and realized that Weiss was the best option for them and there is nothing more to it. However, it feels like there is an outside chance that hiring Weiss could have an added benefit few are thinking about right now.
There have been calls for a long time for Chipper Jones to return to the Braves' dugout as a coach or manager. While his resume as a player is undeniable, Jones has resisted those calls (especially to be a manager) as he has been enjoying retirement with his family and he also (correctly) knows that being in a public facing role like manager when he is liable to say...well just about anything with a micropohone in front of him and that would probably end badly.
However, now that his longtime close friend Weiss is the Braves' skipper, perhaps that is the push Chipper needed to take on a different responsibility as a full-time hitting coach that would fit his skills and expertise very well.
Braves hiring Walt Weiss feels like the push Chipper Jones needs to be a full-time coach
The logic here is straight-forward. Weiss and Jones have known each other forever going back to their days as players and seem to be close. Chipper also said he could be a very good hitting coach recently which felt like him opening the door to the possibility that he is at a point in his life where getting back in the dugout full-time could happen soon. Of note here is that when the Braves announced that Weiss got the job, Jones responded enthusiastically and immediately to the move on social media.
However, there are some potential problems with this plan. First, bringing in Jones in a major role would definitely upend the current coaching staff that the Braves seem fond of. Hitting coach Tim Hyers in particular would be impacted depending on how responsibilities would be divvied up and we still don't know who will serve as the Braves' bench coach.
Would Weiss and the Braves overhaul the coaching staff to accommodate Jones despite his lack of MLB coaching experience? That is very unclear at the moment. It is also entirely possible that Jones still prefers helping out part-time without the need to travel constantly during the season. We just don't know.
We will find out soon enough at least some of the Braves' short-term plans with Weiss locked in as their manager at a press conference "introducing" him on Tuesday. One final note on that: guess who is expected to be in attendance at Weiss' press conference? Yep, Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones. Very interesting indeed.