There may be an extension on the horizon for Toronto Blue Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter).
There’s not a lot of concrete action here to go off of, but both sides are open to discussing an extension as Shapiro enters the final year of his current contract. Prior to taking over as team president in 2015, Shapiro had been a soldier of the Indians organization since 1991. He served as GM for the 2002-2010 seasons before a promotion to team president. In what was a fairly gracious move on the part of Indians ownership, they allowed Shapiro to leave for the Toronto job without requiring compensation.
Shapiro took over in Toronto on August 31, 2015, just a month before the team would make their first playoff appearance since 1993. Previous team president Paul Beeston had announced his intentions to retire following the 2015 season. GM Alex Anthopoulos chose not to return following the 2015 season. Though there was reportedly an extension offer at the time, Shapiro’s hiring also removed Anthopoulos’ autonomy regarding baseball decision. In retrospect, it’s hardly surprising that Anthopoulos would step aside given the circumstances. He has done just fine for himself after being hired as the Braves GM in November of 2017.
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, are putting together a roster of note for the first time since those playoff squads, though they are likely a year or two from truly competing in the AL East. As for Shapiro, his intentions regarding Toronto appear clear, per this tweet from Ben Nicholson-Smith of sportsnet.ca, in which Shapiro states, “I’ve been clear and consistent about enjoying where I am and wanting to be here. From a competitive perspective, I want to finish the job. That’s incredibly important to me.”
Dear god no
No, please no extension for Mark Shapiro. He’s great for corporate owners that want to save/make money but terrible for fans who want to win now. Hire Dave Dombrowksi. #BlueJays
There is not enough prospects in the system to hire DD. And the system is top 10 in MLB.
Who cares if the Blue Jays minor league system is top 10. And Dombrowski could build the Jays into a playoff contender this year. That is how good he is.
Don’t drink the Shapiro “building” for “competative” koolaid. He has never won anything anywhere. He is good at building renovations though. Maybe he could do your apartment.
Do you think before you speak? The last person you should want taking over the organization at the top at this point is Dave Dombrowski. That would be the complete antithesis of what they are trying to build towards, which is a St. Louis style organization where they compete EVERY year. Under Dombrowski the minor league system would be completely gutted for expensive veteran players, which while it would be exciting for a few seasons, would inevitably lead to another tear it down rebuild after a few seasons. Hard pass to that suggestion. Just making the playoffs is no guarantee of anything, so it makes far more sense to build something that is sustainable so you have a chance to compete for a title every season rather than just one or two.
That’s just it. You made my point. There is no chance of winning anything under Shapiro ever. It is false hope that will never come to being.
When there are Cashman and formerly Dombrowki types around in the ALEast, Jays aren’t winning anything without a win now approach. Don’t drink that “longterm competative” shapiro Koolaid.
By the way, I picked St Louis to win the world series. John Mozeliak is an elite executive that Shapiro can’t even car his fungo bats. The cardinals success is not so much systematic related, it’s all about having John Mozeliak running the show.
The Jays need and Elite executive like that. Shapiro or Atkins will never be that.
coldbeer: Totally agree with you take on Mark Shapiro and Dave Dombrowski. Shapiro has a proven track record of helping build organizations which he did in Cleveland and is now doing in Toronto. He deserves a chance to finish what he started with the Blue Jays. As for Dombrowski, he had carte blanche with his last two owners in Detroit and Boston but he will not have that same luxury in Toronto.
How many titles has Shapiro won?
The correct answer is Dombrowski is better than Shapiro.
That wasnt the question. Lol. Settle down.
It was rhetorical. Those who knows baseball would never consider Shapiro superior to Dombrowski.
Who said anything about that? Lol
Dombrowski did not win a title in Detroit with essentially unlimited financial resources and the ability to gut a farm system. He won a World Series with the Red Sox; following the Detroit Tigers model. 1 World Series. He left the Tigers in a very bad place and the Red Sox aren’t in a fantastic spot right now either.
Shapiro has certainly not reached that level of success but he was always never given the keys to run that kind of ship. He has amassed a solid bit of minor league and young major league talent in Toronto. We’ll see what they do when the time is right for a run.
Those suggesting they hire Dombrowski are really only hoping that so they can spend 200 million bucks on a payroll. You go get yourself Dombrowski and give him a 125-130 MM payroll and I can tell you right now you’re probably not getting a very good team. He hasn’t a built a team like that in a long long time.
IF your going to outline resumes, at least get it right:
Dave Dombrowski:
2× World Series champion (1997, 2018)
National League champion (1997)
3× American League champion (2006, 2012, 2018)
1990 UPI Executive of the Year
2× Baseball America Executive of the Year (2006, 2018)
2011 co-Sporting News Executive of the Year (with Doug Melvin)
Andrew “Rube” Foster Award
Lou Boudreau Hall of Fame inductee
He wins. Period. That is all that matters.
