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John Coppolella

Coppolella On Braves’ Offseason Plans

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In each of the last two years, the Braves completed a major trade (dealing Jason Heyward in 2014 and Andrelton Simmons in 2015) soon after the completion of the GM Meetings.  General manager John Coppolella tells David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the club is prepared to again move quickly if another interesting offer comes along, saying that “we’re not going to wait around for any type of artificial date.  I couldn’t care less about (waiting for) the Winter Meetings or whenever.  The best time to make a trade is when a good trade is offered to you.  We’re always trying to find ways to get better.”  Here’s more from Coppolella…

  • Starting pitching is clearly the Braves’ biggest winter need, though Atlanta is only looking for starters on short-term deals so none of the team’s young starters are blocked.  Not that this winter’s free agent market has a true proven ace anyway, but even if it did, Coppolella noted that this type of pitcher wouldn’t be a target.  “You don’t buy No. 1 starters, you grow them.  You draft them, you develop them,” the GM said.  “For us, it’s not efficient for us to go out and buy a No. 1 starter.  Unless something drastically changes, you won’t see us going after a No. 1 starter.”
  • Barring an offer of “something crazy” from another team, Coppolella isn’t looking to deal outfielders Ender Inciarte, Matt Kemp or Nick Markakis.  Not only are the Braves “not out there shopping” these players, “in fact we’re not really even listening on guys.  Because these are players that we really like and we feel like they fit us well on the field as well as off the field.”
  • While Atlanta could pursue a catching upgrade in free agency, Coppolella reiterated that the team would be satisfied with its current Tyler Flowers/Anthony Recker tandem for 2017.  The Braves could also look to trade for a catcher, though a deal to bring Brian McCann back to Atlanta seems unlikely.  Earlier reports claimed the Yankees asked for either Inciarte or Mike Foltynewicz as part of a trade for McCann, and O’Brien reports that, in fact, New York wanted both Inciarte and Foltynewicz.  Needless to say, talks didn’t get very far.

Coppolella On Braves’ Offseason Plans, Prospects, Olivera, Kemp

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Braves GM John Coppolella took over his club’s Twitter account today to address the organization’s direction. While he expressed disappointment that the win-loss record hasn’t shown much improvement, the focus obviously remains on the future for Atlanta. Still, he continued to suggest that the expectation is for the on-field product to begin improving in the near term … and also left no doubt that he follows Braves fandom rather closely on social media.

Here are some of the key points, with all links to Twitter:

[Related: Braves Depth Chart]

