Braves Mailbag: How Much Input Does a Manager Really Have, Anyway?
We take your questions on as many topics as Substack lets us fit in one email
We’re fully into offseason mode over here on Braves Today.
I’ve already written about Atlanta’s 40-man roster crunch, which they’ve already begun addressing, as well as the search for a new manager after the news that Brian Snitker was “transitioning” to a front office role for the 2026 season, his 50th in the organization.
But I wanted to know what you wanted to know, so I put out the call for questions and you answered. A reader mailbag is an ego-centric exercise - you value my thoughts, and I’ll never take that for granted - but as Jason Isbell says, “I’m lucky to have the work”.
Let’s talk about it. As always, premium subscribers come first.
Shout out to premium subscriber Dave, who hopped into the DMs for this one:
One thing I always wondered is: what exactly major leaguers do during the winter months? I know some of the younger prospect-type guys will go to the AFL or play winter ball down in the DR or Venezuela, but aside from that do they simply trust their players to prepare in their own way and will show up ready to go in Spring Training? Do they give any guidance on what skills specific players need to develop? I know a lot of Braves go to the Maven lab to train. Are there other similar-type facilities all over the country where pro baseball players get their work in during the winter?
So this varies based on where a guy is in his career - no one’s giving Matt Olson a “you need to do this list” for the offseason - but guys (especially veterans) are largely left to their own devices to train, yes
Some players, usually those from Latin America, go to winter ball in the Caribbean. The most prominent league is the Dominican Winter League (LIDOM) but there is similar leagues in Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, etc. It’s customary for big league clubs to sign off on a player’s participation there, sometimes with restrictions and/or requests as to how they’re used. For example, when Vaughn Grissom was set to go to Puerto Rico in the winter of 2023, the Braves coordinated with his LBPRC team to have him play the outfield. When he got traded to the Boston Red Sox for Chris Sale (plus Sale’s 2024 salary), the Red Sox did not require Santurce to follow that restriction and so he ended up getting seven games at third base post-trade.
The domestic guys sometimes play in the Caribbean, too - Sean Murphy played 23 games for Toros del Este in the winter of 2018 - but they usually stay home and train on their own. Most players either link up with a private facility or their former college program. I usually see several drafted Auburn players here in town every winter, hitting in the cages or throwing bullpens.
But to Dave’s point, a lot of these guys are left to their own devices, although they may get conditioning advice/help prior to leaving. Some organizations are getting better about this, though, especially with their prospects; several clubs (Red Sox and Cubs come to mind here) now organize sessions over the winter for top prospects to work with team personnel in a group setting, although I’m unaware of Atlanta coordinating those at the team facilities.
From Tyler Pellom:
Snit retiring seems to be the perfect opportunity to do a culture reset of sorts, right? The entire organization seems sleepy, like winning is a birthright. With this in mind, is it possible we see one of the stalwarts of the roster traded to shake things up?
I think if 2026 goes the same direction as 2025, it’s possible.
Think about it this way: 2025 was the second straight season where the offensive performance regressed, despite a late-season surge that made several of the full-season numbers look respectable. If you change the manager, especially by bringing in someone young and fiery, and the results don’t improve, the last place to look is the players.
Based on performance in the last two seasons, I think the likely candidates to move would be Austin Riley or Michael Harris II. Riley’s a situation where you have a fill-in with Nacho Alvarez who can provide similar defense; if another team believes that Riley can get back to the 35-40 homer bat that hit .280 and finished in the top ten of MVP voting, you could see quite a return for him. Harris is a harder sell from the perspective of replacing him, but it’s hard to get the value out of any other deals (with the exception of maybe Sean Murphy, but I have hopes he’ll rebound as he comes out of his hip injury rehab.)
I still don’t think either deal is remotely likely, but what else would you do at that point?
From BravesStatsFarm:
Who do you think throws more MLB innings next year, Hayden Harris or Jhancarlos Lara?
This is a really good question, because there are arguments for both.
The Lara argument comes down to the pure stuff - he’s one of the few high-level arms capable of hitting 100 in a relief role, and as the career of Aroldis Chapman can attest, 100 mph will play anywhere around the plate.1
But the Harris argument comes down to the fact that, despite his average fastball velocity being roughly 8 mph slower than Lara's, he can consistently and reliably throw strikes. Lara walked 21 of the 97 batters he faced as a reliever this year, while Harris walked just 19 of his 196 but also struggled to get whiffs in his MLB debut.
