Alex Anthopoulos stepped down as Blue Jays general manager last week, rejecting a five-year contract offer because of the changes in role he believed would be forced upon him working under new team president Mark Shapiro.
Today the Blue Jays decided on a replacement general manager, with Jamie Campbell of Toronto Sportsnet reporting that they’ve promoted Anthopoulos’ longtime assistant general manager Tony LaCava to the interim role. LaCava has been in Toronto’s front office since 2002 and has been assistant GM since 2007.
Assuming that the Blue Jays also retain manager John Gibbons, it would mean basically maintaining the same coaching and front office structure minus Anthopoulos and plus Shapiro. LaCava is now the GM, but the buck ultimately stops with Shapiro and Anthopoulos–who was named “Executive of the Year” moments before quitting–wasn’t comfortable with that change.