  • Coppolella predicts that the Braves will be quite active in free agency, saying that the team has “more money to spend than in the past 10 years.” Atlanta has never been one of the biggest spenders around, so it’s not exactly a lofty bar, but with only $50MM on the books for 2017 (before arbitration raises) there ought to be some added freedom this winter. Coppy adds that he’s interested in making “major [free agent] signings” to bring in “impactful” players, with a focus (whether in free agency or trade) on adding “at least two” starters and bolstering the catching unit. The latter area, at least, is one of some depth on the coming market.
  • The upcoming crop of open-market starters, of course, is about as thin as we’ve ever seen. But that remains a need for the Braves, with Coppolella saying he was disappointed in the lack of progress from the club’s young rotation members. He adds that “opportunity time is over in 2017” for those pitchers, who will “have to earn a rotation spot once [the Braves] add free agents.” One still-youthful staff member, Julio Teheran, has turned in an outstanding year. While Coppolella did not address the topic, I’d note that it’ll be interesting to see whether there is any chatter regarding the talented righty, whose stock is firmly on the rise. He has often been mentioned as a trade candidate, but with Atlanta looking to add at the major league level, the time for a deal may have passed.
  • There isn’t a general need for arms, Coppolella insisted. In addition to noting the many minor league talents who are in the pipeline, he says that the “bullpen is likely the least area of concern” entering the winter.
  • Looking back, Coppolella acknowledges that acquiring Hector Olivera “still haunts me.” That deal obviously did not pan out on or off the field, and Olivera’s contract was sent to the Padres in the deal that netted Matt Kemp. The Braves GM copped to being “shortsighted” in commenting recently on Kemp’s poor conditioning, saying the veteran has been “terrific” in all regards since coming over. As for a trade that has gone in Atlanta’s favor, Coppolella expressed surprise at Shelby Miller’s struggles with the Diamondbacks and said that as many as twenty teams attempted to acquire him last winter.
  • The Braves did not promote young infielder Ozzie Albies to the majors this year because they “didn’t feel Ozzie was ready,” says Coppolella. But he notes that the youngster “will get an opportunity to fight for a [major league] job” this spring despite being passed over. Generally, Coppolella added, the organization expects to “continue to push players and provide opportunities.” He hinted that service time won’t be a factor in determining when the club’s touted minor league assets make it to the bigs.
  • With a laundry list of interesting young arms on the farm, Coppolella singled out towering, 22-year-old righty Patrick Weigel, who he says has a “chance to be a frontline starter.” The 2015 seventh-round draft pick has posted 149 2/3 innings of 2.47 ERA ball at the High-A and (briefly) Double-A levels this year, with 9.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9, leading Coppy to name him the most improved minor league pitcher in the organization. The GM cited outfielder Dustin Peterson as the recipient of that honor on the position-player side after his .282/.343/.431 batting line and 12 home runs over 578 plate appearances at Double-A. Peterson came over as part of a group of increasingly interesting prospects in the Justin Upton trade, with lefty Max Fried also drawing praise from the organization’s baseball operations triggerman.
  • All said, it promises to be another interesting winter in Atlanta. It’s generally a quiet time right now on the rumor front, but Coppolella says the club is already holding talks on prospective offseason trades. Primary attention seems to be going to the major league roster at present, but Coppolella suggested that he will continue to focus on infusing young talent to the system, writing that the organization “will always try to trade for draft picks” when possible.

NL East Notes: Teheran, Albies, Wright, Alderson, Phillies

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The Braves are giving teams the impression that it’ll take a huge haul to land Julio Teheran, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). In fact, Atlanta is signaling that it wants a return that’s “better than the Shelby Miller deal,” per a rival executive. Despite their many young arms, and ongoing rumblings regarding Teheran, the Braves are actually looking at starting pitching, GM John Coppolella tells David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter). Atlanta has had talks about controllable arms, per the report. Presumably, the organization is looking for value opportunities that fit its contention timeline.

Here’s more from the NL East:

  • The Braves have moved hyped prospect Ozhaino Albies down to Double-A, O’Brien tweets. It’s not a demotion, though Albies was struggling a bit at Triple-A. He’ll play second base there, pairing up with shortstop Dansby Swanson as the team’s hopeful future double-play combo gets comfortable together.
  • Injured Mets third baseman David Wright spoke to the media today and left the impression that he’s unlikely to return this year, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo was among those to report. (Twitter links.) When asked whether he thought he’d be back for 2016, Wright responded: “I don’t know. I really don’t know.” But the veteran did emphasize that he has every expectation of returning to the field at some point in the future.
  • Meanwhile, Mets GM Sandy Alderson suggested recently that he doesn’t believe a major new addition is necessary to boost the team. As Marc Carig of Newsday tweets, Alderson says: “We have the capacity in the 25-man roster at this point to improve over what we’ve done over the last couple of months.”
  • The Phillies don’t expect any major player movement this summer, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes. Notably, Philadelphia isn’t even sure it’ll deal righty Jeremy Hellickson, who is only under contract for this season and is pitching well enough that he’ll draw interest (though probably not a terribly exciting return). The club is under even less pressure with its relief corps, which hasn’t been quite as electric in recent weeks but still has several interesting options.

