According to Anthony Castrovince, change is coming in Cleveland:
Chris Antonetti Will Replace Mark Shapiro As Indians’ GM After This Season
CLEVELAND -- At season's end, Mark Shapiro will be out as the Indians' general manager and in as team president, the club announced Thursday morning in advance of a 1:30 p.m. ET press conference at Progressive Field.
That promotion will prompt another long-rumored one, with assistant GM Chris Antonetti assuming Shapiro's duties as executive vice president and GM. Current team president Paul Dolan, meanwhile, will assume the role of team chairman and chief executive officer.
Shapiro, who has been with the organization since 1992 and has worked as GM for the last eight years, has had a tumultuous decade. Praised as the savior of a struggling franchise, Shapiro re-stocked an empty system and built the Indians into a winner, earning him accolades from fans and peers alike as one of the brightest minds in the game. However, the organization that just a few years ago was considered by many to be the model franchise has fallen on hard times, and the Indians’ most recent 97-loss season spurred predictable frustration and discontent. Whether right or wrong, Shapiro lost the trust of the many.
As Shapiro steps aside - or steps up, as it were - his position will be filled by Chris Antonetti, who for years has served as Shapiro's right-hand man. In that regard, there will be a change more in name than in operating philosophy, as the Indians are unlikely to suddenly reverse course under new but similar management. Still, Antonetti's promotion fulfills a long-held expectation. Since joining the Indians in 1999, Antonetti has been regarded as one of the top young GM prospects in the league, his name coming up as a possibility to fill nearly every vacancy. But he turned down an offer from the Cardinals in 2007 when he was assured that he would succeed Shapiro in Cleveland, and that change is now set to take place.
Antonetti has been performing GM-like duties for a while, now, while serving as assistant GM and VP of baseball operations. The Indians, it seems, have been developing him as they would any other prospect, and they now deem him ready for the big leagues.
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