End of an Era: Brian Snitker Retires as Atlanta Braves Manager

Brian Snitker is retiring as manager of the Atlanta Braves. In Episode 277 of the Hammer Territory Podcast, Scott Coleman, Stephen Tolbert and Shawn Coleman reflect on Snit's time as manager, takeaways from his press conference, the many highs and lows, and delve into some early candidates for the job.

Download the DraftKings Pick6 app now and use code FOUL – play just $5, get $50 in Pick6 bonus picks.

Get 20% off your first Slab Pack or card purchase by going to https://ArenaClub.com/FOUL and use code FOUL

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome one and all to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My
name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever
you are listening, you are having a great week so far. Yes,
I'll be honest, it is a bit disappointed and depressing
to see playoff baseball and how awesome playoff baseball has
been so far. It's not so much fun to see
it without the Atlanta Braves. But that doesn't mean that

(00:46):
doesn't mean that there's not things that are worth talking about.
And we finally got the news many of us had
been waiting to hear, a very significant first domino to
fall for the Braves off season in many more ways
than one, and we are here to break it all
for you all the Hammer Territory Podcast. And you know
that it is a special podcast when we have the
three man show here with you. Scott Coleman and Steven

(01:09):
Tolbert are here with me. Scott, good as always to
talk with you, sir. I hope you've been well. Glad
to talk some Braves baseball with you.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Absolutely, Sean, And this was a it was a big
day for the Atlanta Braves franchise because if you think
about I mean Bobby Cox, Freddy Gonzalez, Brian Snicker, and
those are the only men to manage the Braves for
the past thirty plus years at this point, and I

(01:38):
truly didn't know what the decision was going to be today.
We had an inkling that all season long, our feeling
was that Brian Snicker this was his last year that
he was going to retire. But as we got deeper
and deeper and deeper into the regular season and there
was no announcement of any kind, and you start reading
the quotes from people around the team and it was like,

(01:58):
you know, maybe they we are going to bring snit
back for one more year. Of course, if folks did
not hear the news already, Brian Sticker is officially no
longer the Braves manager. He is not retiring, He is
going to transition into a front office role. But I mean, Stephen,
what was your big takeaway today? Because obviously, the million
dollar question for weeks at this point, I mean, hell months,

(02:20):
was will Brian Snicker be back in twenty twenty six
And now we know definitively the Braves are going.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
To have a new manager.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, so obviously this is news we've been waiting on
and you know, I kind of blamed Snitt a little
bit over the last like three or four weeks for
kind of throwing a wrench into what we thought was happening.
Like all season long. It really wasn't even that much
of a conversation. We would mention it every once in
a while, but the assumption was just he was going
to retire at the end of the year. Everybody we

(02:49):
talked to on the record, off the record, behind the scenes,
no one had Snit coming back next year. Everyone just
assumed he was retiring. And then then like the last
month and Brad and I remember this was when this
was when you were gone, Scott, he actually made a
comment like, yeah, we've got unfinished business. It was so
jarringly different than what we had heard all season that

(03:10):
Brad and I actually led a show for like thirty
minutes talking about this because it it just like turned
like a complete one eighty of like, no, we've got
unfinished business. I don't like this being the last taste
in my mouth of being a manager, Like, you know,
we want to get back and do this thing right.
And it really felt like, Okay, well maybe they have flipped.

(03:30):
And then we had to go through the whole like
he's not actually under contract, it might not be up
to him and we we'll get into those that stuff
as we go here tonight. So yeah, it was it
was finality in a weird way because it was exactly
what we thought was gonna happen. But the road we
took to get there was a bit circuitous, and I
think Snit was having some cold feet, quite honestly. I

(03:52):
think he talked about that a lot in his press
conference about how he had to get away for a
couple of days to really decide, like this is what
I want to do. While he was in it, he
he really couldn't decide. And so we finally have It's
just finality we need now we know, we know he's
done as manager. The Braids are gonna have a new manager.
You know, in the last eight years they've had more

(04:13):
stadiums than managers. They've you know, they've they they have
been incredibly consistent at that spot, like Scott just said,
for the last thirty years, there's been three guys. So
it is going to be a wild change. It's going
to be an interesting search. But the first half of
the show we're gonna spend talking about snit. Snitt deserves
some flowers here, and we're gonna spend a chunk of
tonight's show talking about him, and then the second half

(04:35):
of the show will do some options they have going forward.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
And I think that it's important to establish that. I think,
you know, I know, Scott, you and Brad talked about
it last night that you know, the handling of this
probably could have been better, you know, definitely could have
as time went on, you know, I know Snip probably
probably from all parties involved, you know, there there probably
was you know, some back and forth on what made
the most sense. But at the end the day, the

(05:00):
right decision was made, you know, for a Snicker as
well as the Braves organization, because the timing was right.
This is the time, was the time for us to
go in a different direction. Brian Snicker's time as Braise
manager had run its course. That I think is established
and that's none But that doesn't mean that just because

(05:20):
it run its course doesn't mean that. Yes, there were
struggles more towards the end, but the success far outweighed
the struggles. And I want to you know, go beyond
just you know, just talking about the fact that the
Braves have had only three managers over the past thirty
plus years. I think that it's not far fetched. I
don't think it's wrong to say Brian Snicker is arguably

(05:42):
the second most impactful non player on this Braves organization
over the past century. Like I think that, or at
least the time in Atlanta, I think that that's fair
to say second most wins him and him and Cock
Bobby Cox are the only ones to lead us to
the World Series. But I think also what really needs
to be highlighted is I know that Brian Snicker, he's

(06:03):
been with the organization for fifty years, only the last
fifth of that has been his manager of the Braves.
We're talking about more than half of his managerial career
with the Braves was in the minor leagues. When Bobby
Cox and all the players were having their success in
the majors, Brian Snicker was playing a pivotal role in
helping groom our young players to keep that streak alive

(06:24):
in the miners. That's how important of a role Brian
Snicker has played in this organization now for five decades.
And there's more than I want to say, And it
will come back around to me. But I just want
to want to make that point, is that we're not
just talking about Brian Sticker's impact being right now at
the major league level. We're talking about the fact that
Brian Sticker played a major role in that nineties and

(06:45):
two thousands run helping to continue those channels of young
successful players coming up by what he did for them
in the miners.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, you think about just the sheer number of players
that had Brian Snicker as their coach or as their
manager over the decades. I mean it's hundreds. Hell, it's
probably thousands at this point, and that is such a
rare thing to be able to say. And everything about
Brian Stetker becoming a World Series winning manager was unconventional

(07:14):
and unlikely. I mean, this guy was a minor league
lifer finally got a chance to go home up to
the majors and be a coach, but never anywhere, frankly,
never anywhere near the manager's job. And truthfully, there's only
thirty big league manager jobs, but the Atlanta Braves in
early twenty sixteen was about as bad of a job

