John Hart's skipper-to-executive journey full of twists and turns
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Don't be fooled by the healthy-looking tan and steadfast appreciation for golf course-friendly attire.
John Hart was ready to hit the ground running upon assuming control of baseball operations for the Atlanta Braves last winter, taking over a franchise that had slumped to 79 wins in 2014 and had a consensus bottom-third ranking with minor-league prospects (respective to the other clubs).
On top of that, Hart and the Braves were grounded in the harsh reality that neither Jason Heyward (a homegrown talent since 2007) nor Justin Upton (56 homers, 172 RBI for 2013-14) were locks to re-sign with the club, prior to hitting free agency next winter.
In essence, the Braves could have easily stuck with the status quo for 2015, tangibly hoping the majority of their offensive corps would rebound from a painful 2014 and reclaim the traits of Atlanta's 96-win club from two years ago.
Instead, under Hart's leadership, the club hunkered down and executed a substantial makeover, trading established assets like Heyward (Cardinals), Justin Upton (Padres), Evan Gattis (Astros) and David Carpenter (Yankees), among others, largely for young players with long-term upsides.
"We walked down a sort of parallel path," said Hart recently at the Braves' spring training complex at Walt Disney World, in terms of restocking Atlanta's talent pool at various minor-league levels and remaining competitive in the big-league marketplace, acquiring starting pitcher Shelby Miller (Heyward trade), Nick Markakis (free agency) and numerous power arms for the bullpen (Jason Grilli, Jim Johnson, Jose Veras).
"At the same time, I don't think we're running up any white flags" on this season, says Hart.
The 2015 Braves, for the most part, will be predicated on speed, timely hitting, diminished strikeouts and aggressiveness along the base paths.
In fact, for the month of April -- even while center fielder Melvin Upton Jr. (formerly B.J.) recovers from a foot injury -- Atlanta may field a starting lineup of three or four 30-steal candidates, including Eric Young Jr., Eury Perez and rookie Jace Peterson.
"I've been a guy who wants to get lucky," says Hart, when asked about the virtues of finding hidden gems during spring training. "You want to keep your eyes open. We're going to be very optimistic (about positive results), but we're not going to be foolish," either.
It's easy for the 66-year-old Hart to be a "glass-half-full guy" with the Braves. Leading up to his appointment as president of baseball ops, he had stationed on the front lines of roster construction and organizational building, serving as senior adviser to the Texas Rangers (2006-13) and working as a regular studio analyst with The MLB Network.
With the network, Hart heavily contributed to top-notch shows like The Top 50 Prospects or The Top 10 Players Right Now, offering passion, insight and detailed analysis about numerous prospects and players.
That embedded scouting process might have helped Hart engineer a flurry of trades over the winter. The club's new visionary didn't need a so-called grace period to get acclimated to his new surroundings -- even though many years had passed since Hart was running the day-to-day operations of the Rangers (2001-05) and Cleveland Indians (1991-2001).
With The MLB Network, "you wanted to know all 30 clubs like they were your own," said Hart, who broke into the professional ranks with the Montreal Expos organization in the early 1970s. "I've always come from organizations that were driven by younger players -- the foundations of a franchise."
"I was doing that (evaluation work) every day."
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By any measure, things have worked out wonderfully for Hart -- the administrator -- presiding over three different MLB franchises in a 24-year span.
But this sublime career path might have never launched during the late 1980s, if Hart -- then a minor-league manager, big-league coach in the Baltimore Orioles organization -- hadn't been passed over for a managerial job that was supposedly his to lose.
Here's the story: At the end of the 1987 season, the Orioles fired longtime general manager Hank Peters, the architect of Baltimore's prolific clubs from 1975-87, including one World Series title (1983), two American League pennants (1979, 1983), seven 90-win campaigns and back-to-back seasons of 100-plus victories (1979-80).
Peters was also a valuable mentor to Hart; and when the former took over the Cleveland Indians in advance of the 1988 season, he placed a call to his prized pupil ... with an exciting job opportunity.
"(Peters) called and said, 'John, I want you to fly to Miami, I need to talk to you'," recalled Hart. "And right away, I figured he wanted me to be his next manager" (for the Indians).