Give me Lara, but this is tough - I honestly don’t think either guy has a major role in the pen this year.
Here’s Michael:
How much input does a mlb manager have on their team? I know a lot of it is more analytical these days but I’m still curious how much input a manager has
It varies, but Atlanta gave Brian Snitker more freedom than a lot of teams give their managers, in deference to his experience and career success. He made the lineup, he made pinch-hit and bullpen decisions, and generally was given carte blanche to run the day-to-day of the team as he saw fit.
The fact of life in modern baseball is that every manager is getting analytical help from the front office. The question is in the way it’s presented - where is it a suggestion and where is it a decree? Atlanta’s definitely leaned in the direction of “suggestion”, owing to the tenure and experience of their manager. I know firsthand that several other organizations are a lot closer to the “decree” side of the equation - the Tampa Bay Rays immediately come to mind here. Do you think Kevin Cash wanted to take Blake Snell out of Game 6 of the 2020 World Series? No, but the game plan that the front office created was very explicit that Snell was NOT to face the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup a third time and Cash didn’t feel like he had the freedom to deviate from that plan just because Snell was pitching well.2
If I’m being honest, I hope that Atlanta’s next manager gets more bullpen guidance from the front office than the Snitker staff did. Too often in recent years, it felt like the pitching plan was predetermined, no matter which pocket of the lineup was due up in the next inning.
From APBC:
If I tell you AA does only these three things: 1. extend (Ha-Seong) Kim at 4/$80M, 2. Sign Devin Williams for 1/$10M, and 3. Trade for Pablo Lopez, what grade would you give that offseason?
When I wrote up Atlanta’s offseason situation after acquiring Kim a few weeks ago, one of the things I realized was that it’s very likely that the Braves need to pass over one of the areas of need and/or settle for a budget option. In my piece, assuming they had $50M to spend and looking for a starting pitcher, a back-end reliever that could potentially close, an outfielder, an infielder, and a utility bat, I never found a combination of players that both hit all five areas and made you feel confident you had absolutely no doubt upgraded each area.
But re-signing Kim, adding a closing option in Devin Williams on a pillow deal, and acquiring a starter in Pablo Lopez would go a long way in fixing the biggest needs this roster faces for 2026. Sure, the lack of a starting-caliber outfielder means that Eli White and Jake Fraley are battling for a starting spot, while your bench is some combination of offensively-challenged Vidal Bruján and Nick Allen, but you’ve fixed your two biggest problems (shortstop and closer) while also adding in some high-level rotation depth. I’d be for this, absolutely. That’s probably a B for me? I worry about only one season of a closer, because you still haven’t identified the closer-in-waiting (unless you’re really high on Daysbel Hernández settling down from a control perspective), and you’re one outfield injury away from a potential black hole out there, but it’s a pretty solid start to a winter.
From Bad News Barves:
Thoughts on a righty/lefty platoon situation for DH/OF spot: Signing Lane Thomas and Mike Yastrzemski? Both can play all 3 spots. Could give you a combined 25 homers and 800 plus ops for maybe 10-12 million total and allow for more money elsewhere. In this scenario you keep Kim
I’ve long been a fan of Lane Thomas and don’t think he’d be that expensive - yeah he made $7.8M this year for Cleveland, but he also hit .160 so it’s not like there will be a bunch of folks beating down his door. Also, he’s from Knoxville, TN, so Atlanta just might win a tiebreaker here. He’s crushed lefties in his career, with a .292/.359/.500 average across 683 PAs.
I’ll admit that I don’t necessarily understand the league’s infatuation with Mike Yastrzemski. He’s a nice guy - I met him on the field at Rickwood Field last year - but outside of that, he’s a career .238 hitter. And it’s not like he’s destroyed righties in his career, with a .246/.336/.473 line that’s good, but not worth carrying two bench outfielders.
Give me Thomas and let’s ride. Save the rest of that money for another bullpen arm or a midseason trade.
From Randy:
What are the chances we extend Chris Sale and Profar?
Sale, yes. Profar, probably not.
Sale’s likely to get the Travis d’Arnaud treatment, as long as he wants to stay. d’Arnaud’s deal often got re-done every offseason, guaranteeing the upcoming season and adding a club option year for the season after. Provided he’s happy here (and from talking to him it feels like he is), I see this being the last team he plays for. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him get a new deal this winter that bumps his pay this season to what it was last year and tacks on either a guaranteed year or a club option for 2027.
