The rumors first started about August 21st that Indians president Mark Shapiro could be headed to Toronto and now, it appears that it will in fact be the case. The Blue Jays’ current president Paul Beeston, who has been with the team in some capacity since 1976, was nearly forced out in the previous off-season, ending with the announcement that he would retire at the end of the year. While it still looks like he will stay on for the rest of the season, his replacement has now been decided.
Sources: Jays to name the Indians’ Mark Shapiro club president. announcement expected soon. http://t.co/Zr9LFdYoEW
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) August 31, 2015
Beeston was the Blue Jays president from 1989 through 1997 and then from 2009 on, seeing the team through multiple years of success, failure and rebuilding. Now, he will have one more chance to watch his team try for a championship as they retooled in a major way during the trade deadline.
Shapiro is a little younger, but has also been a long tenured member of his previous team. He joined as the director of player development in 1991, then became General Manager in 2001 and team president in 2011, where he has remained to this point. While he was less than stellar as a GM, particularly considering the draft classes between 2001 and 2009, he has done a fair job as president, handing the reigns over to Chris Antonetti, bringing in Terry Francona and most importantly to the Blue Jays, helping to refurbish Progressive Field.
While much will be made of the personnel part of this move, the success of the re-branding of Progressive Field including adding local restaurants in “the district” area, renovating the main entrance and adding a two story bar was likely the biggest reason for this move. This spring, the Blue Jays talked about a possible retrofitting of Rogers Center in downtown Toronto, and Shapiro could be the perfect man to orchestrate this momentous undertaking. It appears he isn’t going to replace GM Alex Anthopoulos, whose contract is up at the end of the year, and the roster is generally set for the next season anyway with only two big name free agents, David Price and Mark Buerhle, expected to leave this winter.
The motivation for the Blue Jays to bring in Shapiro is obvious, but what is less obvious is Shapiro’s motivation to leave. He helped create the current Indians team as the GM and has overseen their growth over the past few seasons. With one of the best starting rotations in baseball and a talented offensive core, the Indians are closer to a return to the World Series than they have been since 2007 and it would seem that he would want to see that ultimate goal reached under his stewardship.
Instead, he is going to the team with a greater chance to win at this moment. There’s no question that Toronto is the hottest team in the American League right now and Shapiro will be jumping on that band wagon. It has yet to be announced who will control the team between Beeston and Shapiro for the rest of the season.
For the Indians, things will possibly change even less. Majority owner Paul Dolan will likely take over the presidency with Chris Antonetti remaining the GM and Mike Chernoff the Assistant GM for the moment. It is conceivable this will change in the offseason, as Chernoff has been in high demand by other teams looking for a new General Manager.
A side note to this is that Terry Francona, who is under contract as the Indians manager through 2018, has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave without repercussions if either Shapiro or Antonetti were to leave the team. This was because they were the primary reason he came to the team and he didn’t want to get stuck with new management. He has stated that Shapiro leaving on his own volition was not the purpose of the clause, and that he will not use that as an excuse or bargaining point to leave the team.
