'Unfinished Business' Part of Braves Snitker's Mulling of Retirement

The Atlanta Braves manager is giving his future and what's left to be done proper consideration

Snitker isn't set on calling it a career | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

As the season winds down, the questions continue to be raised about Brian Snitker’s future as the Atlanta Braves manager. He’s giving it all due consideration. He said he’s thinking. 

However, which way he’s leaning is dependent on the day. He made it clear he doesn’t know which decision he’s going to make. However, he’s far from simply being ready to walk away. 

“I got in the back of my head things that I’m toying with and all,” he said. “There’s still fire there. There’s still a fact that I look at what, you know, it’s kind of like the same thing I said last year. I can’t wait to get to Spring Training with a healthy team. I still kind of feel like there’s unfinished business there.”

Snitker said it’s the first time in his career that retirement has even been up for consideration. It’s why he’s being very careful with his decision. 

“I don’t want to look back in a year and regret things,” he said, “but, you know, I think I want to make sure where I’m going.” 

It’s meant a lot to him that the pressure is off for him to make a decision. General manager Alex Anthopoulos made it clear earlier this week that no decisions are coming quickly. 

This season is not the note that Snitker would prefer to finish on. The team sits at 65-80 on the season and is long out of the playoff picture. The team is battered and bruised. Some players have had down years or down stretches. 

Even just going out with a playoff berth, not necessarily a deep playoff run or a World Series, would be better. That’s not Snitker’s thoughts, but when someone mentions unfinished business, it’s an obvious takeaway. 

Snitker has been in professional baseball for 49 years. Getting to 50 as a manager, even as a send-off, could make for a fitting end to his tenure at the position. Whatever he does after will be part of the discussions. 

He reached the milestone of 800 wins on Monday when the Braves took down the Cubs, 4-1. He’s the second Braves manager of the modern era (since 1901) to reach the mark. If he sticks around, he’s in for more.

After reaching the milestone, he said he didn’t think he’d ever get remotely as far as he did. The fact that there is a desire to keep going shows how much love he has for the game and he can still tune out the noise. 

If he chooses to step away in the end, he still leaves a World Series champion and a Manager of the Year winner. Nobody can take those away from him.