RealGM

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have made the following changes to their Player Development Department which will operate under the direction of TONY LaCAVA; CHARLIE WILSON has been appointed Director of Minor League Operations and DOUG DAVIS has been appointed Minor League Field Coordinator while DICK SCOTT and MIKE BASSO have been relieved of their duties.

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have made the following changes to their scouting department; ANDREW TINNISH has been appointed Director of Amateur Scouting, PERRY MINASIAN has been appointed Director of Professional Scouting, JON LALONDE has been named Professional Scout and ROB DUCEY has been relieved of his duties.

Schadenfreude wrote:So Lelonde gets demoted and pushed away from what he does best, and LaCava gets...something. Not particularly fond of these moves.

The other big change took place in amateur scouting, where Hamiltonian Andrew Tinnish takes over as the scouting director from Jon Lalonde, who moves to pro scouting. Tinnish has moved through the scouting department since joining the team back in 2001, and had been Lalonde’s top assistant the last three seasons. Jack Armstrong will like him, since he used to pitch for Niagara College.

Anthopoulos is really, really high on Tinnish, and though it sounds as though this move is a demotion for Lalonde, it really seems to be more of a lateral move. The Jays will be placing a much larger emphasis on pro scouting, which would indicate that in the future they’re planning to be far more active in the trade and free agent markets. Lalonde will be a big part of that, though Perry Minasian (who came to the Jays last year from the Rangers - I’ve never met him) will head up that department.

“One of the things we need to focus on is trying to have an advantage with our employees,” Anthopoulos said on a conference call from the team's spring base in Dunedin, Fla. “Instead of trying to go toe-to-toe and dollar-for-dollar in terms of player acquisition and so on — and I think one day we may be able to do that with the fan base here and the upside of the market — where we stand today, let's go toe-to-toe with staffing, let's go toe-to-toe in terms of employees.

“If we can get the best scouts, the best player development people that can come in here, the results from the players side that we're going to see from a development and talent aquisition standpoint, whether it's trade or drafting, should lead to great results up in Toronto.”

-MetA4- wrote:"The Blue Jays will hire Nationals scouting director Dana Brown as a special assistant to new GM Alex Anthopoulos, according to Bob Elliot of The Toronto Sun."

Schadenfreude wrote:

-MetA4- wrote:"The Blue Jays will hire Nationals scouting director Dana Brown as a special assistant to new GM Alex Anthopoulos, according to Bob Elliot of The Toronto Sun."

Yeah, I read that on DJF.

Pros of hiring a guy who worked in the Nats scouting department: really good eye when it comes to players with the last name Zimmerman(n).

Cons: basically everything else they have done prior to the 2009 draft. Despite all those high picks they entered this year with only three players that Sickels rated B or higher: Jordan Zimmermann (B+), who looked pretty good prior to TJ surgery; Michael Burgess (B+), who hit with power but didn't live up to expectations; and Chris Marrero (B) who looks pretty good. They've gotten some potential value out of their first rounders pre-Strasburg, but not much beyond that.

No clue whether the bulk of the blame should fall on the scouts or the development people, but I can think of other organizations I'd rather raid for talent.