Atlanta Braves hire Anthopoulos as new GM

The hire has not been confirmed publicly by the Braves.

It is believed that John Hart will stay on as president of baseball operations.

Sherman says the Braves could make an announcement possibly as soon as this week during the GM meetings.

This news comes after Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported on October 2 former Braves general manager John Coppolella resigned because of a "breach of Major League Baseball rules regarding the global player market". The organization reportedly skirted multiple rules in the global player market. Hart's own contract with the Braves expired after the 2017 season, and it isn't yet clear if he will remain atop Atlanta's baseball ops pyramid or if the team could desire a clean slate with a new name in charge of the front office. As Sherman notes, however, the Braves' job "is viewed as attractive" around baseball due to the team's deep well of prospects, even despite the likelihood that MLB will level some type of punishment against the franchise.

For the Royals, the news offers a measure of comfort as a pivotal offseason continues.

This past season the Dodgers made it to the World Series for the first time since 1988, but fell one game short of winning the championship.

It remains unclear whether the interest from the Braves may spur another contract extension. But as the investigation into the Braves continued, he was linked to the job for weeks.

Anthopoulos took over as Blue Jays general manager in 2009 and rebuilt that team into a division victor in 2015, ending a postseason drought of 22 years in Toronto. He departed following the arrival of new club president Mark Shapiro, a former executive in Cleveland. He was working as the vice-president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2016.