GM Moore to Braves not out of question

Yes, the Royals have denied the Braves permission to interview Dayton Moore about their general manager job, but that doesn’t mean the door is closed on any chance of Moore’s returning to run baseball operations in the city where he began his front-office career.

A person familiar with the situation confirmed a report by ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick that the Braves were denied permission to interview Moore, who signed a Royals extension of undisclosed length in February 2016 and needs permission before he can interview with another team.

But there is a belief among some observers that the Royals might be positioning themselves for possible concessions from the Braves to allow Moore to interview and/or leave. And it’s possible that Moore might also be waiting for some assurances about the Braves situation and his potential role if he were to join them.

Neither the Royals nor the Braves have confirmed that permission was asked for or denied.

The Braves’ front office has been in a state of limbo and high anxiety for nearly a month because of a Major League Baseball investigation into a variety of serious alleged rules infractions by the team under GM John Coppolella, who was forced to resign Oct. 2, as was Gordon Blakeley, the international scouting supervisor.

It’s expected that lawsuits will be filed by Coppolella or Blakeley or possibly both, presumably because of how the Braves handled the investigation. I didn’t say “how the Braves threw them under the bus” or sacrificed Coppolella and Blakeley in an effort to lessen the punishment that’s coming to the organization, but I’ve heard others categorize it as such and, well, I’ll leave it at that.

Results of that investigation are expected to be announced soon after the World Series, with the Braves expected to face fines, likely major restrictions in future international free-agent dealings and quite possibly the loss of multiple young prospects who could be made free agents if MLB determines the Braves broke rules to sign them.

It’s with this dark cloud hanging overhead that the Braves have been tasked with trying to fill out the hierarchy of their baseball operations before free agency begins and with the GM meetings only a couple of weeks away. And the man currently running the show, president of baseball operations John Hart, has had to meet with MLB investigators regarding his possible involvement or at least awareness of infractions by Coppolella, Blakeley and possibly others.

Moore is the man that many inside and outside the organization believe is the perfect candidate to ride in on the figurative white horse and restore both the Braves’ once-sterling reputation off the field and guide the final stages of a rebuild that’s been painful for three years. He did it in Kansas City. He knows the Braves culture as it once was, and has the respect of current players who talk to former players and hear nothing but glowing reports about Moore.

Getting the perfect candidate never was going to be easy, as Moore would understandably not be expected to come to the Braves unless he was running the entire show; a move from his current position to Braves GM would be a step down if they retain Hart as president of baseball operations. There was no president of baseball operations in K.C.; Moore has those responsibilities.

But if Hart were to step down, change titles or be forced out after MLB announces its findings, well, then the road might suddenly be cleared for Moore, the Braves might suddenly be willing to meet whatever potential compensation the Royals demand, and Moore could be given the power to either run the show as president of baseball operations and GM, or just be prez of baseball ops and hire a GM to take care of much of the daily grind.

Moore, 50, started out as a Braves scout and worked his way up to assistant GM under former Braves GM John Schuerholz before leaving for Kansas City in 2006. He rebuilt a Royals organization that went nearly three decades without a playoff appearance until winning the American League pennant in 2014 and the World Series in 2015.

The Royals have several high-profile free agents and are facing another rebuilding situation now, after Moore used many of their prospects to acquire key pieces in the team’s postseason runs.

Meanwhile, the next Braves GM will step into a farm system that will be talented even if the Braves lose prospects because of rules infractions.

GETTY IMAGES 2016 The Royals denied the Braves permission to interview GM Dayton Moore (right, with Commissioner Rob Manfred) in an effort to bring him back to Atlanta .