(07:35):
as there was in the majors. And maybe at the
time the front office it was kind of like throwing
Snit a bone. You know, he was a professional. You
know he was going to command the clubhouse. But I mean,
dear god, there was zero talent on that roster when
Snitt came up. And it's I think it speaks volumes
to Brian Snitker, his character and the man he is
that even in a year where the Braves were just

(07:57):
got awful, lost one hundred games, no prayer, we're still
a while away from being able to contend that. When
Snit's interim deal was up, all the players campaigned for
Brian Sticker to become the full time manager, and he
was rewarded with six straight divisions, a World Series championship,
seven playoff appearances. I mean, it was kind of a

(08:18):
storybook Disney type of story for Snit and he deserves it,
and I'm glad that he can now spend more time
with his family and get away from the game. I'm
also glad that he's still going to be around the
organization because does he have some some holes as a manager,
as an in game tactician, sure, we talked about him
on this podcast for years, but he deserves everything that's

(08:40):
come in his way, and just a special story quite honestly.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, and it's it's so if you guys remember, so
the Braves fired Freddie Gonzalez in May of twenty sixteen,
it was like the like May fifteenth or something like that.
They also at the time fired his bench coach. I
don't know if you guys remember that. I think it

(09:05):
was like Carlos Tosco was his name. He fired the
bench They fired the bench coach at the exact same
time that they fired Freddy Gonzalez. And that's notable because
oftentimes the bench coach is the guy that you would
turn to for an interim job. If you've just fired
the manager, you don't want to do a full search
in season. You kind of turn to the bench coach,
let him do the rest of the year, and then

(09:26):
you hire your new guy. So I was just thinking
about it today, like what if they hadn't fired the
bench coach at the same time, Like Snip might have
never gotten the interim job. And we know for a
fact that the only reason he got the full time
job was because the players fell in love with him
while he was the interim manager. So it is funny
to think back, like if they had just fired Freddy
Gonzalez and not and not the bench coach at the time.

(09:49):
Like how different Braves history could be. And that's you know,
Snit basically getting a four month job and just winning
over the entire clubhouse. It's pretty indicative of just who
Snit is. Like, yeah, because he was never a great
tactician as a manager, he was never like it was
never his strong suit.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
So how does a.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Guy like that keep this job and excel at this
job for a decade and, like Sean said, even longer
if you count his minor league managerial stints. It's because
he he was beloved, beloved by player he had. He
gained so much, he garnered so much respects in that

(10:31):
clubhouse because he was extremely honest. He was extremely fair.
He was very single minded in that we're just trying
to win. I'm just trying to win. And every day
he could just say I'm just trying to win. Did
I agree with all the stuff he did in efforts
to win games, Absolutely not, And we spent a lot
of time on this podcast loudly disagreeing with things that

(10:52):
he did. But he can always look players in the
eye and say, I'm just trying to win. That's why
I made the decision I made, and they would have
to respect it. He played, He's been in the organization
for fifty years. You had no choice but to just
have supreme respect for the guy. And that's how you ma.
That's how you manage a clubhouse for seven eight months

(11:12):
a year without the whole thing coming off the rails.
Is the entire clubhouse respects you. It is the most
important part of managing by far. There's no way to
quantify it. There's no way to measure it, but far
and away, the most important part of this job is
having the respect of everybody in that clubhouse so that
you can keep it on the rails when times get

(11:33):
tough over a six month season. And that's what he
was great at. That's what I'll remember him for. I'm
not gonna remember the mind numbing bullpen decisions or leaving
Bryce Elder. I will remember leaving Bryce Elder in a
playoff game. But besides that, I will remember the fact
that this man he just he gained so much respect
from his players, and that's how he accomplished what he accomplished.

(11:53):
And it's a good lesson. Looking forward, as we talk
about the new manager, we'll do that at the end
of the show, Like, what the most important qualities are
of a manager is do you have the respect of
that clubhouse? Because if you do, you can accomplish a lot,
and if you don't, you can accomplish nothing. And he
had ultimate respect from his players, and that's kind of
his legacy.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
In my opinion, I think the best compliment that can
be offered to a leader of people, whether it be
a manager or boss whomever, is if outside sources and
the people that you're leading themselves, if an assessment of
the group that you're leading is that that group wants

(12:36):
to be at their best for the person that's leading
them consistently, that right there shows how good of a
leader that leader is. Steven, you said what I had been.
I'll be honest with you. On my ride home, I
have about a forty five minute ride home for my
day job each day, and I was trying to put
together the words, and Steven you said it more beautifully

(12:56):
than I could have. But that's the best way that
I could have summed it up is that Brian Snicker,
you can honestly say his players, year in and year out,
wanted to be at their best for him because of
the person that he was, because so many people out
of obligation, act like they care, act like they're loyal,
so on and so forth. With Brian Snicker, you could

(13:17):
clearly tell it was sincere. And that's what made him
so effective with his honesty, because anytime he was honest
with one of his players, they knew that he was
being honest to try to make them better and because
he wanted to win, and that's what matters. And to
Stevens's point about that being, you know, for all the
areas where you know Snicker could have improved or struggled,
the one strength that he had of relating to people

(13:38):
because of how genuine he was, that by far was
more impactful than any of his struggles. Because when you
work with as talented of rosters as he did, getting
those talents to want to perform at their best for
you is what will allow for you to be consistent,
is what will allow for continuity, and that really stands out.
So could not agree with steven more similar to how

(14:00):
Bobby Cox was being a leader of men, being a
player's coach, being someone that can relate to players that
players wanted to play for, That's what stands out as
the reason why Brian Snicker was so successful, and isn't
it funny that we're talking about this three decades later?
Was what was successful for Cox back in the nineties
has been what's been successful for Snicker in the twenty twenties.

(14:22):
It doesn't change. The better you relate to the players
that you lead, the more likely you're going to be
able to have success, and he certainly had that. The
other thing that I'll say to that is this is
that I think that it's fun to also, you know, Scott,
you talked about the fact that when he was an
interim coach, people spoke up for him, wanting him to

(14:43):
get the main managerial role as time went on. I
think it also says a lot to snip that two
of the players who talked about him wanting to retain
his job in next year are Chris Sale, who was
with him for all of two years, and Drake Baldwin,
who's been a rookie this year. That goes to show
that it doesn't matter how long you were with Snith.
That's how I'm hackful it is and I think that
it's fun to to end this segment on discussing Snit

(15:04):
and remembering him given a story or a moment that
really stood out to you during his time. For me, guys,
what stood out was really the first opportunity where we
as Brave's Country realize just how important this roster meant
to Snicker, and that was when he went out when
Ronald Acuna Junior got hit by Jose Rania in the
game against the Marlins. Snicker's immediate response going out there

(15:28):
and acting out of character, immediately going out there and
showing I am not going to take this you going
after one of my players. That really let us know
this is kind of like a father figure. Brian Snicker
always saw this roster as kind of his kids. That
lets you know how much he care about the roster.
That got Brave's Country behind Snicker if they already weren't.
That was kind of the you know, this guy really

(15:48):
is the perfect leader for us to be where we
want to get. That was the moment this stood out
for me.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Well, and not only that moment, because that moment did
come to mind Sean, but after the game when he
was meeting with the media, Snid got emotional talking about
the players and said those are my kids and had
to fight back tears and got choked up, and I
thought that really spoke to just the character of Snid
and just how much he genuinely cared. And that was

(16:14):
something he said today in his press conference with when
the players. There were about a dozen current Braves there
and he said, you know this, being with these guys
was the greatest part of my job, and just the
camaraderie being in that clubhouse, being in the dugout for
seven months. I mean, these guys see each other more
than they see their their wives, their girlfriends, their kids.

