AA leaving?

[dappleganger]

I agree Nik.

Then you should probably stop acting like the Blue Jays just fired the second coming of John McGraw.

AA wasn't fired but I digress.

Not at all Nik, but I think AA deserves some credit (and he got some http://www.tsn.ca/anthopoulos-named-mlb-executive-of-year-1.384843) for the moves he made this year.

I think it's more of a Shapiro vs Anthopoulos argument for me. If I had the choice, I'd rather have AA leading this team than Shapiro, based on their track record.

Shapiro signed off on the Nick Swisher contract (which also cost Cleveland their second round pick) and that kinda scares me.

Alex never went after the big name free agents and I respected him for that because I think that's where GM's make their biggest mistakes.   

I think he was a smart GM. I honestly don't know how many other GM's would have been able to pull off the Donaldson and Tulo trades. I think the Jays front office is weaker now than it was a week ago because he left.

 

[Kin]

AA wasn't fired but I digress.

Yes. That was my point.

Not at all Nik, but I think AA deserves some credit (and he got some http://www.tsn.ca/anthopoulos-named-mlb-executive-of-year-1.384843) for the moves he made this year.

Making short term moves for short term results are exactly what awards like that are biased towards. Nobody gives awards for sound long term planning. Nobody gave him a "GM Failure of the Year" after 2013.

He absolutely had some success. He deserves credit for those successes. He had some failure too. He deserves blame for that. A reasonable incoming executive would base their assessment of AA on his entire tenure, not just the successes of the last few months. Moreover, they should be especially concerned with how the team is positioned for the future.

I think it's more of a Shapiro vs Anthopoulos argument for me. If I had the choice, I'd rather have AA leading this team than Shapiro, based on their track record.

The only one who decided that it was either Shapiro or Anthopolous was Anthopolous. That's on him.

Shapiro signed off on the Nick Swisher contract (which also cost Cleveland their second round pick) and that kinda scares me.

AA made lots of bad moves too. Why don't any of them weigh into that equation?

Alex never went after the big name free agents and I respected him for that because I think that's where GM's make their biggest mistakes.

Sure. Except "going after big name free agents" is exactly what he'd have been forced to do this off-season or else the team would have been substantially weaker next year with very few internal options. That's precisely the point of being uneasy with the short-term moves AA made at the deadline. A ton of this team's immediate future depends on somehow being able to cobble together a starting rotation via free agency.   

I think he was a smart GM. I honestly don't know how many other GM's would have been able to pull off the Donaldson and Tulo trades. I think the Jays front office is weaker now than it was a week ago because he left.

He was a good GM. They offered to extend his contract. He chose to leave.

He was not such a good GM that he should have been given whatever he wanted to stay or been seen as crucial to the future of this club. There are other smart executives out there, the Jays probably just named one as AA's replacement and the idea that the Jays are weaker with Lacava than AA in that job is entirely speculative.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I agree Nik.

Then you should probably stop acting like the Blue Jays just fired the second coming of John McGraw.

AA wasn't fired but I digress.

Not at all Nik, but I think AA deserves some credit (and he got some http://www.tsn.ca/anthopoulos-named-mlb-executive-of-year-1.384843) for the moves he made this year.

I think it's more of a Shapiro vs Anthopoulos argument for me. If I had the choice, I'd rather have AA leading this team than Shapiro, based on their track record.

Shapiro signed off on the Nick Swisher contract (which also cost Cleveland their second round pick) and that kinda scares me.

Alex never went after the big name free agents and I respected him for that because I think that's where GM's make their biggest mistakes.   

I think he was a smart GM. I honestly don't know how many other GM's would have been able to pull off the Donaldson and Tulo trades. I think the Jays front office is weaker now than it was a week ago because he left.

Swisher was a good player when he was signed.  Shapiro probably couldn't foresee the injuries he's had to both knees.

 

[dappleganger]

Sure. Except "going after big name free agents" is exactly what he'd have been forced to do this off-season or else the team would have been substantially weaker next year with very few internal options. That's precisely the point of being uneasy with the short-term moves AA made at the deadline. A ton of this team's immediate future depends on somehow being able to cobble together a starting rotation via free agency.

   
Is there a reason the Jays can't trade for starting pitching help? Did I miss something?

He was a good GM. They offered to extend his contract. He chose to leave.

He was not such a good GM that he should have been given whatever he wanted to stay or been seen as crucial to the future of this club. There are other smart executives out there, the Jays probably just named one as AA's replacement and the idea that the Jays are weaker with Lacava than AA in that job is entirely speculative.

Thinking that a Jays front office with Anthopoulos and LaCava would be weaker than LaCava without Anthopoulos is obtuse.

 

[Kin]

Is there a reason the Jays can't trade for starting pitching help? Did I miss something?

