Braves News: MLB reinstates John Coppolella, Luke Jackson signs with Giants, more

As the second full week of the new year got started, many Braves fans were likely treated to some surprising and interesting news on Monday. John Coppolella, the former general manager of the Braves, was reinstated from a lifetime ban by Major League Baseball.

Coppolella was banned due to not cooperating with MLB officials as they investigated actions by Coppolella and the Braves front office that resulted in the Braves infamous international signing scandal and punishment in November of 2017. At the time, the penalties handed to Coppolella and the Braves were considered by many to be severe. While the Braves overcame the penalties in recent years, there had been little news on Coppolella until Monday.

While he has been reinstated, this does not guarantee Coppolella will land an MLB job in the near future. However, outside of going against the rules, Coppolella did have success building up the Braves farm system and depth of young talent in his time as general manager. It will be interesting to see if a franchise offers him an opportunity work in baseball once again.

Braves News

• Former Braves reliever Luke Jackson, who is coming off Tommy John Surgery, signed a two year, signed a two year, $11.5M deal with the Giants.
• Max Fried and A.J. Minter headline the Braves that are eligible for arbitration, with the deadline for teams and players to exchange numbers being Friday, January 13th.
• Former Giants Infielder Ryder Jones signed with the Braves on a minor league deal and will be attempting to switch too pitching as he looks to continue his career.

MLB News

• Veteran Brandon Belt, formerly of the Giants, signed a one year deal with the Blue Jays.
• With the negotiations between the Mets and Carlos Correa continuing to stall, talks between Correa and the Twins have begun to pick up for him to return to Minnesota.
• Outfielder Brett Phillips signed with the Angels.
• Former Marlins manager Don Mattingly will take on a baseball advisor role with a group led by former GM and MLB player Dave Stewart that are attempting to bring baseball to Nashville by means of an expansion franchise.