The Atlanta Braves on Monday formally introduced Alex Anthopoulos as their executive vice president and general manager. Anthopoulos spent the past two seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers as senior vice president of baseball operations.
“The last two years have been a great learning experience for me,” he said. “Stan Kasten, Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi, allowed me to come to L.A. and work with them day in and day out. I’m forever grateful for that opportunity.”
Anthopoulos replaces John Coppolella, who resigned amid an MLB investigation into the Braves’ illegal activity within the international signing market. Braves president of baseball operations John Hart may be implicated as well.
Braves chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk said during the introductory press conference that Anthopoulos will have complete control of baseball operations.
Prior to joining the Dodgers, Anthopoulos was general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays from 2009-2015. He assembled a team that reached the postseason in 2015 for the first time in 22 years.
Anthopoulos was hired by the Blue Jays as a scouting coordinator after the 2003 season. He was promoted to vice president of baseball operations and assistant general manager in 2006, then named the team’s GM in October 2009.
Anthopoulos abruptly resigned following the 2015 season, with the belief it was largely due to the Blue Jays hiring of Mark Shapiro as team president and CEO.
The 40-year-old previously was linked to the once-vacant president of baseball operations position with the Minnesota Twins, and he’s said to have rejected interest last year from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In addition to Anthopoulos, the Dodgers have lost director of player development Gabe Kapler, and assistant director of player development Jeremy Zoll.
