Why are people still confused about Hart's role with the team?
He is the de facto GM. The club created a new position (Director of Baseball Operations) for him to have a permanent job rather than just a special assistant to the GM consulting role. I think the Dodgers did the same with Tampa's GM and created the same position for him all whilst hiring a new general manager.
Coppy looks to be the next general manager. If I'm not mistaken, when JS left the GM position, they created the President position which wasn't there before, for him to stay on in the front office.