When former club president Mark Shapiro left to take on a larger role with the Toronto Blue Jays, it was close to a foregone conclusion that general manager Alex Anthopoulos would not survive the change in power.
This is usually the case in all avenues of corporate America and Major League Baseball teams are not immune.
When a new boss comes into town, he or she likes to bring in all new vice presidents, executive vice presidents or whatever title may be trendy, not because the they are incompetent but rather because the represent the old regime.
That is exactly what happened in Toronto.
Just in time for Major League Baseball’s annual winter meetings, Blue Jays new president Mark Shapiro hired his new general manager, taking Ross Atkins from the Indians.
The 42-year-old North Carolina native becomes the seventh GM in Jays’ history, replacing Anthopoulos, who opted to walk away at the end of this past season rather than work with less autonomy under a new boss.
As Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports points out, the hiring of Atkins represents the 13th team to change general managers since last year’s Winter Meetings in San Diego. With almost half of the teams in the league making significant changes to their front offices within the last year, many organizations have undergone philosophy changes, and with it changes in player personnel and player development.
That should pose no problem for Atkins, the former Indians vice-president of player personnel, who has spent his entire professional career with the club, most of it working under Shapiro.
The hiring of Shapiro as president of both baseball and business operations signaled a shift by the Jays in how their front office operates, but it follows a growing trend across the industry. Under Paul Beeston and previous Blue Jays presidents, the GM was given full rein in baseball operations, while the president ran the business side and served as a conduit between the front office and ownership.
While the Indians lost more games than they won and made the playoffs just three times in the 15 years that Shapiro was president or GM, the organization is highly regarded for its development of homegrown players, for which Atkins would have played a key role. The likes of Jason Kipnis, Danny Salazar and this year’s runner-up for American League rookie of the year, Francisco Lindor, were all drafted and developed by the club; while other franchise cornerstones such as Michael Brantley and Corey Kluber were acquired as minor-league prospects but emerged as stars after they arrived in Cleveland.
Yan Gomes, for instance, was considered a backup utility player in Toronto and was the secondary piece in a trade for reliever Esmil Rogers. But with the Indians he has glimpsed the potential of a front-line catcher.
Now that half of the key decision makers of the Indians front office reside in Toronto, it is likely that both clubs will increase dealings with each other because of the familiarity with how they do business.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
