It's Anthopoulos

[clvclv]

That would have happened regardless of who was in charge. But I hope we are very selective in trading the prospects. The obvious positional needs are left and third. I don't think we need to make a big splash at either position. But some reinforcement would be smart. I am also skeptical of starting the season with Fried and/or Sims in the rotation. A veteran starting pitching is needed. AA's old team the Dodgers have a bit of a surplus. I'm check with them on McCarthy or Ryu.

I'd be somewhat OK with one rental for the rotation, but given the injury histories of those names I'm not giving up as much for either as they gave up for Garcia (Gant/Ellis/Dykstra). If the Dodgers will take two of Anfernee Seymour, Ricardo Sanchez, Drew Harrington, or Huascar Ynoa for one of them I might bite.

If you've got to spend more prospect capital than that to get someone of that ilk to put in the rotation, bite the bullet and sign Cobb or Lynn (and use the Fried/Sims/Newcomb/Folty types as trade bait) or roll the dice and resign Garcia or bring in Sabathia or Lackey on a one-year deal and keep all the prospects to use as throw-ins in future deals.

I understand not being sold on Sims, and can see the hesitation with Fried (although he's doing all he can to make the worries disappear), but I have no doubt that Soroka and Wright will be solid #3/#4s at the very least, so I'm not really interested in adding vets that will need rotation spots in 2019 unless you're angling for a TOR type like Archer. As it is, you've got Gohara, Julio, Newcomb, Folty, possibly Fried, Soroka, and Wright as 2019 rotation pieces - if you're not adding someone better than them to move them all down a slot, I wouldn't trade any of our Top 20 prospects.

[Jaw]

Excellent. I was hoping for AA or Cherington, didn't really care which. AA is so much better than 90% of the names that were being ran through the rumor mill.

[clvclv]

A couple reasons. First, he's described as a Coppy clone. I think the last thing the Braves need is another Coppy, even if AA isn't going to break rules like Coppy. I wanted a change from Coppy and instead we got another guy cut from the same cloth.

Second, AA has an unhealthy fascination with acquiring expensive players past their prime. He traded Thor for Dickey, he acquired Jose Reyes and Josh Johnson from the Marlins in the same trade when both were past their prime, and then he trades Reyes for Tulowitzki who immediately goes into sharp decline.

We aren't a team that can afford to be saddled with expensive, under producing, veterans with long contracts.

I don't like this at all.

Much of that was done at the end of their window with their control over fan-favorites like Bautista and Encarnacion running out. I don't mind taking a shot - especially one that gave you a legitimate shot more than once (if they'd have re-signed Price).

I definitely wasn't a fan of ANYONE making a deal for Tulo, but that's probably the only one of his adds I really would have hated if I was a Jays fan.

[Southcack77]

That would have happened regardless of who was in charge. But I hope we are very selective in trading the prospects. The obvious positional needs are left and third. I don't think we need to make a big splash at either position. But some reinforcement would be smart. I am also skeptical of starting the season with Fried and/or Sims in the rotation. A veteran starting pitching is needed. AA's old team the Dodgers have a bit of a surplus. I'm check with them on McCarthy or Ryu.

I'm not sure they would have made a big trade going into 2018 with the existing crew. But they might have.

[Southcack77]

I don't mind acquiring a rotation piece that is an obvious solution even if it has the effect of blocking prospects. I'd rather have a sure thing than a chance and having more candidates for fewer positions cannot be a bad thing.

I also don't mind acquiring a short term fix that would be league average for the same reason.

What I don't want is a an acquisition of a so so or declining starter that is owed a lot of money for a long time.

[Tapate50]

I'm a fan of this... especially the part where he has final say in all baseball ops.

[CJ9]

I know we all have differing opinions of Mark Bradley, but he sums things up pretty well on why AA is the right move, even over Moore: http://www.myajc.com/blog/mark-bradl...1SHMeyoE2qNyN/

[50PoundHead]

As long as he recognizes that the lower minor league talent base looks solid and there's no need to truncate the true timeline for contention, I'm fine with the move.

