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There are now a record 12 general managers in the game who have at least one executive above them, and in some cases, at least two or three out-ranking them.
It’s the reason Anthopoulos ultimately turned down the Blue Jays’ offer from ownership when he realized he wouldn’t have full authority with new president Mark Shapiro on board - even after his bold July maneuvering got the Blue Jays within two games of the World Series. Ben Cherington felt the same way when he resigned as the Red Sox GM when David Dombrowski was hired as president/baseball operations.
They each would have kept their GM titles, but they felt they would have turned into glorified assistants.
It’s a decision, Dombrowski says, that he fully understands.
“I do know that in Ben’s case,’’ Dombrowski said, “he would not have been the main decision maker, so he might have viewed it that way. He told me that if this had happened three or four years ago, he would have been happy to do it, because it would have been a nice first opportunity.
“But having already done that, I could understand that from his perspective.’’
To the contrary, Shapiro says that he can’t understand Anthopoulos’ departure, which now has now created a public relations nightmare for the Rogers Corporation that owns the Blue Jays.
“I’m not a president of baseball operations,’’ Shapiro said, citing a title held by Dombrowski, Theo Epstein of the Chicago Cubs, Andrew Friedman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chris Antonetti of the Cleveland Indians and Brian Sabean of the San Francisco Giants. “I’m a president overseeing business and baseball. I oversee a major league organization.
“I’m never going to go to the GM meetings. I’m not looking to be a GM. I will hire a real GM.’’
It’s unknown whether interim Tony LaCava, who received a multi-year contract extension, will now become the Blue Jays’ GM or whether Shapiro will turn to Ross Atkins, the Indians’ vice president, player personnel.
Yet, if Anthopoulos had stayed aboard, he would have felt as if he were actually getting a demotion.
The reason for this confusion of titles, many baseball executives say, simply is to keep teams from hiring away their valued employees. No longer are teams raiding their rival teams’ top executives.
“There was an internal debate in the industry that there was too much tampering going on,’’ Anthopoulos said, “too much stealing executives. So people started making up these titles, and giving them promotions. It was a way of keeping them.
“There is a cap on what you can spend for players. So where you going to spend your money? Human capital is the next resource.’’
It’s why the Los Angeles Dodgers have the richest front office in baseball. And why the Giants promoted Bobby Evans to GM, followed by the Atlanta Braves with John Coppolella, the Indians with Mike Chernoff, and the Red Sox with Mike Hazen.
