SATURDAY: The chances of Moore going to the Braves aren’t completely dead, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggests. If Hart loses his hold on the Braves’ baseball operations, it could pave the way for the team to pursue Moore in earnest, according to O’Brien. The “belief among some observers” is that the Royals would be willing to let Moore head to Atlanta if they’re adequately compensated, O’Brien reports.
FRIDAY: Royals owner David Glass denied a request from the Braves to interview GM Dayton Moore for Atlanta’s own top front office position, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports. Moore is under contract with Kansas City through at least the 2018 season and thus permission was required for an interview. Such permission is often granted if a promotion is being offered, though that wasn’t the case here since Moore already holds a job atop a team’s baseball operations depth chart.
The exact nature of what job the Braves were offering is of particular note, as John Hart is still Atlanta’s president of baseball operations. Hart’s future, however, is up in the air due to the ongoing investigation about international signing improprieties within the Braves front office. The investigation has also now extended into looking into alleged violations regarding the amateur draft — Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan detailed some of the complaints leveled against former GM John Coppolella in regards to pre-draft agreements.
Coppolella and international scouting director Gordon Blakely both resigned their positions earlier this month, and Hart’s own contract is up after the World Series is over. It could be that Braves upper management decides to move on with an entirely new front office, regardless of what MLB’s investigation does or doesn’t report about Hart, and thus Atlanta would be able to offer Moore the full control that he has reportedly demanded if he were to change jobs. Though Moore and other names have been connected to their front office opening, the Braves have yet to conduct any interviews with candidates, perhaps due to the uncertainty over Hart. This is just my speculation, but it could also be the case that Moore was the Braves’ top choice, and they’ll now move onto secondary candidates since Glass has denied them a chance to speak to Moore.
Adding an experienced, championship-winning executive like Moore would go a long way towards settling the tumult within the Atlanta organization, particularly given Moore’s past ties to the Braves. For his part, however, Moore has stated that he is happy with the Royals, and reiterated to Crasnick that “I’m focused on what we need to do here in Kansas City.” While the Royals appear to be heading into a rebuild, Moore may also prefer the relative stability of his current position rather than join a Braves franchise that may be hit with some severe penalties, pending the results of the league’s investigation.
I don’t think any experienced GM in their right mind would want to go to Atlanta right now. Everyone knows MLB is gonna bring the hammer down on that organization soon. We just don’t know how bad it’s gonna be.
While that’s true… they will likely lose a few prospects… the position is still very very valuable…. the team had a brand new stadium…. an absolute gold mine of a farm… the team is almost ready for contention…
Yeah but if you’re a fresh, new mind who had NOTHING to do with the old regime, How does that have anything to do with it?
YOU won’t be punished. If anything you might find yourself with more power than before.
My speculation because the situation is fluid.
Completely agree ^ current management will lose jobs but why would the team be penalized?
We’re all cleaning up the mess from those in front of us…that’s life. Coppy had to deal with ample money on the books from Wren’s days and never really had a chance to sign a significant deal (due on his own part).
That being said, there’s not that much dead money on the books, a top-5 farm system even if MLB “brings the hammer down”, a MVP-candidate (Freeman) signed long term. and additional revenue streams most likely raising the future budgets very soon. While there may be more enviable posts, there’s not many currently available. Not only that, the leash should be substantially longer than with most teams.
“Why would the team be penalized for the front office personnel’s actions?!” Ask the Red Sox about bundling prospects or the Cardinals about the Astros hacking debacle. The team will be punished. As a Royals fan I would hate to see Moore go but the pastures would mostly likely be greener in ATL moving forward, regardless of the penalties.
Despite the impending penalties (which none of us know the full extent or magnitude of) I see little logic in your assumption. There are only so many GM jobs available and there are certainly far worse ones than Atlanta. The Braves also have a talented farm system and quite a number of young players that most “experts” are high on. Not to mention that some experienced GM’s may not be fond of their own current situation and feel like the grass would be greener in Atlanta.
In any event the Royals denial of allowing Moore to interview does in no way convey that Moore wouldn’t have interviewed if he had been given permission.
Maybe, but Glass and Moore are extremely close and I would suspect that Glass had Moore’s blessing. If Moore was in any way interested in the job I can’t see Glass getting in the way in the slightest.
My comments were not meant to draw any conclusions about the relationship between Glass and Moore but meant to directly address Solaris comment about no experienced GM in their right mind wanting to come to Atlanta. I have personally met David Glass twice (although briefly each time) and I have the utmost respect for him.
The royals are in really really bad shape. They are gonna be awful for awhile. Great time to jump ship.
The people saying the Braves job is not desirable obviously don’t know much about the current state of the Braves. The job is waiting for someone to come in and put the finishing touches on the rebuild and compete for playoffs
No later than 2020 the braves will win the NL East.
Nothing wrong with this denial.
It’s clearly the first step toward acquiring some sort of compensation should the move actually take place. Of course, Dayton’s going nowhere until the Bravos’ punishment is handed down.
You wanna talk about compensation? How about Moore for Kevin Maitan?
John Hart isnt the smartest guy in the world. He describes every top prospect as a plus plus guy with a plus change or “this kid is a plus guy with plus speed and a plus plus arm.
I think Schuerholz reached out to Glass to ask permission, Glass asked Moore if he was interested, Moore said he was not, and so Glass made it easy and denied ATL permission. I expect Moore will be offered an extension by KC this winter.