Apparently. They traded away almost all of their top prospects. Short of that, you would need to trade major league talent for starting pitching and trades with major league talent, typically, involve giving away as much as you get.

Thinking that a Jays front office with Anthopoulos and LaCava would be weaker than LaCava without Anthopoulos is obtuse.

Leaving aside that I didn't say they'd be weaker, that's entirely facile. It's not AA and LaCava vs. just LaCava. It's AA and LaCava vs. Shapiro and LaCava and whoever gets hired to replace LaCava.

 

[dappleganger]

Apparently. They traded away almost all of their top prospects. Short of that, you would need to trade major league talent for starting pitching and trades with major league talent, typically, involve giving away as much as you get.

I'm glad to hear trades can still be made because earlier you said free agency was the only way to add starting pitching. Marco Estrada disagrees.

 

[Joe S.]

Can we drop this nik the troll bit. It's juvenile.

 

[Kin]

I'm glad to hear trades can still be made because earlier you said free agency was the only way to add starting pitching. Marco Estrada disagrees.

Except that's emphatically not what I said. I said that AA was going to be forced to sign free agents to maintain the current talent level of the club. That's just a fact. Being able to trade for players in a similar situation to Marco Estrada last year(which still involved giving up a good player off the major league roster) isn't a legitimate plan to make up for the loss of someone like David Price.

 

[Captain Canuck]

I don't really like the interim GM tag on LaCava, it makes it seem like Shapiro is waiting to see if someone better comes along to give the position to. Hopefully LaCava is given the GM job outright because he would be best suited to continue on with what AA started.

As for Gibby coming back another year, that just buys Shapiro more time with the Jays. If you just start off your tenure with "your guy" and it goes south, chances are you are out the door sooner than had you started with the guy who you inherited from the previous regime. This happens all the time in front offices and really tells us nothing about how Shapiro feels about Gibby's abilities as manager.

 

[Joe S.]

I didn't catch the conference - can someone clear this up?

So Shapiro offered AA a 1 year + an option contract, then Rogers offered AA a 5 year contract last week?

Is that what happened?

 

[cabber24]

I still wish they would attempt to bring him back. Never say never, why not continue to try?

 

[Joe S.]

There's a report that Lavaca has signed an extension that covers him whether or not he's named full time gm

 

[hockeyfan1]

Anthopoulos  offered position with Coyotes:...

According to Steve Simmons,  former Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has been offered a "senior or consulting position" in the Phoenix front office.


http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/former-blue-jays-gm-anthopoulos-to-the-nhl-coyotes-reportedly-reach-out/

 

[cabber24]

Anthopoulos  offered position with Coyotes:...

According to Steve Simmons,  former Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has been offered a "senior or consulting position" in the Phoenix front office.


http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/former-blue-jays-gm-anthopoulos-to-the-nhl-coyotes-reportedly-reach-out/

Hockey, Baseball... same thing.

 

[L K]

Navarro signed with Chicago so Estrada lost his personal catcher.

 

[Peter D.]

Not happy with how the offseason has transpired thus far.

 

[seahawk]

Navarro signed with Chicago so Estrada lost his personal catcher.

Hope he enjoys backing up. Alex Avila also signed with the southsiders.

 

[cabber24]

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mlb/turf-wars-heating-up-with-blue-jays-griffin/ar-BBnGnQO?li=AAggNb9&ocid=mailsignout

I hate this man. It feels like he knows absolutely nothing about the Blue Jays franchise. He is a complete PR disaster, everything he touches turns to S%@t. It feels like the sky is falling even though it probably isn't.

Oh yeah... by the way... grass smass, who needs it... bye.

 

[hockeyfan1]

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mlb/turf-wars-heating-up-with-blue-jays-griffin/ar-BBnGnQO?li=AAggNb9&ocid=mailsignout

I hate this man. It feels like he knows absolutely nothing about the Blue Jays franchise. He is a complete PR disaster, everything he touches turns to S%@t. It feels like the sky is falling even though it probably isn't.

Oh yeah... by the way... grass smass, who needs it... bye.

No grass, eh?  They seemed so convinced it was the thing to do (to change the turf) even spending money on researching 'alternates',  etc.  So now, how come the big changeroo?  Too costly, perhaps? 
Only Rogers knows.

 

[bustaheims]

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mlb/turf-wars-heating-up-with-blue-jays-griffin/ar-BBnGnQO?li=AAggNb9&ocid=mailsignout

I hate this man. It feels like he knows absolutely nothing about the Blue Jays franchise. He is a complete PR disaster, everything he touches turns to S%@t. It feels like the sky is falling even though it probably isn't.

Oh yeah... by the way... grass smass, who needs it... bye.

That's good. Rogers wants you to hate him so they don't have to face the blame for what was their decision, not his. He's just a mouthpiece in this case.