The Braves have a new GM and it’s not Dayton Moore

The Braves have hired a new General Manager, tabbing former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos to lead their club. Anthopoulos led the Jays from 2009 to 2015, culminating in an appearance in the American League Championship Series in 2015 where they lost to the Royals. Following that season, he turned down a five-year contract extension after the Jays hired Mark Shapiro to be Club President, an arrangement Anthopoulos was not willing to work with. He had been working in the Dodgers front office since then.

The job was supposedly Dayton Moore’s if he wanted it, but the Braves had to move on from him this week. The Royals reportedly denied the Braves permission to talk to Dayton Moore, although it is unclear if they were denying him permission to discuss the GM position - a lateral move - or a promotion to Club President. One sticking point with the Moore discussions was John Hart, who will apparently remain with the Braves as Club President for now. Moore reportedly wanted complete control of baseball operations as he essentially has in Kansas City.

Former Braves GM John Coppolella resigned at the end of the 2017 season after Major League Baseball began an investigation to determine whether the Braves violated league rules on international signings. Since then there have been reports of a toxic front office atmosphere with in-fighting, with Coppolella having a poor reputation among fellow GMs.

Dayton Moore renewed his contract with the Royals in February of 2016, but the club did not publicly disclose the length of the deal.