Alex Anthopoulos is a general manager not afraid to pull the trigger on any deal that may/could cause some to question his approach to rebuilding this club.
In his short time at the helm, Anthopoulos has been at the forefront of some very elaborate dealings involving some of the biggest names in recent Blue Jays memory: Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells and, in some way, Shaun Marcum.
Relinquishing the team of such character players that were the face of a franchise would devastate most clubs and their fans. Instead, the loss of such on-field leadership leads one to ponder: who is the leader in the clubhouse these days?
In 2010, you could say Shaun Marcum was the leader of the pitching staff with Wells behind the wheel as club representative. Now, players like Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Ricky Romero and Jose Bautista are taking control of this team; “team” being the key word.
All on that list are home grown talent with the exception of Bautista. Nevertheless, the Jays have a core—a nexus if you will—of budding young stars whose talent has not yet reached its full potential.
The difference in Toronto this year is a feeling of accomplishment and possibility.
With a refined focus on scouting and player development, the team is in a unique position to compete where division rivals are again playing the odds in the free agent market.
Countless others spend millions on established “names” and supposed stars labelled by the experts as the missing piece of the puzzle.
Lucky for us, all signs point to the Jays reverting back to the golden age of baseball, worrying more about in-house matters than that of the green-eyed monster, to fulfil their tireless quest for a World Series championship.
Devon is the founder of The GM’s Perspective
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