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Alex Anthopoulos has been the Blue Jays’ general manager since 2009. He inherited Vernon Wells and his awful contract, as well as a farm system full of future relievers, and eventually turned it all into Toronto’s first playoff appearance since 1993. He wasn’t the perfect GM, but he eventually did what had to be done to earn that postseason trip, giving up prospects when the team had a clear shot in the present to do something besides flounder in the middle of the division.
This apparently did not sit well with his new boss, Mark Shapiro, whom the Jays hired to be their new team president. The report out there is that Shapiro “scolded” Anthopoulos in their lone meeting before his hiring for trading so many top prospects in 2015. Since we know that Anthopoulos turned down an extension from the Jays, and the report is he did not turn it down due to money, we can pretty easily put two and two together here.
There is a lot to unpack from that scolding. The idea of Shapiro berating someone on the right way to build a winner is tops on that list, as Shapiro ran the Indians as their GM from 2001 through 2010, then became Cleveland’s president. The Indians made the playoffs three times in that entire stretch, and while they never finished in last under those two, they did end the season in fourth on five occasions and third in another five. You can’t just prospect hoard in order to win, and AA recognized as much when the opportunity to add came this summer -- you want to build with prospects, but they exist to fill holes either by themselves or through trades when they cannot. Now, that voice in the Toronto front office is on the way out.
- The Nationals have hired Bud Black to be their new manager. Black had a lengthy run with the Padres before new ownership and a new GM disposed of him this past June, and while he can certainly make mistakes, he's a huge upgrade over Matt Williams.
- Everyone is getting their manager news out there now, as the Marlins have reportedly hired Don Mattingly.
- The Royals are up 2-0 in the World Series against the Mets thanks to a relentless flurry of singles and doubles in Game 2. Oh, and also a complete-game, one-run effort by trade acquisition Johnny Cueto, who, to the probable horror of Mark Shapiro, cost prospects to acquire.
- A World Series reporter interviewed the wrong Cueto brother after the game.
- The Royals haven't won the World Series yet, but they have put together an impressive list of postseason games over the past two seasons.
- Things are going better for the Mets in the WWE 2Kverse, where we simulated the World Series with a mascot wrestling match.
- Ben Zobrist will not be leaving the World Series, according to his pregnant and expecting wife.
- Old habits downed the Yankees in the second half of 2015.
- The Phillies have a new front office, but they won't have new free agents to look forward to just yet.
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