(16:35):
I mean that is their family for seven months out
of the year, sometimes eight if you make a deep
run into the playoffs. The other moment too, that just
comes to mind was just the absolute elation that was
on Snith's face when they won the World Series in
the in the dugout, getting dogpiled by Walt Weiss and
Eric Young and Ron Washington and then getting to host

(16:59):
that trophy. It's just, I mean, that's what it's all about.
And again it's just kind of a storybook ending for
a guy who paid all of his dues. So many
opportunities I'm sure came in Snit's heead where he's like
you know what, I just don't want to do this anymore.
I don't want to do the bus rides in the
minor leagues. I you know, I haven't gotten my chance.
I'm done. He's stuck with it, and at the end

(17:20):
of the day, he got to do something that's pretty
damn cool. Won a ton of baseball games, won a
World Series, I mean, a pretty special baseball career.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, and mine's not a moment mine. It is along
the line the lines of what Scott just said. But
this dude managed in the minors, in the minor leagues
for years and years and years, where you get zero recognition,
you get very little money, you get I mean like

(17:50):
it is a you have to love baseball and you
have to love the organization you're with to just sit
in Triple A or Double A and ride the bus
and watch all your best players leave after half a year.
And you know all the nonsense that minor league. You know,
you hear a lot about minor league players and all

(18:10):
the stuff they have to put up with. We don't
ever talk about the minor league coaches and what they
have to put up with with no hope of being
called up, Like they're there for the whole year and
snitth did this for I mean forever, and I know
he was the third base coach for a little while
for Bobby, but he was a massive part of the
Braves minor league system for decades, and you know, again

(18:34):
to get his shot like that and to take advantage
of it to the point where Alex. When Alex came
in in twenty seventeen, you know, people remember John Coppola
had the big scandal at the end of twenty seventeen,
resigned Braves bring in Alex Adopolis. Everybody. Everybody thought he
was going to hire his own manager, because that's what

(18:55):
you do when you go to a new job, you
hire your own guy. The Braves had just had, you know,
the Brave had given Snit the full time job in
twenty seventeen, but had not made any guarantees for anything. Obviously,
with a new front office, nobody would have blamed Alex
for hiring his own manager. And Alex talked about it today.
He saw how much the players respected Snit and he

(19:17):
was like, I don't need another I don't I have
exactly I can win with a guy who's disrespected. Is
he the best tactician?

Speaker 2 (19:26):
No?

Speaker 3 (19:26):
Is he the best bullpen guy. No, but I can
win with a guy disrespected. And you know, listen to
him talk today about how it's all about the players.
You know, somebody asked him snit. You know, the fans
would have loved to give you, like a one month
sendoff if you had just announced this last month, and
he was like, yeah, that was my call. I just

(19:47):
didn't want to do it. It was all about the players.
I just did not want to do it. You can
blame me because you didn't get to do that, but
I didn't want to do it. It's he is a
thousand percent about the players, and I love that. And
that's exactly what you need as a manager. You have
to be you have to take your ego entirely out
of it. And that's another thing that I'll remember is

(20:07):
that he had to He had to drop his ego
from his entire persona for years living in the miners,
I mean, you're just you're a You're invisible, You're a ghost.
Only people that know about you are are people deep
in the organization and no one else. And that means
you you're you are not at all prideful. You were
you were literally one hundred percent about the team, about

(20:28):
the organization, and that's the same attitude he carried too.
He carried once he got the big job, and that's
why players love him so much, and that's why I'll
miss him. I will miss Snit. I'm I'm com I
don't know how you feel, Scott. I'm completely okay with
this decision. I don't know if it was his decision
or the bravest decision, but I'm I'm okay with moving on.
I think it's the right time. But Snet was a

(20:50):
great manager and there's gonna be a lot of people
who hated Snit. I'm just telling you, the grass is
not always greener with a new guy. And I hope
people appreciate what they just have for the last decade,
the stability they just had for the last decade, the
success they just had for the last decade, because it's
not a given and there's plenty of managers who coming
to that job and they get eaten alive by the

(21:12):
pressure of having to manage a clubhouse of that many
rich personalities for that long, and he did it marvelously.
Hats off to you, Snit. Enjoy your retirement. I'm fine
with the move. But I'm gonna miss Brian Snick.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Yeah I will too. I mean, just a great man,
a really good manager. I think we've talked about just
the respect that he commanded from twenty six millionaires seven
months at a time and kept the team together. There
was very, very rarely any kind of off field drama
with the Braves. You know, you're right, the grass is

(21:47):
not always greener. I do think this was probably time
to move on from Snit. It just feels like it's
the right time. But truthfully, boys, if they announced this
morning that Snit was coming back for one more and
it was gonna be one final ride, I would not
have come on this podcast like banging my fists on
the table screaming what they're doing. Because there were legitimate

(22:08):
reasons to potentially bring Snit back. And now we go
into a new era of Braves baseball.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, and I'll say, and Brett, I'll make this point
for Brad because he's not here. I don't the process
was weird, I have I didn't understand the process. They
used the whole lame duck thing this year. I didn't
love that. I thought there was a better way to
handle it. I would have loved if they had been
able to convince him to let fans kind of appreciate
him for a month. I do think there were better
ways to handle it, but where we ended up I

(22:37):
think is fine. Obviously, who they get next is gonna
be a big question. But Brian Snicker, go enjoy retirement.
You got a new truck. I love the fact that
they gave him a new truck. They gave him an
all paid expenses trip to Hawaii. I made the joke
on Twitter's like he won the Prices Right showcase, Like
just a awesome, awesome career, great job, hats off, go

(22:59):
enjoy retirement. And obviously he's still taking the job in
the front office. Will still see him around. You mentioned
today as the exact same job that Bobby Cox had
when he moved on to the front office, So that's
pretty cool. So you'll still see him around. But as
far as manager, no more manager. Great jobs.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, and you know it's just and of course you
know he's going more than deserving. He will be inducted
into the Braves Franchise Hall of Fame next year as well,
but just next year also will be the fiftieth year
that he's with the Braves organization. I mean since nineteen
seventy six. I mean Snicker started with the Braves organization

(23:38):
ten years after they moved to Atlanta. That's how long
he's been with the organization. If you've been with an
organization for fifty years, you've done two things. You've done
things the right way, and you've done them in a
highly successful manner. And I think that that's a great
way to describe by Brian Snicker. Short and sweet, thank you,

(24:00):
Brian Snicker, best of look to you, and a salute
to you on a great career as Braves manager. But
of course, as they say, the show goes on, and
we've got plenty to discuss when it comes to what
the new era, which we're hoping will very much be
like the Snicker era of the Braves. What will the
new Braves era look like with a new voice at

(24:20):
the helm of the roster. We'll discuss that in just
a moment after a word from our partners.