[50PoundHead]

That would have happened regardless of who was in charge. But I hope we are very selective in trading the prospects. The obvious positional needs are left and third. I don't think we need to make a big splash at either position. But some reinforcement would be smart. I am also skeptical of starting the season with Fried and/or Sims in the rotation. A veteran starting pitching is needed. AA's old team the Dodgers have a bit of a surplus. I'm check with them on McCarthy or Ryu.

Not sure on whether or not we need another starting pitcher. If we are intent on contending, then yes. But I don't think we are there quite yet and trading off prospects for a McCarthy or Ryu would be a premature sideways move to me. Sims and Fried may turn out to be the modern day equivalents of Jamie Easterly and Preston Hanna, but I think we have to throw them out there and see what they have.

[JohnAdcox]

Considering how bad this could have been, Anthopoulos is a remarkable stroke of good fortune.

Though it's annoying that we AGAIN have a GM the spelling of whose name I'll have to check every time I write it.

Huh? How hard is Antho?

[Managuarantano's Volunteers]

Guess I’m happy about this like most of y’all.

[bravesfanMatt]

we still have our coaching staff though.

[Hawk]

Huh? How hard is Antho?

A-N-T-H-R-O-P-O-L-O-G-Y

[ramadon101]

Excellent hire. I cannot stress enough how much of a bullet we avoided given some of the other names in the running. Thank goodness that McGuirk and the bean counters took heed of the fact that the overwhelming trend in baseball is to hire progressive thinking FOs instead of going JS's Hendry route.

Alex worked hand in hand with Zaidi, Friedman and the entire analytics staff in LA. The Dodgers paid to move his entire family from Toronto and allowed his(relatively young) kids to travel with the team, etc. Clearly he's moving to Atlanta with a commitment. He's definitely in the know when it comes to what methods and analytics Zaidi and his staff were utilizing over the past few years. Either AA or McLeod would have been my choice and frankly I could see a scenario where AA guides the team for a year but after getting established and instilling new philosophies throughout the organization, brings in a McLeod or Zaidi type to do most of the grunt day to day work as GM.

[mqt]

Ugh. Don't like this at all.

We've got ourselves a Jim Hendry fan, I see.

[Garmel]

I'm pumped for a new era of braves baseball. Its obvious that the sabremetric movement won out. Doesn't mean old fashion scouting is not useful but its about time that we caught up to where the rest of the teams in the league are right now in terms of data analytics.

Does this mean the conspiracy theory that Coppy was terminated because he was too much into sabermetrics is now dead?

[Enscheff]

As long as he recognizes that the lower minor league talent base looks solid and there's no need to truncate the true timeline for contention, I'm fine with the move.

A new GM will be under zero pressure to win immediately.

AA is the best chance the Braves had at getting rid of a portion of Kemp's salary, and not starting Acuna's clock opening day. He should also drag the Braves into the modern age, hopefully stealing some ideas he learned from the 2 years he spent with the Dodgers.

AA wouldn't have been my first choice, but he undoubtedly the best option the Braves were realistically choosing from.

[Enscheff]

Does this mean the conspiracy theory that Coppy was terminated because he was too much into sabermetrics is now dead?

Coppy was fired by Hart. Hart was removed from power and AA hired in his place.

The guys responsible for firing Coppy are not the ones responsible for hiring AA.

It's hard to understand, I know (almost as hard as understanding TV radar guns are hot), but if you really try you should be able to figure it out without getting a headache that requires you to pop one of your wife's opioids.

[Garmel]

Coppy was fired by Hart. Hart was removed from power and AA hired in his place.

The guys responsible for firing Coppy are not the ones responsible for hiring AA.

It's hard to understand, I know (almost as hard as understanding TV radar guns are hot), but if you really try you should be able to figure it out without getting a headache that requires you to pop one of your wife's opioids.

LOL! Keep trying, Enscheff. Your accuracy this off season has been fantastic!

[mqt]

Coppy was fired by Hart. Hart was removed from power and AA hired in his place.

The guys responsible for firing Coppy are not the ones responsible for hiring AA.

It's hard to understand, I know (almost as hard as understanding TV radar guns are hot), but if you really try you should be able to figure it out without getting a headache that requires you to pop one of your wife's opioids.

I thought AA was Hart's choice?