04/16/24
October 29, 2015
GM Alex Anthopolous leaving Blue Jays after rejecting extension.:
According to sources, the new president of the team (Mark Shapiro) scolded AA and his staff for trading away so many prospects this season.
Sounds as if the Jays had made up their minds early in the season that AA wasn't working out and were well into execution of their plan to head in a different direction when some of AA's moves started panning out.
Jays have made the decision to move forward with the changes rather than reconsider. A huge gamble, as the team's success this year was largely due to AA's moves and much less to do with longer term development of the squad.
posted by cixelsyd at 02:41 PM on October 29, 2015
Of course, this would be announced today...
Being a Toronto sports fan is like living in a perpetual dark comedy sketch.
posted by grum@work at 02:45 PM on October 29, 2015
And Anthopoulos' signature move this year that probably helped him win that award?
Trading for Josh Donaldson. How did that work out?
posted by grum@work at 04:09 PM on October 29, 2015
I think there are two schools of thought: either Toronto is a conventional baseball market, or it isn't.
If conventional, then AA's approach was too unbalanced, too aggressive, too risky. You need to normalize and build stability.
If unconventional, that means free agent signings are tough and budgets tight. You need to be creative: rely on good drafts and aggressive trades.
Can't help thinking that AA's years under JP disproved the conventional market theory for him. I guess we'll find out if he was right.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 04:17 PM on October 29, 2015
I believe Toronto leans heavily to the unconventional market and AA recognized this and acted accordingly. It's the team ownership that doesn't appear to have a clue what direction to go and never fully empowers or trusts the people it hires.
I think Shapiro made a real bad move accepting a job in Toronto. He is also very good at what he does but his approach suits a conventional market where fans and ownership will buy into a longer term build strategy and support the team in the process.
posted by cixelsyd at 11:50 PM on October 29, 2015
This is the darkest fucking timeline.
The most successful season in more than two decades (in terms of team performance, ratings, attendance, publicity), and the new guy decides to push out the architect of the success.
The worst part about this would be if AA lands a job with a competitor and then proceeds to rob the Blue Jays blind (like he did to the A's and Angels).
I didn't think the Blue Jays could possibly kill the momentum they had built up this year, but this might do it.