10:14pm: The Braves are moving on from Moore, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports, as “hope evaporated this weekend” that Moore would be made available by the Royals. In regards to Hart’s future, Bowman notes that since both Anthopoulos and Hendry are experienced general managers, either could take over the Braves’ baseball ops department should Hart no longer continue with the organization. “The Braves likely will make a decision as soon as possible” about their new GM, and Anthopoulos looks like the favorite.
7:39pm: Dayton Moore is still the Braves’ top choice to become the club’s new general manager, though if Atlanta isn’t able to get Moore away from the Royals, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos is “the preferred Plan B” option. Three sources paint Anthopoulos as the front-runner for the job, given that there still seems to be little traction to the idea of Moore leaving Kansas City for Atlanta.
The situation is far from being finalized, however, due to the Braves holding out hope that Moore could still become available, Major League Baseball’s ongoing investigation into signing violations under former Braves GM John Coppolella, and the status of Braves president of baseball operations John Hart. Sherman reports that Hart prefers Anthopoulos for the GM job, while club vice chairman John Schuerholz is thought to prefer former Cubs GM Jim Hendry. Hart’s own contract with the Braves expired after the 2017 season, and it isn’t yet clear if he will remain atop Atlanta’s baseball ops pyramid or if the team could desire a clean slate with a new name in charge of the front office. (In regards to Moore, he would reportedly want full control over the Braves’ operations if he were to join the organization.)
Anthopoulos, 40, worked as Toronto’s GM for six seasons, building the nucleus that led the Jays to consecutive runs to the ALCS in 2015-16. He somewhat surprisingly left the job after his contract was up after the 2015 season, however, the presence of new Jays president Mark Shapiro meant that Anthopoulos would’ve essentially been demoted to second-in-command on the team’s depth chart of baseball decision-makers.
Anthopoulos has worked as the Dodgers’ VP of baseball operations since January 2016, and turned down offers from the Twins and Diamondbacks last year when the two clubs were in the midst of their own GM searches. Family concerns were reportedly behind Anthopoulos’ decision to bow out of those searches, as he didn’t want to uproot his young children from the west coast so quickly. As Sherman notes, however, the Braves’ job “is viewed as attractive” around baseball due to the team’s deep well of prospects, even despite the likelihood that MLB will level some type of punishment against the franchise.
Just a matter of time before Alex gets another job.
Oh boy, oh boy!! Would love to see AA in the ATL.
As an Ontario native who watched what he did with the Blue Jays, me too.
Keith Law!
Keith Law will never get another job in baseball; it’s as if he’s been blackballed.
I believe he was offered a job with the Astros.
It was six years ago, and he hasn’t received an interview since (for any role).
AA is a great choice for that Braves. I know Moore is family, but his contract clause for permission is code that we’ll have to give up players to obtain. Sorry, but he’s not worth it…
Schuerholz needs to relinquish control already. Dude’s stuck in the 90s
Yeah, really…Jim Hendry? Lmao
JS wants Jim Hendry? Architect of the Cubs collapse into oblivion Jim Hendry.
Dear JS, go play golf, Hendry spent money like a drunk sailor and made soem awful acquisitions and trades. He left the team old and with a barren minor league system .
Get rid of Hart, hire AA, let MLB lay down the law and the Braves can actually begin their off season.
Alex did a tremendous job in Toronto, given what he had to work with. J.P. Ricciardi didn’t leave the organization in a good spot, a middling major league group and nothing on the farm through some very poor drafting, and Rogers tightened the purse strings on him it seemed(The Ervin Santana saga) at times. With the team 8 games back in 2015 and kinda treading water he sold the farm ( I believe he knew he probably wouldn’t be back as Paul Beeston was retiring) the jays went on a run and the rest is history.
He and his staff put baseball back on the map in Canada as the jays were languishing through a 22 year playoff drought and some decent but not exciting teams through those years. The first thing he had to deal with as GM was trading franchise icon Roy Halladay, (R.I.P.) and he did an admirable job of keeping it professional and respectful to Roy and his family.
Alex certainly kept the off seasons entertaining and developed a flair for making dramatic trades, that at least in my opinion on paper, he always seemed to get the better of, although, some of them didn’t work out on the field. Some of these trades included the Marlins deal, who could forget that? The league had to review it and ok it! The R.A. Dickey deal, reigning Cy Young winner, the Vernon Wells trade!! Voted the most likely contract that couldn’t be traded, the Tulo trade, shock value max! Josh Donaldson trade!! Other moves that lead to the playoff seasons were the original EE and Bautista signings which turned out to be huge bargains. I’m glad Alex got a little taste of the playoffs his last season he deserved it! He did very well.
I have no problem with the current regime in Toronto, they seem very business smart and baseball saavy, but they just haven’t had the same flair for the dramatic, as of yet, and they don’t really come across as down home as Alex (Alex was a more relaxed Canadian style!) I’m sure we’ll be fine. It’s not about the style it’s the substance.
Wish Alex the best if he takes the job. I’m sure he’s loving the west coast life though!
He left the Blue Jays with no minor league system to speak of, an old team and a big payroll.. As GM the Jays were a 500 team until 2015 when the 102 – 60 season made the total 20 games over 500.
The Braves are a mid-market team and until the Battery starts funneling money into their coffers their budget will be less than that of the Blue Jays. The only way to win consistently is to keep your minor league system strong, he did not do that is Toronto as scouting coordinator, AGM or GM.
I hope he succeeds but I’m not betting on it
Yup, he traded all his minor leaguers players for major league players.
I’d like to see Dayton Moore replace Hart, then bring in Alex as GM. Moore won’t come unless he’s in Hart’s current role anyway.
Not a Braves fan but why the he’ll would anyone want Jim Hendry as their GM?
Please take Williams from the white sox. They deserve each other
What’s wrong with Williams? The White Sox have the best farm I’ve ever seen. Give it time and it’ll work.
They need to get over Moore. He isn’t coming to ATL
Reports are Anthopoulos to the Braves are done.
I want a team to give Brian Kenny a shot.
Love the hire !!!!
Have a bad feeling LA is going to hire someone like LaRussa to replace Ant. I’m curious about who’s going after the bench coach job. Maybe Chase will retire and take it. Or even bring back Uribe to coach. That’d be fun to see him in the clubhouse again.