Speaker 4 (24:25):
Football is back, and so is your shot at big wins.
With Draft Kings Pick six, the official daily fantasy partner
of the NFL, your game day instincts can score your
real money fast. Here's the play, just pick more or
less on two or more player stats, a breakout rookies
to elite QBS and I'm not the upside that every
snap brings. The betterer calls the bigger your payoff and
here's the kickoff. Bonus new trackings, susomers FI fifty dollars
and bonus picks, which is a five dollars entry on

(24:45):
your first pick set this season. Play your player instincts
downalard Draft Kings Pick six app right now and use
code foul. That's code foul. Play just five dollars, give
youty dollars and pick six bonus picks. Make the call,
ride the upside and partnership with Draft Kings. Pick six
The crown is yours.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
Gambling problem called one eight hundred. Gambler help is available
for problem gambling called eight eight eight seventy nine seven
seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot orgon Connecticut. Must
be eighteen and over age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction.
Pick six not available everywhere, including New York and Ontario.
Void were prohibited one per new customer. Bonus awarded as
non withdrawal. Pick six bonus picks that expire in fourteen
days limited time offer. See terms at Pick six dot

(25:22):
DraftKings dot com slash promos.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
So, guys, I think it's important to kind of, you know,
set the stage on This is a rather unique setup
when it comes to an organization looking for a new
leader for their roster. And what I mean by that
is this is that, yes, the Braves are not in
the playoffs, they had a losing record, they have high
draft odds next year. A lot of those characteristics do

(25:47):
you look at, you know, when you think, Okay, this
team's kind of maybe entering a rebuild mode. That's not
the case at all. This is a team with the
roster that still feels it's in its contention window and
they expect to be a contender next year. So with
that in mind, there's some different dynamics about this potential search,
about finding that next guy to lead the roster that

(26:11):
are here for the Braves, that make this a bit unique,
that are not always there, you know when it comes
to teams rebuilding. So it's about the process, it's about
the names, but at the end of the day, it's
keeping that focus on the fact we want to win now,
and we want to win now at a big time level.
So with that in mind, Stephen, let's talk about that process.

(26:31):
Let's talk about is this a short process, is this
a long drawn out process? What about the current set
up with the current coaches beyond manager? What does this
process look like in your mind before we get into
some of the names that could potentially be discussed.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah, so obviously, now that it's you know, we know
that there's going to be a new manager, you start
putting the calls out right. So we'll get into the names.
But the first thing I'll is gonna have to do.
He's gonna have to figure out the contract status of
all the coaches on the staff because you know, obviously
everybody was concentrating on snit. But now that you're gonna

(27:09):
have a new manager, you know, if Walt Weiss, for instance,
doesn't get this job, he might want to move somewhere else.
Cranits might want to move some routs, they might not
want to work with a new manager. You do this
knowing very well that you might have to replace most
of not all, of your staff, which is why teams
do it so early. You know, there's a reason that

(27:29):
the day after the season Monday morning, you saw so
many of these decisions coming down. There was a reason
that Brad was like, I can't believe they haven't done anything,
and it's you know, Tuesday night. It's because there is
an urgency to this process because you're not only potentially
replacing your manager, you are potentially replacing your entire coaching
staff if other guys move on. Now, those guys have

(27:51):
contracts too, and we're not privy to that information, but
there's just the chance that they're gonna have to you know,
they're gonna have to hire more than just a manager.
So in baseball you do have to you know, we uh.
One thing we talked about offline today was, you know,
in the NFL, there's the Rooney rule about how many
guys you need to interview, you know, minority candidates you
need to interview. Baseball does have something similar. It's not

(28:13):
exactly the same, doesn't work exactly the same. But this
can't just be like Alex picks up the phone, calls
David Ross and says, hey, I want you to be
my new manager, and like we're not gonna get an
announcement tomorrow on who the new manager is. This is
gonna be a process they do set up interviews. They'll
set up a bunch of interviews. I'm guessing it'll I
think it'll be an exhaustive search, and it's not just

(28:33):
gonna be an exhaustive search just for appearent's sake. I
think Alex wants to do an exhaustive search. I know
Brad Scott talked about this on their show on Sunday,
like he hasn't had to do this with the Braves yet,
he hasn't had to pick a manager. The Braves have
not gone through one of these exhaustive searches in a
long time, and so I think they're gonna. I think
they're gonna turn over a bunch of different leaves, a

(28:54):
bunch of different rocks. I think they're gonna interview some
maybe out of the box candidates. I know deal Be
brought up some interesting names that we'll get to. But
I do think this will be a little bit of
a process, which is why it was so important to
go ahead and start it because it could take a while,
and again you might have to add pitching coach, hitting coach.
There was already questions about Tim Hiers. Anyways, you know

(29:15):
bench coach. What does wat Wise do? This is the
beginning of this process. It is not the end.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
And I will say the good news is this Braves job,
I have to imagine is very attractive to the eyes
of basically everybody in baseball. Yeah, I mean might honestly
be a fun segment of like what are the top
five managerial jobs when you consider all factors. But for
this Braves team, I know they had a down year
this past season, but a very talented roster. I mean you, guys,

(29:45):
you can turn on a playoff game right now and
you look at the lineup and you look at some
of the guys making starts and it's like, man live
if the Braves if a few things went differently, the
Braves have like more talent on their rosters than a
lot of these playoff teams do. Of course, they have
to perform like they're supposed to perform, but it is
a organization of stability. I would imagine that alex Enthopolis

(30:09):
is viewed as a good boss to work for. Ownership,
for better or worse, is not overly hands on. Even
though the Braves were cheap last offseason, they were still
I believe seventh in payroll this last year. So this
is not a situation where like the Baltimore Orioles job
might be up, like the cheap asses who run the

(30:31):
Orioles or the Marlins, Like, how are you gonna draw
a good candidate to manage the Marlins with a fifty
million dollars payroll? So good roster, talented place, a lot
of guys in their prime and organization of stability, good leadership,
presumably money to spend this offseason. There's a lot of
things working in the braves favor and they should have

