Blue Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos held court with reporters during a conference call this afternoon in the aftermath of the John Farrell–Mike Aviles–David Carpenter trade. Here are the highlights:
- Anthopoulos wants to interview candidates he didn't interview when he hired Farrell in 2010 because he was denied permission to do so or they were unavailable at the time. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter) believes Tim Wallach and Manny Acta, respectively, fit that description. Davidi adds the search could begin with the three finalists Farrell beat out: Sandy Alomar, Jr., DeMarlo Hale, and Brian Butterfield, although a promotion for the Blue Jays' third base coach appears unlikely.
- Anthopoulos will address the coaching staff once a new manager is hired, tweets MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm.
- Anthopoulos was prepared to enter 2013 with Farrell as manager. "We could have and we talked about it, and he was prepared to do so, as well, " said Anthopoulos (quotes courtesy of the Boston Herald's Scott Lauber). "The big thing here was the fact that once John had indicated this was something he wanted to pursue, it was his dream job, it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to not at least see if we could work something out."
- Anthopoulos said Red Sox owner John Henry made the first approach and compensation talks, which remained on an ownership-level, focused only on Major League players, tweets Davidi.
- Anthopoulos expressed his displeasure that there was "gamesmanship from a negotiating standpoint, not on our end," writes Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. Anthopoulos, however, added neither he nor ownership have any issues with their Boston counterparts.
- In the same piece, Anthopoulos called Farrell's leaving "a perfect storm of events" tracing back to the Red Sox's 2011 collapse and the departure of Terry Francona. "If that [September collapse] hadn't occurred, I don't think this story ever would have started, I don't think there would have been the interest, and I don't think we'd be talking today."
- Anthopoulos sees new acquisition Mike Aviles "at a mininum" as a utility infielder, but he could also earn playing time at second base, tweets Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe.
- David Carpenter was not going to make the Blue Jays' 40-man roster, according to Anthopoulos (via ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes on Twitter). Carpenter could find himself in similar situation in Boston, tweets Alex Speier of WEEI.com.
Cheers to this nightmare being over.
John, it’s be real, all the best in boston
lets hire a new manager, and improve this ball club
Red Sox made A bad decision taking Farrell. He did a terrible job in Toronto. It won’t be any better in Boston.
lets hope so.
but cant be worse than what they just went through haha
I don’t think there’s any possible way he can be worse than valentine. so i wouldn’t worry too much.
Eh, I’m not particularly excited about Farrell either, but Francona had a bad track record before coming to Boston too. The manager’s impact gets overrated anyway, and it’s more about the team he has to work with than the manager himself.
I also think it is about how well the Manager is on the same page as the GM when it comes to executing the long-term plan. That is why JF is probably the ideal choice for BC. I can’t help but wonder if there is a disconnect between BC and the players. You can probably shed more light on the topic.
Edit
I don’t recall anything ever being reported about a disconnect between Cherrington and the players, but from what was reported it sounded like there was a rift between Valentine and everyone, and since the manager is generally the middleman between the players and GM I’d say it’s possible that there was a disconnect of sorts there.
When I look at the roster, I see enough talent to compete. Even after the LA trade. In fact, when 2013 projections come in, I bet when it gets computed into WAR, Boston will stack up against most teams.
Do you think JF is brought in to gauge the players to determine their long term-future? In spite of their talent level. Basically, eyes and ears that BC trusts? Or is it simply to manage the team?
Probably some of both, but that’s generally what a manager is expected to do anyway. I think they were really interested in Farrell because they are familiar with him, he’s a strong presence in the clubhouse while maintaining the respect of the players, and is more-or-less familiar with how Boston’s baseball operations works. I think after the disaster that was the 2011-2012 Red Sox they wanted someone who could step in on day one and have the respect of the players.
Seems like AA wasn’t a big fan of this trade happening but the ownerships probably pushed it on him. I remember reading a tweet somewhere that John Henry personally approached Paul Beeston about Farrell.
Meh, let’s get on with the real off season dealings.
We need sum Starting pitchers!!!
I don’t care what the compensation was at the end of the day…I don’t want a manager whose passion and heart wasn’t going to be with the team he was managing. I’m not faulting Farrell for being able to fulfill his “dream job” but give me someone that wants to be manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. There are a lot of good options out there for the Jays, I hope it works out for the best.
Yep, it seems like this franchise is having trouble with key members longing for other opportunities. Hopefully it can be put behind them.
I’m not looking to speculate but AA said that JH made the initial contact. Could this have been JH’s choice, not necessarily BenC’s( once again). But it also might be that if things don’t turn around this season for Ben–they could move JF into the Gm role and find a fourth manager in 4 years if need be.
I like JF and I certainly hope he and Ben can right the ship and bring in some added talent and get the youth and existing talent to play to their capability. I am anxious for the Hot Stove to heat up.