HOUSTON – Alex Anthopoulos quickly left Minute Maid Park after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spectacular 13-12 10-innings loss to the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series. permission from his bosses to go on a mission while his relatives accompanied the team back to Los Angeles.
“I got back to the hotel and started stuffing my head like an exam, studying the (Atlanta) Braves before my interview,” he said.
He got the job of general manager of the Braves just 16 days later. He’s back at Minute Maid Park this week, after giving the Braves access to the World Series for the first time since the 1999 season.
Anthopoulos and Astros general manager James Click have taken the helm of teams caught in the turmoil.
Anthopoulos was hired six weeks after general manager John Coppolella was forced to resign following a Major Baseball investigation that determined the Braves had broken several rules in the international player market.
Click was No.3 in the Tampa Bay Rays pecking order when he was hired by the Astros in February 2020, three weeks after general manager Jeff Luhnow was suspended by the Major Leagues and fired by the Astros for his role. in the legendary signal theft scandal.
Then, just after taking office, Click’s plan was relegated to oblivion by the coronavirus pandemic. He could not have coffee or a meal with his staff for a full year.
Click, a 43-year-old Yale University history graduate, and Anthopoulos, an economics graduate from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., Run organizations that rely on top managers who covet their first World Series: Dusty Baker, 72, on the Astros side, and Brian Snitker, 66, completing his 45th season with the Georgia organization.
Both teams won their respective league championships with massive – but not stratospheric – payrolls: the Astros were eighth at US $ 188 million as of August 31, and the Braves were 15th at $ 149 million.
Born in Montreal, Anthopoulos began his career as an intern with the Montreal Expos in 2000, before joining the Toronto Blue Jays – first as a recruiting coordinator, then as general manager in 2009. He left the city. Reine in 2016 to become the vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers under the aegis of Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi, and secured her position with the Braves less than two seasons later.
“I spent six years in Toronto, and I felt like I was progressing as GM,” he said. Then in LA it looked like I had attended college for two years. I wish I had been a year or two older, because I was learning a lot, and I made sure to bring all my experience baggage with me to Atlanta. “
Anthopoulos was inspired by Billy Beane, who entered his 25th year as boss of baseball operations for the Oakland Athletics.
“Never have excuses like, ‘Oh, we don’t have the resources or the money.’ He’s still trying to win, Anthopoulos said. They never initiate a rebuilding process. And Farhan will tell you the same thing: ‘I’m not doing a three-year plan, or a five-year plan. I just try to make the best decisions and win when we can. “
As the Braves approached the All-Star break under the .500 mark by being deprived of their three starting outfielders, Anthopoulos recalled a discussion he had with Beane in May or June.
“If you’re in the race, two months is a very long time, 60 games is a lot, and you just have to stay in it because a lot of teams will just throw in the towel, which will allow you to Sneak up on you, he said, quoting Beane. It’s not very complicated, and it makes a lot of sense. “
Thus, like Click, Anthopoulos also considers that aggression pays off in the long term. The Montrealer remembered what happens in a shelter when a team decides to give up.
“You’re not in the running for the last two calendar months, your football ‘pool’ is about to start. The guys don’t want to play anymore. Critics are starting to be heard, and players are pointing fingers at each other, he said. It’s unpleasant. And I lived it. I have experienced it several times. “