Braves GM John Coppolella Discusses Braves’ Rebuilding Efforts

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In a lengthy Twitter dialogue with fans today, Braves GM John Coppolella discussed a variety of interesting topics rather forthrightly. There’s plenty to chew on here (all links on the chat are to Twitter):

  • Starter Julio Teheran has drawn quite a bit of attention as a possible trade candidate; as I noted recently in ranking him amongst the 15 top trade candidates, the team could conceivably cut a deal in a market that could be short of quality rotation pieces. MLBTR has examined that matter from both sides recently (see here and here). But the GM didn’t seem to think that was a compelling concept. “I don’t see us trading Teheran at this point,” said Coppolella. “He’s almost into ’right-arm’ type status for us right now.”
  • That last note was a reference to his now-famous comment about the unavailability of first baseman Freddie Freeman. It seems that other clubs have received the message loud and clear, as Coppolella says that he has not received any recent trade inquiries on the young slugger.
  • The long-term catching situations remains a “big need” that the Braves will look at in free agency, says the Atlanta point-man. It certainly promises to be an interesting area to watch this winter, with players like Wilson Ramos, Matt Wieters, and Jason Castro among the soon-to-be free agents. (And if you’re curious: yes, the Braves would have interest in injured Cubs backstop Kyle Schwarber; but no, it’s not expected he’ll be available.)
  • More generally, the team’s “primary objective” over the winter will be to improve upon a marginal offensive unit, he said. As he seeks to accomplish that, the organization expects to put its various financial improvements to work to “invest in the team,” he said. Atlanta “will have more money to spend this off season than in any of the 10 years I’ve been here,” per Coppolella. He also suggested that the Braves will be increasingly willing to deal prospects for controllable, MLB-level players.
  • Big offensive numbers had been the hope when Atlanta acquired Hector Olivera last summer. Instead, that deal has long been a source of frustration for Braves fans, and Coppolella says he agrees with the concern. It was a “bad trade for us and one that I wish we had back,” he said, adding that “all we can do is learn from it and move forward.”
  • If you’re looking for specific possibilities to find a big bat, it appears there’s at least one name on the wish list and another that can be crossed off. Coppolella says he has contacted Padres GM A.J. Preller “multiple times” to inquire about slugger Wil Myers, though obviously nothing has come to fruition as of yet. He is apparently less intrigued by veteran Cuban star Yulieski Gurriel, however, as the club does not intend to pursue him.
  • For a bit of intrigue, Coppolella suggested that there is plenty of trade chatter going on. He says that he spoke with a dozen general managers from rival clubs yesterday and even hinted that there’s a possible trade in the works as we speak (though he noted it certainly may not come to fruition).

Coppolella: “We Are Not Trading Freddie Freeman”

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The Braves have come under quite a bit of fire, with many stating that the team is tanking in order to accelerate its rebuild in the wake of last week’s Andrelton Simmons trade. Freddie Freeman’s name has come up in frequent trade speculation over the past week, Braves GM John Coppolella adamantly denied to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale that the Braves will even entertain the notion of trading their first baseman.

“I cannot make it any more clear: We are not trading Freddie Freeman,” Coppolella said. “We are not. I’d give my right arm before we trade Freddie Freeman. It is not happening.”

While Twitter skeptics will undoubtedly have their fun by responding to that quote saying Freeman will be traded by this coming weekend, that type of on-record, absolutist statement is rare for a top-ranking baseball ops exec to make. (For instance, there’s a misconception that A’s president Billy Beane said last offseason that he wouldn’t trade Josh Donaldson, but the comments pertaining to Donaldson were made by an anonymous team official.)

Of course, a team could still completely bowl the Braves over with a trade proposal for Freeman that would put Coppolella and president of baseball operations John Hart in a tough position, but the strong likelihood in light of a statement of this magnitude is that Freeman will indeed remain in Atlanta. The reason for hanging onto Freeman, Coppolella explains, is that the “tanking” crowd has a fundamental misunderstanding of the Braves’ intentions.

“If we truly were going to tank, we wouldn’t have had [Erick] Aybar come back in the [Simmons] trade,” said Coppolella. “If we were trying to tank, we wouldn’t have signed A.J. Pierzynski. If we were trying to tank, we would have traded [Cameron] Maybin at the deadline last year, and we had plenty of offers.”

Coppolella maintains that the Braves strongly want to win in the near future and urges critics not to judge the results of the trades immediately upon their completion but rather to wait a couple of years. The Atlanta GM acknowledges that his club won’t win 100-plus games in 2016 but voices a strong belief that the team can win more next season than it did in 2015.