(30:52):
a nice group of candidates to pick from because they're
not going to be scraping the bottom of the barrel
begging for someone to take the job.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Go ahead, and Steve Well, I was gonna say, it's
also an iconic franchise, like the brands are just an
iconic brand and a massive fan base. Being the manager
of the of the Atlanta Braves is a big deal
in this sport. And I know we don't always think
about the Braves in those terms because you know, the
Yankees and the Dodgers and like, these massive, massive payroll

(31:23):
teams get a lot of the headlines. But the Braves
are a massive brand in the sport. Atlanta is one
of the biggest markets in the country. The fan base
is national because of TBS superstition. Days like, it is
a big deal to be the manager of this organization.
And that is one what Scott is talking about, why
other people are going to be interest So many other
people are gonna be interested in the job. And two,

(31:44):
if you're Alex, why you have to do an exhaustive
search because you you don't you can't get this wrong.
It's it's even though manager is not the same as
you know, head coach or coach, you know, coach in
the NBA, coach in the NFL. You don't want to
get this wrong. So this is going to be a
I think this is going to be a process. But
Scott is one hundred percent right. There will be tons

(32:05):
of people, tons of people interested in this job.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing, you know,
former Brave and Major League outfielder Kevin Plaar, And Kevin
Plaar was here for literally a year, and he came
back to the same thing for nearly every question that
I asked him. There's not really any specific secret sauce
or anything like that that the Braves do differently from
other organizations. There's just so much goodness in the Braves organization,

(32:32):
good people no matter where you go from the front
office to Snicker to the clubhouse, all those things exist.
And yes, making advantagerial change is changing a critical component.
But that is one thing that way as we get
into the names that I think also needs to be
addressed with as much good as there is with the
Brave's organization, talent, continuity, stability, what have you, it's time

(32:52):
for a change, you know, a strength of theirs two
years ago, continuity was a strength. There's two years ago
when we were successful, but it's now time to where
there's a change, and it makes sense that a new
voice probably comes in and maybe changes around how things
are done a bit, keeping the good things that are there,
but changing up areas where they can improve. And I

(33:13):
definitely think that that's something Alex is going to put
value on. What about my potential new hire, how does
he do things differently that could be more effective that
over the past couple of years have kind of run stale,
and so I think that that's really going to be
a focus of Alex's as well. And Scott, let's get
into it, you know, let's look at some of these names.

(33:33):
We'll go through some names, kind of mention as to
why they make sense, and then after that we'll kind
of start weeding through the names as to what really
makes sense for Alex to value to come to maybe
you know two or three who really stand out as
being the best potential candidates for the job.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
So that was like the big question today of course,
was Okay, who are the candidates for this job? And
I think there are some obvious ones, and we're going
to talk about them one moment, and then I'm sure
Alex is going to interview players that not a soul
on Earth writes about, talks about, thinks about. That's just
the way it is. Alex knows people, He's been around

(34:10):
the game for twenty five years professionally, He's going to
have people in mind that that none of us are going.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
To come up with.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
But because of that, we kind of sleuthed around today
and tried to find a handful of possibilities. Let's just
go through them and then I mean, Steven, if you
want to pick a couple or even just one at
a time, but I think probably the most let's go
internal first. Walt Weiss, the current Braves bench coach, the
right hand man for Brian Snicker. Almost certainly Walt Weiss

(34:38):
is going.

Speaker 5 (34:38):
To get an interview.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
David Ross is a name that maybe was said the
most today. David Ross had a piece with Ken Rosenthal
and the athletic that Ross is looking to manage. Kind
of got a rough deal with the Cubs when they
brought in Craig Counsel. He sat through a lot of
bad baseball and then the Cubs started getting better and
they kicked David Ross out's so former player has managerial

(35:03):
experience in a big market in a similar type of
high profile job. Skip Schumacher's name is very hot, although
we will say Skip Schumacher is currently a heavy lean
to take the Rangers open vacancy, but I'm guessing Alex
will do his due diligence. Eric Young is of course
has ties to the Braves former first base coach and

(35:26):
I believe and has been around the game. Mark de
Rosa is currently with MLB Network has managed Team USA
for my whole life, guys, I feel like Mark Durosa
has been said as a possible managerial candidate for the Braves.
We will see. And lastly, a name that David O'Brien
of the athletic mentioned was Ryan Flaherty, who is the

(35:49):
current Cubs bench coach and was a utility infielder for
the Braves a few years ago. So again David Ross,
Skip Schumacher, Eric young sor Mark de Rosa, Walt White,
and Ryan Flaherty. There are going to be more, but
I guess of that group, Steven, I mean, do any
of those names really kind of stick out in your mind?

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yeah, So let's go through the real quick. So Walt Weiss,
So obviously Walt's been the Braves bench coach. I don't
know if people know this, but like Walt Weiss has
been there for like nine years, like he's he came
almost immediately, and anytime you've been the bench coach for
that long. And I was talking about this earlier when
they fired Freddigan Zaliz and the bench coach, like the

(36:29):
bench coaches, like the automatic guy who's gonna get looked
at what Weiss has managed before, he was the Rockies manager,
he played in the Majors, obviously played for the Braves.
Like it. It checks a lot of boxes that are
just natural. Now there are a lot of people who
are gonna say if you're making a change from Brian Snitker,
maybe don't go higher his bench coach because it's just

(36:51):
gonna be Brian Snitker again. And that's a fair argument,
and I would probably make that argument. But wal Weiss's
name is gonna come up, and rightfully so he should.
He at the very least needs an interview. You gotta
be respectful and give it. Even if you don't want
to hire him, you got to give him an interview.
David Ross. Now this is if I if I had
to set betting lines, if I just had a betting

(37:11):
line for the search, this is the guy I'm putting
at the heavy favorite. So obviously David Ross former catcher
a lot. You know, he's kind of the like out
of Central Casting, former catcher that turns MLB manager. It's
a very sought after, kind of like archetype of you know,
catchers are often sought you know, kind of considered the

(37:32):
smartest guys on the field, the guys that have to
know everything. Then then I the you know, the guys
who are going to be managers one day, and David
Ross already has managerial experience, and managerial experience is a
big deal, and I don't know that the Braves. Maybe
you guys have a different opinion. I don't know that
the Braves are gonna go hire somebody for this job
who's never managed at the major league level before. They could.

