Elliott No. 1 on our top 100: World Series winner Braves boss Alex Anthopoulos
Atlanta Braves boss and World Series winner Alex Anthopoulos (Montreal, Que.) is our No. 1 most influential Canadian in the game for 2021.
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
As often as you wanted rip your mask off, as many times as you wanted to howl -- and not at the moon Texican style -- and as often as you asked yourself ,“How much longer can this pandemic continue?” The game was there to give fans, parents, grandparents and fans some solace and a distraction for three hours or so.
Let’s see how good 2021 was: agent Joel Wolfe, whose roots go back to the Eastern Townships in Quebec, negotiated a seven-year, $131-million extension for Blue Jays RHP Jose Berrios, Cubs Hall of Famer RHP, it was announced that Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) would be honoured with a statue outside Wrigley Field, our numbers man Neil Munro (North Bay, Ont.) points out Reds 1B Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) should have won the Silver Slugger over Braves 1B Freddie Freeman, Giants GM Farhan Zaidi (Sudbury, Ont.) ran his club to a franchise record 107 wins and Jays 1B Vlad Guerrero (Montreal, Que.) almost won a triple crown and lost out to two-way man Shohei Ohtani in MVP voting.
And there was Cards LF Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) winning his second consecutive NL Gold Glove, Edward Rogers (Toronto, Ont.) who won in court and spent Rogers Communications dough on his team and former Expo Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) who was finally inducted into Cooperstown.
Quite a year ... yet we haven’t even reached our No. 1 Most Influential Canadian in the industry for 2021 in our 15th annual year ender. It’s the man who will soon have a World Series ring ... Atlanta Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos (Montreal, Que.). Anthopoulos is a two-time winner, taking the honour in 2015.
We could have had a three-way with Rogers, Walker and Anthopoulos. It was that close.
So that’s it .... Numbers 1-to-101 (those we lost at No. 101), but we have one more popular addition remaining, our Honourable Mentions list, which we are still working on at the moment .
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1. Alex Anthopoulos, president and GM, Braves (2).
Game 4 of the 2021 World Series had been over for a matter of minutes when MLB Network switched to the three-man panel. Former Blue Jays infielder and star of this show and most every show, Mark De Rosa, asked:
“Can they award the World Series MVP to a GM? Alex Anthopoulos has done just a wonderful job,” De Rosa asked the other two men at the desk and millions at home.
Anthopoulos’ Braves had been losing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Shortstop Dansby Swanson hit a game-tying homer off Houston Astros reliever Cristian Javier on an 0-2 pitch. Four pitches later, Jorge Soler went deep off Javier and the Braves had the lead.
Will Smith pitched a 1-2-3 ninth and the Braves had a 3-1 lead. Three days later, the Braves won their first World Series since 1995 as Soler hit a three-run homer.
Did Anthopoulos have a great year? Not really. Atlanta had a losing record (54-55) on Aug. 4, but he had a tremendous 110-day run from July 15 (when class-A 1B Bryce Ball was sent to the Cubs for Pederson) through Nov. 2, the night Swanson fired a ground ball to first for the final.
The Braves had a deep series of injuries, but Anthopoulos turned things around to make the postseason for a seventh straight year (once with the Blue Jays as GM, twice with Dodgers as assistant GM and four straight with Atlanta, now president of baseball operations). As a point of reference, the Jays have been to the playoffs eight times since 1977.
On Opening Day, the Braves had an outfield of LF Marcell Ozuna, CF Cristian Pache and RF Ronald Acuna. Ozuna was arrested on assault charges after allegedly assaulting his wife 48 games into the season, Pache played 22 games hitting .111 and Acuna tore his right anterior cruciate ligament after 82 games.
The day after the All-Star break the staring outfield consisted of LF Orlando Arcia, CF Guillermo Heredia and RF Abraham Almonte. The three combined for 114 hits in 127 starts batting .214.
And in Game 6 of the World Series at Minute Maid the outfield lineup consisted of LF Eddie Rosario, CF Adam Duvall and RF Joc Pederson with Jorge Soler as the DH. As broadcaster Jeff Francouer said during the post season ... “For the Braves outfield, they’re going with their third line.”
Soler, acquired July 30 from the Kansas City Royals for class-A reliever Kasey Kalich was the World Series MVP against the Astros. Rosario, the NLCS MVP against the Los Angeles Dodgers and maybe in the NL Division Series -- which does not award an MVP award -- against the Milwaukee Brewers. Pederson had two homers and five RBIs to lead the team in RBIs against Milwaukee.
At the end of Anthopoulos regime with the Blue Jays, there was talk he was admonished by incoming president Mark Shapiro for his 2015 deadline deal of Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd for David Price, a free-agent to be.