While Coppolella is adamant that there’s a method to all of the Braves’ perceived madness and staunchly rejects the idea of trading Freeman, Nightengale does write that further trades from Atlanta could be on the horizon. The team still hopes to shed the contracts of Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn — two players acquired to accelerate the alleviation of the financial burden that Chris Johnson’s contract had presented — and a strong offer for Maybin could pry him away from Atlanta as well.

Likewise, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reported tonight that the Diamondbacks and Braves had discussions about Shelby Miller, but the D-Backs balked at the asking price, which Rosenthal says would’ve come from Arizona’s big league roster and could have been standout center fielder A.J. Pollock (links to Rosenthal on Twitter).

NL East Notes: Coppolella, Escobar, Thornton, Ruf

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The Braves held a press conference today to announce the long-expected elevation of John Coppolella to the general manager’s seat. As MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports, top club executives John Schuerholz and John Hart both offered high praise for the younger Coppolella, who had already been performing many traditional GM functions under Hart’s oversight. “The fans of Atlanta should be very comfortable that there is not going to be any stone that is left unturned with [Coppolella] there,” said Hart. “Brightness and creativity is one thing. But his unrelenting work ethic is something that stands out as much as anything.”

Here’s more from the NL East:

  • With the Nationals expected to shift Anthony Rendon back to third base next year, the club will face a decision on fellow infielder Yunel Escobar, as Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington writes. Escobar could shift to second, where he was expected to play this season, return to his natural shortstop, or even be dealt. The Nats’ roster could be tweaked in any number of ways over the winter, but deciding upon a strategy up the middle is a clear need.
  • Nationals lefty Matt Thornton just logged his tenth straight season of sixty-or-more appearances, as James Wagner of the Washington Post writes. Thornton has delivered excellent results since he was acquired via waiver claim last August. He turned 39 in the meantime, but says he has plenty of gas left in the tank. “Right now, I’m focused on finishing this year healthy and finishing strong here and looking forward to my opportunity next year and the years after that,” said Thornton. “I feel great right now. I really do. I look forward to continuing my major league career. I love this game. I love the ins and outs of it.”
  • Phillies first baseman Darin Ruf has favorably impressed the organization with his play of late, CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury reports. Manager Pete Mackanin indicated that the club was glad to be getting a look at Ruf in more regular duty, which he’s received since Ryan Howard went down. “He’s swinging the bat very well,” said Mackanin. “We’re trying to get him at-bats so we can make a decision on him for next year. He’s swinging the bat better now against right-handers and he’s just been dominant against left-handers. It’s good to see.” Ruf’s situation obviously is interwoven with that of Howard. As Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News writes, Mackanin says that the veteran slugger needs to get his legs healthy and improve his glovework at first base to command playing time next year.

Braves Name John Coppolella General Manager

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1:03pm: The Braves have announced the promotion, adding that Coppolella signed a four-year contract that runs through the completion of the 2019 season.

12:02pm: The Braves will promote assistant general manager John Coppolella to the role of general manager later today, reports MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. Coppolella has been serving as the second-in-command to president of baseball operations John Hart while holding the title of AGM, as the Braves did not formally name a GM last offseason after firing Frank Wren and bringing Hart on board on a permanent basis. Hart will remain in his role as president of baseball ops, per Bowman.

As Bowman writes, while Hart had final say over a number of key trades in the past year, it was Coppolella who did much of the legwork in structuring those franchise-altering transactions. Among the deals architected by Copplella were the trades of Jason Heyward, Evan Gattis, Justin Upton and Craig Kimbrel as well as the swap that brought Hector Olivera over from the Dodgers.

Coppolella has served as the Braves’ assistant GM since 2012, and it’s been widely believed that he was being groomed to become the next Atlanta GM, though many reports indicated that he’d rise to the post when the team’s new stadium opened in 2017. Coppolella has been with Atlanta since 2006 and has previously held the titles of director of baseball operations and director of pro scouting.

Bowman reports that both the Brewers and Mariners had interest in Coppolella to fill their GM vacancies last month, however, and interest in the rising 37-year-old executive led the Braves to promote him now as a means of ensuring that he would remain in the team’s baseball operations hierarchy for the foreseeable future.

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