Mark Shapiro a perfect fit at president for forward-looking Blue Jays
Mark Shapiro couldn’t have picked a better time to come to Toronto. Hired Monday by the Blue Jays to replace retiring team president Paul Beeston, the longtime Cleveland Indians executive will have the power to make an already promising situation even more appealing.
In terms of their place in baseball, the Blue Jays have been a sleeping giant for years. By itself Toronto is a growing market of over six million people, and every game they play is broadcast to a national audience on Sportsnet. Owned by Rogers Communications – a gigantic Canadian telecommunications and media company – Shapiro can expect to be handed a larger budget than what he had in Cleveland.
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Landing Shapiro gives Toronto much-needed stability at the top of the organization and by every indication he’s in it for the long haul. After ownership whiffed on Dan Duquette and Kenny Williams in the offseason and just watched Dave Dombrowski take over baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox, they still managed to attract an experienced executive who might even be a better fit than the three other candidates anyway.
Having joined the Indians in 1991, he worked his way up from player development director to general manager in 2001. During his time as GM he was twice named Sporting News’ Executive of the Year and his success saw him promoted to team president in 2010.
Shapiro won’t officially take over in Toronto until the season ends, but that certainly won’t stop him from thinking about what he’s going to do next. His first major decision will be whether or not to retain Alex Anthopoulos as GM. Shapiro shouldn’t really have to think long and hard about it. Anthopoulos’ contract expires Oct. 31, and based on his recent moves – he acquired Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin last offseason and made trades for Troy Tulowitzki and David Price before the deadline – he’s absolutely earned himself an extension. According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, that’s how Shapiro is believed to be leaning.
Anthopoulos’ job with Shapiro in charge might differ slightly from what it was like Beeston with at the helm. Rosenthal writes that Shapiro will want “more structure” and “more systematic decision-making,” and ultimately that could end up being a significant positive for the franchise going forward.
The work won’t stop there either. With grass scheduled to replace the much maligned turf at Rogers Centre for the 2018 season and the stadium needing a bit of a facelift, Shapiro’s going to be busy right from the get-go.
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This past month has shown just how big the Blue Jays can be. Their talented roster is winning games at a record pace and in turn, captivating a large audience across Canada. They currently lead the AL East, and their first postseason appearance since they won the World Series back in 1993 is in sight.
Taking into account what he brings and where he’s going, Shapiro is in a terrific postion to elevate the Blue Jays to the next level as a business and a baseball team and make sure they stay there for the foreseeable future.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
