John Hart turns down Braves GM job, Dayton Moore to be candidate

Yahoo!'s Jeff Passan is reporting John Hart has turned down the interim General Manager job in Atlanta, after being offered the job in the wake of the firing of Frank Wren. The Braves are expected to turn to three candidates - Assistant General Manager John Coppolella, former Rockies General Manager Dan O'Dowd, and Royals General Manager Dayton Moore.

It is widely believed that Moore would not consider the Braves job, and Passan notes that even the Braves doubt he would leave Kansas City for Atlanta. The Braves have not spoken to Moore about the job, and are not expected to hire anyone soon, meaning they could meet with Moore after the World Series, should the Royals get that far.

Dayton Moore has been the Royals General Manager since June of 2006, after spending 1994-2006 with the Atlanta Braves, rising up to the level of Assistant General Manager. Moore was previously speculated to the be a candidate for the Braves General Manager position when Wren was fired, but when reports surfaced that the job had been offered to Hart, many thought the position would be filled.

Royals owner David Glass has publicly said he would not stop Dayton Moore - who is under contract through 2016 - from leaving, but that he "firmly believes" Moore would not leave, adding:

"We’re all in this together," Glass said. "It’s not like employer-employee relationships, or anything. It’s more like Dayton’s a part of the family. We’re all working together to get to the World Series. He’s got that commitment out there. I’m not concerned about that."

Dayton Moore has refused to comment on the Braves opening or speculate whether he would be interested in the job. Moore is a Wichita native who claims to have watched Game 7 of the 1985 World Series from an overpass on I-70, and will likely be given an increased payroll to add to a farm system he has built and a team with a nucleus he has developed, so it is hard to see why he would leave. If he were to leave, it is reasonable to expect the team would promote from within, either with Assistant General Manager J.J. Piccollo, Special Adviser Mike Arbuckle, or Assistant General Manager and former Brewers General Manager Dean Taylor.