(37:56):
They could get somebody with some potential they like, but
that's a that's a all task, and anybody that's got
managerial experience, like David Ross does. He obviously was with
the Cubs, I'm gonna put above anybody that does it.
So like Weiss and David Ross are two names. Skip Schumacher,
like Scott just said, was with the Marlins, had a
successful year. A lot of people think he got a

(38:18):
raw deal in Miami as well, just like Ros did
in Chicago. Like you know, Scott said, he's already in Texas.
Texas also has an opening. I would be very surprised
if he's not the next manager of the Rangers. I
think they got him in that job to be Boche's
heir apparent because obviously bo She is older than Snit,

(38:38):
so he wasn't not going to be around for long.
I'm guessing Schumacher is going to be the next guy
in Texas. Ryan Flaherty is interesting. He's never managed, but
he has been on a coaching staff, and that's the
next best thing. If you've never managed, you know, at
least you've been around a clubhouse for six months. You
see what it takes. Like, I think you should, at
that very least have been a coach on a major

(38:59):
league staff to be considered for this job. Even if
you're not a manager, I think you should at least
have been a coach. I'll say this, and I'll let
Scott jump back in here. One thing I haven't seen,
and if, like if Steven Tolbert was running the search
and I got to just imprint the thing that I
value the most. I've already said experience. The next thing

(39:21):
I would do, honestly is, I'm not sure I would
hire a coach in twenty twenty five that can't speak
English and Spanish. I think I would want a bilingual head.
There's just so many Latin players in baseball. It just
it's the language barrier thing is a big deal, especially
when you've got to be around people for six or
seven months and having guys who can speak both English

(39:42):
and Spanish. Now I get guys on staffs, you know,
every staff has a guy who can speak Spanish. But
I would have a hard time if it was me running,
you know, if I was running a search hiring a
guy who doesn't speak both English and Spanish. But there's
not a lot of those. I mean, you know that
you limit your poll even more if you do that,
So you know, I could see any one of these
guys get in. I could see somebody we haven't talked

(40:04):
about that we will never talk about interviewing and getting it.
It is going to be fascinating. But if I'm setting
betting lines today, David Ross is who I'm going with.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah, yeah, I would tend to agree. I'm fascinated to
hear what names we're going to hear in the next
couple of weeks, what gets leaked, what doesn't. Of course,
the Braves run a very tight tight ship, so I
will say I agree wholeheartedly with having a bilingual manager,
or at least someone who can really connect with the

(40:32):
Latin players. The other thing too, which I think is
a high priority, and they don't have to be a
computer science major who can stare at a spreadsheet for
nine hours and break it all down, but someone who
is at least embracing of modern analytics, who understands bullpen leverage.

(40:52):
Who understands how to manage a pitching staff come October?
That's important and I'm sure of all the names, that's
going to be something that gets brought up in the
interview process. It's going to be a strength for some
I don't think it needs to be the strength like
I don't think Alex and thoppless. As much as he
talks about the importance of a strong clubhouse and everybody

(41:13):
getting along and being with each other every single day
for one hundred and ninety days out of the year,
I don't think Alex is going to overlook the kind
of personal side of the game. But I do think
if we can have Alex with Trucierm on the show tonight,
he would say that somebody who is at least open
and embracing of analytics and how the modern baseball game
is played is something that needs to be included. Otherwise

(41:35):
it's going to feel like we're kind of getting left
in the dark a little bit.

Speaker 6 (41:40):
Yeah, and I.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
That's one hundred percent true. Would I would also say
that the thing that made the thing that made Snicker
so good was that he could accomplish what he accomplished
in spite of that. And there is kind of this
like do you want the traditional manager that's old school,
but as the respect of the players, do you want
the new school manager? You know who? Was it capler

(42:07):
with the Phillyler? Yeah, you know it kind of it
can It can also go off the rails if you're
not careful. It's such a delicate thing. I'm glad I'm
not out. I'm glad I'm not the one has to
make this call because like merging the old school, like
traditions and like respect and the new school, it's a
tough it's a tough needle to threat. And I agree

(42:28):
with you though, this was that was Brian's biggest blind
spot and it would be nice to finally feel that
kind of that gaping hole that's been in the organization
the last decade.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
Yeah. Absolutely, And and it's going to become even more
important now for those for that attention to detail and
that ability to be knowledgeable about, you know, the strategic
points of the job of where to add value in
the moment in games, how to be on top of
that non stop adding value that way, It's going to
become even more important as we try to piece together

(43:00):
this roster, a roster right now that has a bit
more uncertainty about it than it did a few years ago.
But we're gonna dive a little bit more into these names.
In just a moment after another word from our.

Speaker 7 (43:12):
Partners, okay, aj our slab pack ripping continues. Now, you
just ripped a card that I think.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
You're actually going to keep.

Speaker 6 (43:22):
I am, I'm going to keep it. It's a Ken
Griffy Junior rookie card. The old Is this the famous
upper Deck one? I believe it is, And yeah, heck y,
I'm gonna keep it because I'm gonna get Griffy to
sign it. I'm gonna get him to send it to me.
What you can do, And I'm gonna get Griffy to
sign it, and it's only gonna make it worth more.
So I am all in on this card.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
I'm keeping it.

Speaker 6 (43:41):
And it is one of the coolest cars with the
highest turtle neck you've ever seen and the gold chain around.

Speaker 7 (43:47):
His neck Graded nine nineteen eighty nine upper Deck. You
got the offer for one seventy nine. It's valued at
around one ninety nine, and you're like, nah, I'm keeping it,
But if you want it to sell it back instantly
you can. It's the beauty of Arena Club. AJ is
going to send in and get the physical card sent
to him, and you can do the same. Twenty percent
off your first slab pack or card purchase can happen

(44:07):
for you if you go to Arena club dot com
slash foul and use the code fo U L.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
So, guys, you know, we talk about some of the
names that we've mentioned, and I think that all of
those names that we've heard, you know, mentioned, you know,
through different reports and things like to that today each
makes sense in their own right. I agree David Ross
stands out as a sensible name. I would put him
and what weiss probably in that upper tier above others.
I also want to point out that, you know, some
other names were thrown out there, maybe from a fan

(44:39):
speculation or you know, just you know, outside the box,
if you will, names that I just I don't necessarily
think probably make the most sense for the Braves. I
know that, you know, for instance, of Travis Darnaut, you know,
is someone that that that people have mentioned. It should
be mentioned, of course that he's still under contract plane
wise when it comes to the Angels, But I do
want to point out that I know so that some

(45:00):
other organizations have even had success going to get former
players who did not have any managerial experience really at
any level before they took over the job for an organization.
I don't think that makes sense for the Braves, just
like I don't think, for instance, Tony Vautello from the
University of Tennessee goballs, but who comes from the University

(45:21):
of Tennessee. I don't think that that's someone that really
makes sense for the Braves because you're not looking to
bring in someone to just completely change the culture and
bring needed energy to the organization to try to help
build a successful restart or rebuild. That's not the case here.
That's why when we talk about managerial experience or coaching experience,

(45:42):
a proving track record I think is a really big
trait that you want in the manager of the next Braves.
But we talk so much about who the Braves are
going to hire, who's going to be in that spot.
And yes, again it's the right time to make a
change in that spot. But Scott will start with you
and Stephen gets your opinion on this as well. What

(46:02):
about the remaining of the coaching staff. Steven, I know
that you talk about the fact that we may have
to see a big part of that coaching staff replaced,
but there's also reason to want some of that continuity
to remain. Rich Kranitz has consistently gotten more than expected
from this pitching staff, even this year with you know,

(46:22):
having to put together a makeshift rotation and bullpen at times,
Tim Hyers, he implemented needed areas of improvement for this
lineup as the season went along. I think that it
would be a more of a good thing than a
bad thing to retain both those guys. But how big
of a part does that play in your overall expectation
to retaining what seems to be a pretty good setup

(46:45):
coaching wise, a pretty good successful setup when it comes
to the supporting staff to a manager.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
So I think for me, the priority is keeping Rick
Kranitz around. If Kranits is down to keep going, I'm
all for it. Braves pitching has been really good, and
they've developed young pitching well. That one to me is
kind of a no brainer. If Kranti is in, and
I will say Grantitis is getting a little bit older.

