After further consideration and a lot of John Schuerholz persuasion, John Hart decided he was ready, willing and able to run the baseball operations for the Braves. And most important, that he genuinely wanted the job.
Hart, a 66-year-old former Indians and Rangers general manager, thought about it for a month while serving as interim GM and decided to take team president Schuerholz’s offer to run the revamped and realigned baseball-operations department. Hart will do so in a newly created position as president of baseball operations, rather than as GM.
The Braves don’t plan to hire someone to serve as GM, Schuerholz said. They will have highly regarded assistant GM John Coppolella, 36, serve as Hart’s top aide and ostensibly be groomed to take over as GM in a few years.
“It is president of baseball operations,” Schuerholz said. “It will have elements of general managing in it; it will have other elements in it. And with his right-hand man John Coppolella, who will assume some duties of a normal general manager and many of an assistant general manager (and) grow under John Hart’s direction, it (will) be a wonderful combination.”
Hart signed a three-year contract, one month after saying that he was more comfortable helping lead the search for a new GM than being considering for the job, though Schuerholz made no secret he wanted him to take it.
“I think this decision was made certainly because of my relationship with John. It was made because of the Atlanta Braves, who they are, where we want to go,” Hart said. “(Braves CEO) Terry McGuirk. Quality people are going to be an attraction, and I think this is a gold-standard franchise, and that was certainly a big part of it.
“The interim position that I had allowed me not just to get a toe in the water, but get a feel for all the really wonderful people that are here.”
In one month as interim GM, Hart directed a flurry of front-office hirings and promotions, took part in meetings with Braves executives and manager Fredi Gonzalez and realized he still had the desire and energy for the job.
“The decision ultimately comes down to, do you want to get back in the game, do you want to compete?” Hart said. “And I can honestly say, people that know me (know) I love to compete, no matter what it is. I care greatly about doing it the right way. I love team-building. I love players. I’m anxious to get to know our players better, the staff.
“Did I mention that I like to compete? Because that is something that you do miss when you’re not in this arena.”
Hart talked it over with his wife of 44 years, Sandi, and said she and the rest of his family urged him to take the job if that’s what he wanted to do. The Harts live near Orlando, Fla., about 20 minutes from the Braves’ spring-training site, and he said being able to work some there was a bonus.
Hart signed a three-year contract that runs through 2017, the Braves’ planned first season in a new Cobb County ballpark.
“We’re entrusting in a man to lead our organization back to the top, and what better reward would he want than to move into this beautiful new ballpark we’re going to open?” said Schuerholz, who’s been friends with Hart for decades. “He deserves that opportunity. And we’re hopeful at that time that we’ll all still be together, the Sunshine Boys.”
Schuerholz smiled at his use of the Sunshine Boys label, which some in the media gave the three-man transition team of Schuerholz, Hart and Hall of Fame former Braves manager Bobby Cox. Hart easily is the youngest of the trio.
They all sat at the dais at Turner Field on Sept. 22, the day general manager Frank Wren and assistant GM Bruce Manno were fired, and talked about reviewing the entire organization and making changes to get back to “the Braves Way.” Part of that was creating a harmonious, all-on-the-same-page atmosphere the Braves had when Schuerholz was GM.
Schuerholz said when Hart walked in unexpectedly at a Thursday morning baseball-operations staff, he got a standing ovation from everyone in the room.
“He’s president of baseball operations, and he’s going to rule with a velvet glove and an iron hand,” Schuerholz said, smiling. “And that’s how he is. And be very persuasive. He’s got great leadership, personality, people respond to him very well. He’s the best guy to be in this job.”
Schuerholz attended the first game of the World Series in Kansas City — he was Royals GM when they won the 1985 World Series — and said he was even more motivated to get Hart to take the job after multiple baseball people told him how perfect Hart would be for it.
Schuerholz said Sept. 22 that they might realign the baseball-operations hierarchy and have a title other than GM at the top. In the end, that’s what they did, hiring a successful former GM to a job with a bigger title and expanded authority, as teams such as the Dodgers and Cubs did in recent years.
There was speculation that the Braves were waiting to woo Royals GM Dayton Moore after his team finished the World Series. Moore got his start as a Braves scout and served as Braves assistant GM when Schuerholz was GM.
Schuerholz visited with Moore before the World Series opener, but said he never approached him about the job and would not have even if Hart turned it down. He said it wouldn’t be right since Moore had two years left on his contract.
Since Wren was fired Hart and Coppolella have spearheaded an ongoing overhaul of the Braves’ scouting and player-development departments.
They added two of the most respected scouts and talent evaluators in the game by hiring Roy Clark (longtime former Braves scouting director) away from the Dodgers and Gordon Blakeley from the Yankees, both named as special assistants to the general manager — Schuerholz said Thursday they might have to tweak those titles now — and promoted one of their top scouts, Brian Bridges, to scouting director.
The Braves hired Dave Trembley as director of player development and named Jonathan Schuerholz as his assistant director. Schuerholz, 34, is the son of the team president. The Braves also realigned their scouting department with several moves including reassigning Ronnie Richardson from director of minor league operations to major league scout.
