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AA leaving?

Nik the Trik said:
It's also worth keeping in mind that A) they offered him a contract and B) the dispute apparently isn't about money.

So it's AA choosing to leave. Not getting fired.
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Yep.  But as long as we're speculating on things, it could be that AA didn't like Shapiro/ownership's proposed direction, and that's why he turned down the extension. 

I have a hard time believing that AA would want to leave after the run this year, unfinished business and all.  I have to think that he doesn't see eye to eye with Shapiro/ownership.
 
Frank E said:
I have a hard time believing that AA would want to leave after the run this year, unfinished business and all.  I have to think that he doesn't see eye to eye with Shapiro/ownership.
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I think that's almost certainly the case but at that point it becomes a question of what the direction is that AA doesn't agree with actually is. Because if it's a matter of him wanting the team to have a 150-160 million-ish payroll or whatever would be needed to keep this group together going forward then that would be a tough sell even if AA had delivered a huge level of success over his tenure rather than a great couple of months.
 
I hate this... I would like to see another GM pull a Tulo out of their ass. Toronto sports = total shit show. Bottom line is he wanted to stay and for some reason he's not, he should have been accommodated.
 
cabber24 said:
I hate this... I would like to see another GM pull a Tulo out of their ass.
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He didn't pull him out of nowhere. He traded one of the team's better prospects for him.

cabber24 said:
Bottom line is he wanted to stay and for some reason he's not, he should have been accommodated.
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They offered him a contract. They gave him the money he wanted. What more do you think they should have done?
 
Generally curious, what would the reaction have been if AA walked away or was fired exactly a year ago today? I don't really recall him being extremely liked by Jays fans. I get why this year would change his perception quite a bit, but going "all-in" is probably the easiest move a GM can make. Particularly one who knew that his contract was coming to an end and had nothing to lose.
 
Ok the timing of this is pretty funny:

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb-news/4659623-alex-anthopoulos-executive-of-year-blue-jays-sporting-news
 
Scorpion said:
Indians fans don't have good things to say about Shapiro, to say the least. Penny-pinching while trying to make as much profit as possible, keeping prospects and building for a future that never arrives. He looks and talks like a corporate shill, so it's no wonder Rogers loves him.
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And yet despite spending far less money, the Indians and Blue Jays have pretty comparable records over AA's tenure.
 
Highlander said:
Still don't like it, I was a big fan of AA, seemed to know how to milk the draft in a very big way. Most have come from his scouting years.
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That's not true. Many good prospects and young players from his years as GM, yes, but he wasn't really involved in scouting, and hasn't been for quite some time.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Generally curious, what would the reaction have been if AA walked away or was fired exactly a year ago today? I don't really recall him being extremely liked by Jays fans. I get why this year would change his perception quite a bit, but going "all-in" is probably the easiest move a GM can make. Particularly one who knew that his contract was coming to an end and had nothing to lose.
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I think there'd obviously be less anger from the more casual fans but I think among the people who were around last year the reaction would be more or less the same. Last year at this time the Jays had a pretty well regarded farm system and looked to be on the cusp of maybe being able to achieve something with it.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Generally curious, what would the reaction have been if AA walked away or was fired exactly a year ago today? I don't really recall him being extremely liked by Jays fans. I get why this year would change his perception quite a bit, but going "all-in" is probably the easiest move a GM can make. Particularly one who knew that his contract was coming to an end and had nothing to lose.
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Plenty of people were calling for him to be fired right before the Tulo/Price deals.
 
Nik the Trik said:
I think there'd obviously be less anger from the more casual fans but I think among the people who were around last year the reaction would be more or less the same. Last year at this time the Jays had a pretty well regarded farm system and looked to be on the cusp of maybe being able to achieve something with it.
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Ah ok, my bad then. Like I said for some reason I thought fans were souring on him before this year.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Nik the Trik said:
I think there'd obviously be less anger from the more casual fans but I think among the people who were around last year the reaction would be more or less the same. Last year at this time the Jays had a pretty well regarded farm system and looked to be on the cusp of maybe being able to achieve something with it.
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Ah ok, my bad then. Like I said for some reason I thought fans were souring on him before this year.
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I think you're right about that, I just think that's more of a 2013 thing. If he'd been fired that year, after the Marlins trade blew up and they were 74-88, I don't think anyone would have been overly upset.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Ah ok, my bad then. Like I said for some reason I thought fans were souring on him before this year.
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I think, maybe, before he pulled off the Donaldson trade and signed Martin, there was a little more of that. The winter before, definitely. That offseason, the Jays didn't do much, the big trade with Florida looked like an abysmal failure and the Dickey trade was . . . well, the Dickey trade. Even this past offseason, there were some upset that he did very little to address issues with the pitching staff and questioned some of the smaller moves he made, but the Donaldson trade really served to shut down most detractors.
 
bustaheims said:
I think, maybe, before he pulled off the Donaldson trade and signed Martin, there was a little more of that. The winter before, definitely. That offseason, the Jays didn't do much, the big trade with Florida looked like an abysmal failure and the Dickey trade was . . . well, the Dickey trade. Even this past offseason, there were some upset that he did very little to address issues with the pitching staff and questioned some of the smaller moves he made, but the Donaldson trade really served to shut down most detractors.
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And the Donaldson deal to me seemed like the most rabbit-out-of-a-hat deal of them all. The Tulo and Price deals were deadline moves where AA likely gave just as much as he got. That seems pretty standard for a team in the Jays position.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Generally curious, what would the reaction have been if AA walked away or was fired exactly a year ago today? I don't really recall him being extremely liked by Jays fans. I get why this year would change his perception quite a bit, but going "all-in" is probably the easiest move a GM can make. Particularly one who knew that his contract was coming to an end and had nothing to lose.
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I wouldn't have been as pissed about it because the optics of what's gone on today stink.  However, I still would have been upset because 1. I think he had been doing a good job building the system (even after the failed Marlins/Mets trades); and 2. I don't know how many options were available that would have been an upgrade.

Despite going all in, I think AA's left this team is pretty good shape for the foreseeable future.  The farm is not bare even after ripping it apart again, all position players are returning for another year, a core of Donaldson/Tulo/Martin/Stroman/Osuna is in place for at least three more years, and a couple significant additions to both the starting rotation and bullpen would see this team as a World Series contender again.
 
But even something like the Donaldson deal, while obviously great, represents what I think is ultimately the driving force behind AA leaving. One of the reasons Oakland was probably willing to let him go is because pretty soon, he's gonna get paid. Whether it's via an extension or him hitting arbitration, he's probably going to be a 15-20 million dollar a year guy.

To be long term competitive, and we saw this year that Boston and the Yankees aren't going away forever, this team can't be built like the Dodgers. If the immediate future of this team depended on a 150-160 million dollar payroll, that was just never realistic. 
 
From what I can tell,  AA wanted final call on player moves,  and so did Shapiro.  AA wants to be the guy in charge. He doesn't want to be a lackey.  I'm sure he'll find a team that will put him in charge.
 
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