ATLANTA — Nearly one week after the Braves’ disappointing season ended, and three days after the announcement of Brian Snitker retirement as manager, Alex Anthopoulos said he hadn’t put together a list of managerial candidates yet, much less contacted any or asked for permission to interview them.

Which is why Anthopoulos, the Braves’ president of baseball operations and general manager, seemed amused by all the lists of potential candidates that he’s seen published or that others have brought to his attention.

Not that some of the names bandied about — among them Mark DeRosa, David Ross, John Gibbons and Walt Weiss — might not end up on Anthopoulos’ list. Anthopoulos said he would start compiling a list of managerial candidates as soon as he got off a video call with reporters Saturday morning. Once that list exists, he added, he hopes, as with any Braves moves or potential moves, there would be no leaks. His front office is notoriously leak-free.

“I know this makes it tough on you guys, but if we do our job the way I want us to do it, you guys won’t have anything” before the next manager is hired, Anthopoulos said. “And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way or a disrespectful way. But before Skip Schumacher was named (Rangers manager), there were eight openings. Eight.

“I remember some other years where there were a bunch of manager openings; I don’t remember that there were this many. That’s a lot of openings, a lot of turnover in a lot of places. That’s a lot of permission (to interview) other coaches. And that makes it incredibly challenging.”

Anthopoulos smiled before adding, “My focus, because this happened so quickly with Snit — Tuesday conversation, Wednesday news conference — I wanted to get some things done internally.”

Specifically, he wanted to talk to Braves employees, including his coaching staff, to let them know where things stood after Snitker’s news conference. There wasn’t much Anthopoulos could tell them, since the next manager might want to get rid of the entire coaching staff.

With that done, the focus shifted to hiring the next manager. Because there’s less than a month until the World Series ends and free agency begins, and the Braves have important personnel matters that will happen quickly after that, beginning with a decision from shortstop Ha-Seong Kim as to whether he exercises a $16 million player option or — and this seems more likely with Scott Boras as his agent — opts for free agency.

The Braves have shortstop, starting rotation and bullpen as primary areas to address this winter, and they want to retain Kim. Team and player option decisions are announced within five days of the World Series’ conclusion.

They liked everything about Kim in the four weeks he spent with them after they claimed him off waivers, so the Braves would be wise to spend some of their substantial revenues in an effort to sign him to a free-agent deal before he hits the open market.

Will Mark DeRosa make the shortlist of potential Braves managers? (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

As far as drawing up a list of managerial candidates to begin that urgent process, Anthopoulos said the reason for the delay was simple: He didn’t want to do anything until he heard from Snitker after the season about whether the 69-year-old Braves lifer wanted to continue managing for another year.

Snitker had said in recent weeks that he was considering it. And while there has been plenty of skepticism regarding whether that decision was actually up to Snitker, Anthopoulos said again Saturday that it was all Snitker’s decision, and went into extensive detail in an effort to clarify and support that.

Anthopoulos divulged for the first time that when Snitker signed what was announced as a three-year extension after the 2022 season — the Braves had won the World Series in 2021 and won 101 games in 2022 — it was actually an eight-year contract that included three years as manager through 2025, followed by five years as senior advisor through 2030.

Anthopoulos said that Snitker, who has spent 49 years in the Braves’ organization, had so much success as manager and so much standing that if he had told Anthopoulos that he wanted to manage one more year, Anthopoulos said, “He would have been back.”

“I mean, I know we didn’t have a great year this year, and we can talk about all the reasons and so on, but the level of success is incredible,” Anthopoulos said of Snitker’s tenure. “That’s not to be arrogant about it. You have this run of not only seven postseasons in a row, but six division titles, a World Series, a manager of the year (award). A lot of adversity in terms of roster and health and this and that. Of course, we’re all going to get criticized — players, front office, manager — but (the) success has been great.

“I’ve been talking to him pretty much every day. And I always check in with him — how are you feeling? What are you thinking? And two days ago, he said, ‘It’s like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders.’ And that’s not to say he didn’t love every minute of it, wasn’t competitive, wasn’t trying to win. And I hate speaking for him, so I’m not. I’m just reiterating what was told to me.”

Anthopoulos said the team left it up to Snitker three years ago whether to announce the five-year advisory part of the contract. He chose not to. After taking two days to “decompress,” as Snitker put it Wednesday, he decided to retire as manager and move into the new role.

While the past two Braves managers — Snitker and his mentor, Hall of Famer Bobby Cox — have deep ties to the Braves, Anthopoulos said it was important to keep an open mind and effectively cast a wide net in his search for the next manager. He did make it clear what ranked at the top of his list among candidates’ characteristics: integrity and character.

“If you have someone with great intellect, great energy, but lacking in integrity and character, you’re not getting off the ground,” Anthopoulos said. “So I would say integrity is a must, but I’d say that about any employee in any job in the world.”

Here, he noted something said by Warren Buffett, the famed investor and philanthropist whom Anthopoulos often cites.

“We talk about Warren Buffett a lot, and he talks about that exact thing: integrity, intellect and energy,” Anthopoulos said. “And he says, ‘If you don’t have the first one, the integrity piece, you have a clever, fast-moving thief.’ He nailed it. That’s absolutely right.

“There’s times where you can not pay attention to the integrity piece — that this person is brilliant and energetic and all these things, but you know the character’s a little questionable, integrity’s a little questionable. As much as those other traits are so appealing, in my opinion — and obviously you’ve got one of the most successful people in business in the world talking about that — I’d stop right there.”

Integrity was what Anthopoulos said separated Snitker from so many others. It was what endeared the much older manager to Anthopoulos when he was hired as GM at age 40 in November 2017, and why he quickly decided he didn’t want or need to replace Snitker, who was 62 and had just finished his first season as a full-time MLB manager, after taking over as interim manager in May 2016.

The two developed a trust that never wavered.

“I would say with trust, the word that would link to that is — some people would say character, but I would say integrity is the word that comes to mind,” Anthopoulos said. “And Snit’s integrity is off the charts. At all levels, at all times, no matter who he’s dealing with. And anyone that works with that guy would feel the same way. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

The Braves had hired Anthopoulos away from the Los Angeles Dodgers front office, where he had spent two years as a vice president of baseball operations after six years as GM of the Toronto Blue Jays.

“I didn’t know (Snitker),” Anthopoulos said. “I knew nothing about him. We were brought together. I had a very open mind, and it wasn’t a tough decision to keep working with him. Because it is a partnership. You’re working together all the time. There’s tough decisions. You may not always agree on things, and you got to work through things. And there’s a give and take.

“There’s times that Snit felt strong, and I said I’m going with you. There’s times I felt strong, and he’s going with me. So, those relationships are critically important.”

Which brings us to the next Braves manager, and why Anthopoulos doesn’t pretend to think he can do a few interviews with a candidate and know whether it’s someone with whom he can build a great working relationship.

That’s why the vetting is so important, Anthopoulos said. He will have many assistants and Braves employees doing extensive checks on every candidate before the interview process begins, talking to as many people as possible.

The work starts now.

(Top photo of Brian Snitker and Alex Anthopoulos: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)