(47:11):
He also had a family issue A couple of years
ago that kept him away. Don't want to speculate on
that stuff, but if Granitis is in, I am in
for twenty twenty six. Tim Hires man alive. I mean,
it was so bad in the first half. The Braves
did hit better as the season went along. Part of
me says, it's kind of like an offensive coordinator in football.

(47:32):
If you change him every year, you're kind of starting
back at zero. But if the results aren't what you want,
it's kind of an easier decision to make. I could
probably be talked either way on Tim Hires, but if
they say we're gonna move on, I would not lose
sleep over it by any means. And then I mean
the rest of the coaching staff. I'd love to have
Eddie Perez around just for the vibes. Eddie's, of course

(47:53):
a Brave's life or in a legend. We'll see what
he ultimately wants to do. But that's I mean, for
the coaching staff, that's kind of it. It's keep Kranitz
if he's in, we'll see what they ultimately do with Hires.
And if Eddie Perez wants to come back, great, but
you know Tom Goodwin at first base, whatever, Freddy Gonzalez
at third base. It's still funny that they had to
make that change mid season because it was so bad

(48:16):
and Freddy was good at third base. So maybe the
new manager, whoever it is, will be down to have.
Oh god, surely they wouldn't even think about Freddy Gonzalez
for two seconds, right right, the other name and then
I'll throw it to you, Stephen. Are we all in
agreement that we want no part of Mark de Rosa?

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Yeah, so that was gonna be my So so Mark
has zero manager experience outside of the WBC. And I
don't count the WBC because it's a it's a glorified
All Star team. You're together for like three weeks if
you deal with none of the stuff that real managers
have to deal with. The whole thing is can you
keep a team together over six months? And there's just

(48:57):
no way to recreate that over three weeks with what
is basically an All Star team, So I don't I
don't count that at all. He's also not been a
coat like, he's not even been on like a coaching staff.
He's also said some pretty crazy things about the Braves
the last couple of years. He's he's on MLB Network,
they do segments that they've got to get clicks and engagements,
and I understand, like he probably embellishes some stuff to

(49:19):
get reaction, but like he came out and said like
the Braves weren't as good because they've all got paid
and that they don't care as much, like stuff, that's
pretty insulting of a clubhouse. If I'm being quite honest,
I don't know how welcome he would be. So yeah,
I have zero I have zero interest in Martin de Rosa.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Durosa was also one of the multiple I believe who
was like, hey, maybe the Braves are fine without Ronald
Acuna Junior.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
Yeah, yeah, he's he was railed against a Cunya a couple. Yeah,
I have the managerial experience alone would disqualify him for me.
But even if that wasn't the case, I have no
interest with him. The coaching staff is is like, because
everybody wants to know about Ron Washington, Listen, Ron Washington
is older than Snit. He just had a quadruple bypass surgery.

(50:07):
There's no way in hell this guy needs to be
managing a baseball team next year. But if Ron Washington came,
it's like Hey, I can't manage, but I kind of
want to do something. I want to go back to
being your infield coach or one of your base coaches. Like,
hell yeah, sign me up for that. It's much less stress.
You're not the one dealing with the media every day.
You're not the one making out the lineup, You're not

(50:27):
the one, you know, getting bombarded with questions. It's a
much less stressful job. So if he wants to do that,
if he wants to get back on the staff in
some way, sign me up. He has no business being manager, though,
you know Freddy. I thought Freddy did a good job
when he came over for third base. I have no
idea what they're gonna do with Tim Hyers. I thought
mid season, I thought for sure they're gonna fight. I
thought they might fire him like June. It was going

(50:50):
so poorly for a while, but the offense did turn
it up, turn it around in the second half, might
have saved his job. You really don't want to have
to replace your hitting coach twice in two years. It's
not really the sign of stability that the Braves typically
look for. But Scott is one thousand percent right. The
most important part of this conversation is you have to
find a way to keep Rick Kranitz. That guy gets
the very most out of whatever his talent level is

(51:11):
at any given time, whether it's Chris Sale and Spencer
Swallenbach or it's you know, Hurston Waldrip and Joey Wentz,
whatever his talent level is, he gets the most out
of it. And I don't know what their individual contract
situations are. I don't know how tired they were to
specifically snit, but you gotta I think the number one
you have to try to keep Rick Kranitz if you can.

(51:34):
I don't even know if he has any interest in managing.
Probably not. I'm sure he'd be happy to stay as
the pitching coach. I know the manager who you hire
will probably want to have a say and who his
pitching coach is going to be. But if it's possible,
I would love to keep Rick Krantits.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
And I also think that it's worth noting that you know,
if you were the more of that staff that you
were to keep, like if you bring a Ron Washington on,
if you were to retain a Freddie Gonzalez, if you
were to retain a Rich Kranitz, that probably makes you
more comfortable with potentially bringing in someone that you really
like that doesn't have that managerial experience. If through these
interviews in a name that we haven't even mentioned comes

(52:11):
to light and really makes an impact in their interview
with AA and whoever. You know, the hiring you know
group is if you retain so many of those sources
that you trust and do have experience, that could be
what positions you to go after someone who may be
more of a dark horse type candidate. Things such as that.
And again, you know, Scott, we mentioned those names that

(52:31):
you know, could you know potentially be on a list
that we're not thinking of right now. One other thing
to consider in this it's not really a wild card,
it's just it's true about Alex and Topless. He is
someone that puts a lot of value on his relationships
and he is very loyal to those that he's worked
with in the past. I don't necessarily mean that means
he's going to hire someone that he's had extensive connections with,
but I do think that that means that where he's

(52:53):
going to talk that that's where names will come from
that we may not have mentioned. But when we talk
about connections that that is very important. You know, it's
important to go with guys that you know. But it
all comes back to this one thing. It comes back
to why Steven is talking about a bilingual coach, someone
that may be able to connect better in terms of
communication with Latin American players and things like that. This

