Braves Signings: Analytically Speaking
With the addition of two new executives, the Atlanta Braves Front Office continues to move forward
The Atlanta Braves’ baseball operations department is growing by the day.
Sunday night, the team confirmed the addition of two new front office executives. Alex Tamin comes from the Dodgers to join the team as Director of Major League operations. Jason Paré, former Senior Director of Analytics for Miami, will come aboard as assistant GM of research and development.
Both men have worked with Anthopoulos in the past. Most recently, Tamin was Dodgers’ Director of Baseball Operations when AA was Vice President of that same department. Paré worked under AA in Toronto when he was still Blue Jays’ General Manager.
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As the Dodgers were recently named the Sports Illustrated’s Front Office of the Year (link), the Tamin hiring is an intriguing one. His involvement in advanced scouting jives with the Braves’ gradual shift towards analytics.
His law background will also serve an innumerable asset for of contract negotiations and roster management. With the Braves set to welcome dozens of promising prospects over the coming years, having a front office capable navigating the finer legal points of the arbitration and extension processes with aplomb will be crucial.
This will also help with negotiating free agent deals, if the Braves decide to go that route.
His hiring will hopefully also avoid the slipshod roster management demonstrated by the Braves former front office. Between the Emilio Bonifacio roster malfunction, the Fredi Gonzalez Delta email, or the Micah Johnson DFA kerfuffle, this was an area that obviously needed to be cleaned up.
Meanwhile, the 31-year old Paré has been a proponent of commingling traditional scouting with advanced analytics for years. He will bring his tireless work ethic to a team that looks continue its newfound analytical focus.
AA has wasted no time in assembling a crew of his former colleagues. The timing of these hires may be a precursor to a shot in the arm for the 2018 Braves.
Even before Coppygate, this offseason was a critical one for the Atlanta Braves rebuild. Now, with the revamped staff and shift in methodology, the team could use its new approach to shed the last vestiges of three consecutive 90+ loss seasons.
Next: Braves Winter Meetings Primer
With the addition of Tamin and Paré, look for there to be some surprises before the season starts in March.