“I don’t know anything about that,” said one veteran scout.
On July 30, 2021, the Jays gave up Austin Martin, who they thought was the fifth best player in North America 415 days earlier and Simeon Woods Richardson, the key to the Marcus Stroman deal, for Jose Berrios.
“Giving up Martin and Woods Richardson is a lot more than Boyd and Norris,” said one veteran scout. “And I’d rather have Price (age 29 in 2015) than Berrios (27) now.”
Some Jays fan knock Anthopoulos for “trading the farm in 2015” as the Jays broke a 22-year string of making post-season play.
For SS Troy Tulowitzki (.250, 36 homers, 122 RBIs, .727 with the Jays) and RP LaTroy Hawkins (1-0, 2.76, 14 whiff in 16 1/3 innings), he sent to Colorado RHP Jeff Hoffman (13-21, 5.96 in 49 starts, 276 strikeouts in 303 2/3 innings since the trade), SS Jose Reyes (.241, 30 homers, 117 RBIs), RP Miguel Castro (11-17, 4.01, 281 strikeouts in 323 1/3 innings since the trade) and RHP Jesús Tinoco (0-3, 4.89, 34 strikeouts in 44 innings).
For David Price (9-1, 2.30 in 11 starts, 87 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings), he sent to Detroit LHP Dennis Boyd (36-56, 5.45, 716 strikeouts in 727 innings) and LHP Daniel Norris (19-33, 5.20, one save, 446 strikeouts in 481 innings) and LHP Jairo Labourt (0-0, 4.50, four strikeouts in six innings).
For OF Ben Revere (.319 average, nine doubles, one homer, 19 RBIs .734 OPS, 7-for-9 stealing bases) to Philadelphia RHP Jimmy Cordero (3-5, 4.5, 65 strikeouts in 83 innings) and RP Alberto Tirado (peaked at double-A Reading in 2017).
For RP Mark Lowe (1-2, 3.79 one save, 14 strikeouts in 19 innings) to the Mariners RHP Jake Brentz (5-2, 3.66, 76 strikeouts in 64 innings), RHP Rob Rasmussen (2-1, 10.67, 16 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings) and RP Nick Wells (triple-A Rochester and double-A Harrisburg in 2021).
For INF Cliff Pennington (.160, three doubles, two homers, 11 RBIs, .550 OPS) to the Diamondbacks for Dawel Lugo (.236, 15 doubles, five triples, seven homer, 35 RBIs, .628 OPS).
So outside of Boyd whom else would you want back?
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Anthopoulos was not in Houston for Game Six the World Series clincher due to testing positive for the COVID-19 on the morning of Game 4 in Atlanta. So, he watched from Georgia with his wife, Cristina, and their two children, Julia, 11, and John, 9, as Max Fried pitched six scoreless, while Freddie Freeman, Swanson and Soler all homered in a 7-0 romp.
Two days later, the parade wound its way through the streets and into their new facility. Presentations were made on stage to manager Brian Snitker and players.
Still restricted by COVID, Anthopoulos spoke to the fans and the players from a suite. He resembled a reigning monarch speaking from a balcony. Maybe like Monaco’s Prince Albert, The Netherlands’ King Willem-Alexander, Norway’s King Harald V, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Spain’s Felipe VI or Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf shouting to his subjects.
“When I got here four years ago when I got to Atlanta after a long journey from Toronto to California and then Atlanta I stood in this suite, looked at all those flags in right field,” said Anthopoulos.
The Braves have been to postseason play 23 times, including winning the NL East 14 straight years. Flags on the light standard are three different colours with year the Braves trip to the postseason on it. White denotes a wild-card winner, blue is when the Braves won the division and red when they won the World Series.
“I thought to myself man, I’d like to have a nice red one,” Anthopoulos said. “Flags fly forever!”
And the crowd cheered.
Anthopoulos is right about flags flying for a long time ... maybe even in the Braves’ fourth new stadium since 1966. How long will Freeman, a career Brave, be around. We know a little about Anthopoulos. He doesn’t mind hefty short-term contracts. Like a lot of general managers, he does not like long-term deals.
To sign Freeman or not? A problem. Re-building your outfield three times into a championship club? Anthopoulos handled that and he’ll either sign Freeman or have an alternative.
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Previous most Influential Canadians in baseball:
2021 Alex Anthopoulos
2020 Larry Walker
2019 Larry Walker
2018 Larry Walker
2017: Joey Votto
2016: Joey Votto
2015: Alex Anthopoulos.
2014: Edward Rogers
2013: Blue Jays fans
2012: Paul Beeston
2011: Greg Hamilton
2010: Joey Votto
2009: Paul Beeston
2008: Paul Beeston
2007: Greg Hamilton