After the scandals, Anthopoulos, Click lead teams to Series

HOUSTON (AP) — Alex Anthopoulos walked out of Minute Maid Park following the Dodgers’ wild 13-12, 10-inning loss to Houston in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series. Then in the LA baseball operations front office, he had permission from his bosses to go on a mission while his family returned with the team to Los Angeles.

“I walked back to the hotel and I was like cramming for an exam, try to study up on the Braves before my interview,” he said.

He got the job 16 days later as Atlanta’s general manager. This week he’s back at Minute Maid after helping lead the Braves to their first World Series appearance since 1999.

Anthopoulos and Houston general manager James Click took over teams in turmoil. Anthopoulos was hired six weeks after GM John Coppolella was forced to resign when Major League Baseball’s investigation uncovered rules violations committed by the Braves in the international player market. Click was the No. 3 official in the Tampa Bay Rays’ baseball department when he was hired by the Astros in February 2020, three weeks after GM Jeff Luhnow was suspended by MLB and then fired by Houston for his role in the team’s sign-stealing scandal.

And just after getting his new job, Click’s orientation was disrupted by the pandemic. He wasn’t able to have coffee and dinners with staff for a year.

“I was here for four or five weeks before the world shut down,” he said Monday ahead of the World Series opener, which the Braves won 6-2 Tuesday night. “And so I had to try to do as much of it over Zoom and other means as possible, which is challenging. Not being able to observe people at their jobs in their natural environment can make it challenging to get to know everybody.”

Click, a 43-year-old Yale history major, and Anthopoulos, a 44-year-old economics major at McMaster...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/After-the-scandals-Anthopoulos-Click-lead-teams-16567257.php