Profar, however, is likely going to need and play out the existing deal he has. The outfielder’s tied to the team for two more seasons at a combined $30M, which will take him through his age-34 campaign. I can’t see the Braves guaranteeing anything after that, with Marcell Ozuna’s poor 2025 season (at the age of 34) being a cautionary tale for how quickly the aging curve can catch up to you if you’re not careful. There’s just not any reason to take on any risk, especially when another failed PED test will knock Profar out for an entire season.
From David:
Is it time to move on from Ozzie?
It’s not, but Atlanta really needs a succession plan.
Ozzie’s entering the first of two club option years, both of which will cost Atlanta $7M. To David’s point, Ozzie’s had a rough go of it recently, hitting .245 with a 91 OPS+ over the last two seasons.
I’ve maintained all season that the paltry $3M difference in his salary and his buyout ($4M) won’t get Atlanta anything in free agency - $3M is a worthy gamble to potentially get the Siler Slugger version of Ozzie Albies back. But having a plan to either replace him after those club options are done or bench him midseason if he either struggles again or gets hurt (again) is pretty important.
The dream scenario is someone that can cover second base but also help out in the corner outfield - Brandon Lowe would have been ideal had he played more than three innings in the corner outfield since 2021, but I genuinely don’t know if he’s not a multi-position player anymore or if the Rays just didn’t need him to be.
Depending on how this winter shakes out, the replacement might need to come from within. I’m still frustrated that Nacho Alvarez Jr is playing almost entirely third base in the Arizona Fall League, but maybe they try Eli White in the infield again or they think either Allen or Bruján can step in if needed if Albies gets hurt.
From JoeBenson:
Will the Braves make a goodbye Jarred Kelenic post or will they simply ask him for his access cards and demand he leave the facility immediately?
There’s a 0.0000001% chance the organization will thank him for anything. He was…let’s say “not well-liked” among the staff in both Atlanta and Gwinnett. I’ll get into more details on this in the Friday podcast.
Managerial questions
We got a lot of questions about the new manager, as is expected. In rapid fire, as I’m rapidly running out of email space here:
mgomez520: how long of a leash do you think our next skipper has if we look outside of the org
Pretty long. I think Atlanta understands that the manager isn’t the biggest determinant in the success or failure of this roster, it’s the players. Also, it’ll be hard to attract quality candidates if you’re seen as a team that pulls the plug way too early on a manager after a tough season.
From Tom Saad: Any idea what ever happened to Terry Pendleton? There was a time when it seemed like he was a shoo-in to be Braves manager one day.
He only lasted one season as Snitker’s bench coach (2016) before being replaced by Walt Weiss. He’s currently working on special assignments - he was the manager of Atlanta’s Spring Breakout prospect squad and I saw him in June at a Columbus Clingstones game, in the dugout.
I’m honestly not 100% sure why he fell out of favor with the coaching staff, but I’ll ask around and see if I can find out.
From BullMikeee: Thoughts on Wash coming back anyway? I’d assume if Weiss takes over, he would be on the table.
Provided Wash’s health is there, making him the bench coach makes a lot of sense. I’m not opposed to it.
And a personal question, from Allen: thoughts on EH Taylor vs Weller 12yr?
Nothing against EH Taylor - I like what they’ve done with the batch and single barrel options, and the day I walked into my home store and there was a Warehouse C Surviving just on the shelf was a nice day…but Weller 12 has a special place in my heart. It’s one of the only bottles I make a point to stock multiples of, and it’s my “special occasion” bourbon - my daughter’s birthday, celebrating promotions, a friend’s new baby, etc.
This is like asking me to decide between a random Cubs game and Game Six of the 2021 World Series - sure I like watching the Cubs on Friday afternoons before Atlanta plays and plan to visit Wrigley Field soon, but nothing will surpass that Game 6 in my heart.
Thanks, as always, for your support of Braves Today.
And as 2025 Aroldis Chapman will attest, 100 on the black will play, too.
So how much cash all told did the Braves invest (lose) in Kelenic? The particulars of bad contracts assumed and paid off go unmentioned in reports of Kelenic's release focused on his wretched statistics and unsympathetic personality. Good risk management requires accountable hindsight.