(53:17):
coach has to prove without a doubt that when they
go into the clubhouse you are very confident that they
are going to gain that respect to the players that
was so prevalent with Snit And they may have to
do it in different ways. They may have to do
it in different ways, but that above all has to
be what stands out. If you put value on past
managerial experience to see that, that's fine, but that's what

(53:39):
has to stand out. You've got to get a guy
who can connect well with the clubhouse because that's been
such a pivotal part of what's been successful for us
in recent past.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
And I think it's a virtual guarantee that that is
going to be a large part of Alexanthopolis's decision. John,
you did a great job interviewing Kevin Pillar the other night,
and plard of reinforced some of the things we've heard
about Alex and just how much he cares about the
clubhouse and asking players about teammates and hey, how is
this guy? Or you can be rest assured that no

(54:11):
matter who he ultimately hires, the homework will be done.
And if there's any real doubt, at least in my opinion,
if there's any real doubt about who the person is
not in the dugout and his ability to command a
clubhouse and keep everybody together for seven or eight months
at a time, I think that's probably more disqualifying than
any other thing that they're going to talk about in

(54:32):
the interview.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
And I'll say this, that's also why front offices don't
just stick like one of their analytical guys down in
that spot. You know, in the modern game, the front
office kind of decides a lot of the strategic part
of the game. They decide, you know, they have input
on the lineup, they have input on the bullpen usage.
And so people have asked, well, if you're going to

(54:54):
control that much of it, why don't you just put
one of your front office people in the dugout to
be the manager. And the reason you don't do that.
The reason you do not do that is because The
players have to know and respect the person in that
spot to get them to play hard for seven months.
You cannot just stick an empty suit that they don't know,

(55:15):
that they never heard of, that never played or is
never managed. There's no reason for them to respect them.
That is how you lose a clubhouse like instantaneously. And
that's why, like, that's why I think managerial experience matters.
Or that you've played, you've been on a staff, you
have something that these players can look to and say,
all right, he's done this. I can respect that, I

(55:36):
can respect. I don't always agree with what he says,
but he's been here, he's done this. It's why it's
usually former players. That's why it's usually guys who have
come up through the ranks. You very rarely just see
just a out of nowhere hire for a manager because
the respect factor is too big a deal, and it's
every bit of deal in this search because of it,
especially with the guy you're replacing, that has to, like

(55:59):
Scott said, that has to be the main thing. It
can't be a thing. That has to be the main thing.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
And I wonder him with this. On my end is
that it's a time to also be excited right like,
not because of the fact that that Snicker's no longer
the manager, that he should be celebrated, praise, get all
the adulation that he deserves, but it's a time where
this is an opportunity to improve things. We've talked about
it for more than a year now. Some things about

(56:25):
the organizational approach to success that this organization has put
in place for years they have to change. The best
way to implement that is making sure that you get
the leader of your roster right. And I don't feel
there's anybody who knows the importance of that more than
Alex Enthopolis because he's had the biggest impact on building
what has been successful, what has proven to be successful

(56:48):
in years past, that he now needs to make successful
to his expectations once again. So that gives me confidence
that he not only is going to be thorough and
as we mentioned, exhaustive in this I fe that that
means that he's going to get it right and at
the end of the day, maybe a day that we
mentioned may not, but at the end of the day,
we're going to see that the name that he brings

(57:10):
in is someone that he thoroughly vested and someone that
I feel will be the right move for this clubhouse
and hopefully will be a critical component to us getting
back to the contention that we all know we want
this team to be at Scott Steven As we wrap
up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast, anything else
from either of y'all.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Just a big day for the Atlanta Braves, and we
all had a hunch that this was coming, but now
it's real, and now it is a new era of
Braves baseball. And we have not been able to say
many times, and I mean honestly our lifetimes, that the
Braves are looking for a new manager. It has been
the pillar of consistency in Major League Baseball, and I'm

(57:52):
excited for the future. I think you nail that, Sean.
It's an exciting time. Give Brian Sticker all the love
and credit that he deserves. But let's go find the
manager and let's get back to winning, because I mean, boys,
I put on a playoff game right now, and I
am just so envious of just the passion and emotion.
Not only get back to the playoffs, but let's get
back to winning some playoff games. We've won two playoff

(58:13):
games since winning the World Series, that's just not right.
It should not be that way. Let's get a manager,
let's have a good, productive, fruitful offseason, and then let's
get back to being where we want the Braves to be.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Yeah, I mean, I echo all of that. It's gonna be.
It's you know, it was already a fascinating offseason. We
kind of assumed this was coming, and then we kind
of assumed it might not come, and now it came.
So now you know, not only is the roster up
for debate and questions, now the manager and the entire
coaching staff quite frankly is up. And so the one

(58:45):
thing I will say is there's plenty of content coming
because we have now even more questions to this offseason.
We were gonna get probably weekly updates on this managerial search.
We're gonna get some answers on the coaching staff about
what their contractual statuses are, what they're interested in, are
there interested in coming back? You know, it's going to
get very interesting. And like I said at the beginning

(59:05):
of this today, it's just the start of this process.
I know it has some finality to it because somebody
is leaving, but for the Brave from the Braves, perspective.
This is day one of this process, and it's going
to play out through you know, quite a bit of
time going, you know, through the World Series and then
the offseason starts in early November. But there's gonna be
quite a bit to talk about, so make sure you're
falling along.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
And to put this in as maybe eye opening a
context as possible, we talk about the continuity the Braves roster,
who they have under contract and things like that. Guys,
correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Chris Sayle
may be the only Brave who has been alive since

(59:48):
nineteen ninety that's under contract through next year. He may
be the only Brave who's been alive to have seen
three Braves coaching searches in his lifetime. Pierce Johnson may
be old enough, but again, we saw it in twenty sixteen,
but the time before that was nineteen ninety era. Excuse me,
excuse me, Let me tell let me take this back,
let me take this.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
Back to see you the hell out of me with.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
I know, I don't want to talk about that. The
point that I'm getting at is that this is again,
the Braves have had three managers over the past thirty
five years. To put it into context, you see some
teams who go through three managers in multiple seasons, so
it is quite quite rare to see a Braves managerial search.
That's why it's exciting to see. For sure, nothing else

(01:00:33):
from Scott and Steven. Can't thank you enough for joining
us here on the Hammer Territory of podcast. We will
be back tomorrow night after Alex Andthopoulos's comments when it
comes to the Braves the end of the season. Now
obviously a managerial just searched twenty to watch out for
tomorrow with his comments, we'll break it all down tomorrow.
Can't thank you enough for joining us again. A salute
to Brian Snicker, great job on his career. Can't thank

(01:00:55):
you enough. We'll talk to you again soon here on
the Hammer Territory podcast. Let the.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
Least the lea