The Braves Way, an OOTP 17 Dynasty
Essay by Mark Bradley
John Coppolella never played much baseball. He was the football manager at Notre Dame. He graduated with a degree in business and had a six-figure job with Intel waiting. He accepted a paid internship with the Yankees instead. His parents were not pleased.
In 2006, Braves general manager John Schuerholz hired Coppolella to be the team’s director of baseball operations. Coppolella is among that generation of baseball lovers drawn to process above pine tar. The guy known as “Coppy” was working under his idol.
Eight years later, Schuerholz— then the Braves’ president— essentially charged Coppolella with the task of razing and restoring a franchise that had fallen into what Schuerholz regarded as rack and ruin under Frank Wren, who’d succeeded him as GM in October 2007. Not that this collapse was entirely evident to the outside eye: From Opening Day 2010 through Sept. 17, 2014, Wren’s Braves won more games than any other National League team.
But this was how deeply the Braves soured on Wren. On Sept. 22, 2013, his team clinched the National League East, marking Atlanta’s first division title since the record run of 14 in succession ended in 2005. On Sept. 22, 2014, he was fired. Schuerholz opened the press conference by saying, “We have terminated Frank Wren.” Terminated? Was this Apocalypse Now?
The Braves did not thank Wren for his diligent service. They did not wish the best for him and his family. Later that day, Schuerholz fired Jeff Wren, Frank’s brother and a Braves scout, via voicemail. (On assignment, Jeff Wren was in the shower at his hotel.) Seven weeks later, they traded Kyle Wren, a minor-league outfielder and Frank’s son, to Milwaukee.
(Footnote: The Braves wanted to fire Frank Wren on Sunday, Sept. 21, but were informed that Kyle was scheduled to receive an award in pregame ceremonies. It was decided that firing his dad on such a day would be, you know, cold-blooded. So the Braves waited until Monday to be cold-blooded.)
Into the breach stepped John Hart, lured from his Orlando home and MLB Network studios to be president of baseball operations. The corporate stance was that Hart, who’d done great work in Cleveland in the ’90s, would serve as the new public face and as Coppolella’s mentor; in-house, it was generally held that Coppy— officially the assistant GM— would soon be Top Cat. Sure enough, Coppolella was named GM on Oct. 1, 2015— even as many in the organization admitted he’d been doing GM things for the past year.
Three days after his promotion, the Braves closed the season at 67-95, their worst record in a quarter-century. In two years they’d gone from 96 wins to 95 losses, but the higher-ups were happier with the guy who’d presided over the 95 losses than with his predecessor, whose sin was in not winning to specification. As Schuerholz said of Wren’s dismissal: “We want to get back to doing things the Braves’ Way.
Essay by Mark Bradley
John Coppolella never played much baseball. He was the football manager at Notre Dame. He graduated with a degree in business and had a six-figure job with Intel waiting. He accepted a paid internship with the Yankees instead. His parents were not pleased.
In 2006, Braves general manager John Schuerholz hired Coppolella to be the team’s director of baseball operations. Coppolella is among that generation of baseball lovers drawn to process above pine tar. The guy known as “Coppy” was working under his idol.
Eight years later, Schuerholz— then the Braves’ president— essentially charged Coppolella with the task of razing and restoring a franchise that had fallen into what Schuerholz regarded as rack and ruin under Frank Wren, who’d succeeded him as GM in October 2007. Not that this collapse was entirely evident to the outside eye: From Opening Day 2010 through Sept. 17, 2014, Wren’s Braves won more games than any other National League team.
But this was how deeply the Braves soured on Wren. On Sept. 22, 2013, his team clinched the National League East, marking Atlanta’s first division title since the record run of 14 in succession ended in 2005. On Sept. 22, 2014, he was fired. Schuerholz opened the press conference by saying, “We have terminated Frank Wren.” Terminated? Was this Apocalypse Now?
The Braves did not thank Wren for his diligent service. They did not wish the best for him and his family. Later that day, Schuerholz fired Jeff Wren, Frank’s brother and a Braves scout, via voicemail. (On assignment, Jeff Wren was in the shower at his hotel.) Seven weeks later, they traded Kyle Wren, a minor-league outfielder and Frank’s son, to Milwaukee.
(Footnote: The Braves wanted to fire Frank Wren on Sunday, Sept. 21, but were informed that Kyle was scheduled to receive an award in pregame ceremonies. It was decided that firing his dad on such a day would be, you know, cold-blooded. So the Braves waited until Monday to be cold-blooded.)
Into the breach stepped John Hart, lured from his Orlando home and MLB Network studios to be president of baseball operations. The corporate stance was that Hart, who’d done great work in Cleveland in the ’90s, would serve as the new public face and as Coppolella’s mentor; in-house, it was generally held that Coppy— officially the assistant GM— would soon be Top Cat. Sure enough, Coppolella was named GM on Oct. 1, 2015— even as many in the organization admitted he’d been doing GM things for the past year.
Three days after his promotion, the Braves closed the season at 67-95, their worst record in a quarter-century. In two years they’d gone from 96 wins to 95 losses, but the higher-ups were happier with the guy who’d presided over the 95 losses than with his predecessor, whose sin was in not winning to specification. As Schuerholz said of Wren’s dismissal: “We want to get back to doing things the Braves’ Way.
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