Peters, in Hart's recollection, had a three-year contract with Cleveland and relayed his vision for the protege, saying,'"I want you to be my No. 2 guy and learn the ropes and then be my next general manager.'"
Hart (566-508 minor-league managerial record within the Orioles' system from 1982-89) was appreciative of Peters' tone, but skeptical of the content. Hart fancied himself as being on the "managing fast track" -- not consigned to working long hours in the front office.
To Hart's recollection, Peters said, '"I want you to learn the game from a different perspective,' ... "and that's the greatest thing he did" for me (in the long term).
"He wanted me out in the field, but looking at players from a different perspective," said Hart of Peters, who passed away in January at age 90. "I said, 'No' at first; but then I talked to some of my friends, and they said, 'Are you out of your mind? Take that job!'"
After the change of heart (forgive the pun), Hart began to look at the positive aspects of his newfound venture with a new franchise.
There was just one problem, however: Hart would be under contract with the Orioles in 1988, and team owner Edward Bennett Williams had no intention of letting Hart bolt for Cleveland.
"You're my next manager -- we're not letting you go," said Hart, relaying Williams' rationale at the time.
Fast forward to April 1988: Despite having in-their-prime superstars like Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. in the lineup, the Orioles started out the season at 0-6, prompting Williams -- who would succumb to cancer later that year -- to fire Ripken ... and hire Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as Baltimore's interim manager.
Under Robinson's direction, the Orioles would lose their next 15 games and set the modern-day, major league record for most consecutive defeats to start a season (21).
Baltimore would finish the '88 campaign at 54-107 ... and Hart would be free to join Peters and Co. in Cleveland a few weeks later.
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Let the record show: In 1989, his first season with the Indians organization, Hart endured a 19-game stint as Cleveland's interim manager (8-11 overall), replacing Doc Edwards, who was fired after collecting just 65 victories in his team's first 143 games.
From a pop-culture angle, though, the Indians only had one true skipper during that crazy season of 1989: Lou Brown.
On the first full weekend of April, a lightly regarded movie entitled Major League hit theaters to rave reviews -- at least from those who reveled in the film's gregarious cast (Charlie Sheen, Bob Uecker, Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Wesley Snipes, etc.), sophomoric humor, memorable one-liners and remarkably ambitious premise of the hapless Indians capturing their first division title since 1954.
When watching this iconic movie over and over, it's fair to wonder if James Gammon -- aka Lou Brown -- was Hollywood's first choice as the Cleveland manager. At the time, Gammon's most famous role might have been as either "Kuch's Dad" in Vision Quest ... or as Mr. Roswell in TV's The Waltons.
And when watching this hilarious flick over and over, it's impossible to believe that any other middle-aged actor could have replicated Gammon's performance as Brown -- most notably the birthday-suit, locker-room confrontation with Indians team owner Rachel Phelps.
So, how does the persona of Lou Brown connect to the real-life existence of John Hart?
Well, the release of Major League -- which was released two weeks before Field Of Dreams -- unwittingly launched the Indians' most celebrated era of the last 50 years.
From 1989-93, the Indians would draft/develop bankable stars like Kenny Lofton, Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Richie Sexson.
In 1995, Cleveland would absurdly finish at 100-44 during a strike-shortened campaign, taking the American League Central by a staggering 30 games.
That year, the Indians would also claim the first of five straight division crowns (six total from 1995-2001), while reaching the World Series for both 1995 and '97 (both gut-wrenching Series defeats).
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Back to the present day: Hart understands the composition of the new-look Braves may be different than previous years, as the club makes the necessary progressions/preparations for moving into SunTrust Park in 2017 (north of the city).
As a result, Hart has empowered the Braves coaches -- and manager Fredi Gonzalez -- to handle the speed-based mix however they see fit.
"As a general manager, I'm not that (hands-on) kind of guy. I've sat in the dugout. I've managed before. I've coached before, I'm not going to tell the manager" what to do on a daily level.
Hart also knows that competing for a division title -- or wild-card playoff berth -- has its share of challenges in 2015.
"The Nationals, this is certainly their window," says Hart about Washington, the odds-on favorite to capture the National League pennant, while effusively praising the talent-laden Marlins and pitching-rich Mets in the same breath.
"Arguably, this division has gotten stronger, as it's gone along."