The career resume of Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols are also impressive. Each also won World Series titles during their illustrious careers. Nobody would trade for them now. Just saying.
No one is quarrelling with the Dave Dombrowski legacy, just the fit with the Blue Jays who already have a younger executive in place with a fine resume of his own.
I’m very familiar with Dombrowski as a lifelong Chicago baseball fan since the early 1960’s Like myself, he was born in the Windy City. DD got his first baseball job with the White Sox in 1978 and worked his way up to becoming the assistant GM to Roland Hemond before being cut loose by one year GM wonder Hawk Harrelson in 1986. DD joined the Expos for 5 seasons before the expansion Florida Marlins hired him to be their first GM in late 1991, 1-1/2 years before they even played their first MLB game in Miami. The rest is a very impressive history which you “outlined” for all of us. Thank you for that.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. The BlueJays do not have a fine young executive of their own.
Dombrowski’s Tigers made the WS once.
Shapiro was lucky to reach the postseason a couple times. I don’t buy the whole “never given the keys” thing. He may not have had large payrolls in Cleveland. When he did spend he didn’t know how.
Toronto should be spending money. They have the richest owners, if not Top 3, in baseball.
The level of talent people seem to think Toronto has is non-existent. A case can be made Baltimore might be ahead of them in 2 years. Not a strong case, but a case.
Don’t fool yourself besides Clemens and Russel when did the Jays ever brought a top free agent super star. A A had just 1 winning season out of his entire tenure and his model of stripping down the farm system for old players paid its course.
I don’t mind Dombrowski but the fact is we don’t have the prospect capital and the track record of bringing top free agents for D.D to succeed in Toronto. PErhaps Sharpiro is not the man for the job but so is D D at the moment right now.
like I said, Dave Dombrowski has not built a team with a mid-small payroll in an extremely long time. You can list all the awards in the world, that doesn’t change that fact. I don’t care if he won the Jerry Dipoto Spin the Wheel award 10x.
That doesn’t change my point. He spends a ton of cash and gives you a short window of contention. The amount of successful Teams around baseball giving out mega deals like he did in his day is getting smaller and smaller. Teams don’t want to be left like the Detroit Tigers anymore. In this environment, I don’t think anyone does. John Henry sure didn’t like the aftermath of his investments. I think it says a lot that he got canned one year after winning a title.
Like it or not the game is moving away from the DD model of blowing up the farm and spending $230 million bucks.
So you’re saying teams don’t want to win the World Series? Maybe I didn’t make myself clear the first or second time around, so I’ll spell it out for an O’s fan who’s used to losing.
I would rather win a World Series, be close to winning a World Series for 3-4 years and take another rebuild than sit in mediocrity where Shapiro has lived since being a GM or President. Would Dombrowski be the right guy for that? Yes. Would there be other candidates who could do it better than Dombrowski? Sure. To Jimmer’s original point, he’d rather have Dombrowski over Shapiro running the show. It’s like choosing winning over losing. Winner (Dombrowski) or loser (Shapiro).
As for investments, well, John Henry didn’t exactly lose his shirt over Boston’s success. I think he will get over it. There isn’t a price tag on the lasting memories Red Sox have from 2018. Much like the 1983 O’s and the 1992-93 Blue Jays. Cleveland has 1948.
My comment was in reply to Jimmer. I don’t think Dombrowski is building you a winner in free agency anyway. That Boston team had a strong core of homegrown players to do that. He had more top prospects in his chamber to burn to build that team also. That guy had an Arsenal of prospects to help fill the deficiencies on the major league roster. A blank checkbook and a war chest of prospects makes it a hell of a lot easier to win 1 single World Series. Which is all he accomplished there with his resources.
The idea of spending 100’s of millions of dollars in free agency isn’t any good for sustainability. Take a look at the Cubs. All that added payroll has done little to nothing but make the teams outlook far worse and hamstrung them for coming years. I’m sure Theo wishes he could’ve had the majority of those deals back.
All that being said; I think whatever team you want to look at Tigers or Red Sox had a much stronger base to build on than the Jays do today. You can go hire DD but I think it’s highly likely he’d lead this core to a worse finish then the Tigers. Bichette, Biggio, and Guerrero and an above average farm is a good start but it’s not at all what he had in Boston. Not even close. Realistically if you did want to add a Dombrowski a year or two down the line probably gives you a better shot at a title. A guy like Shapiro can collect more prospects that DD can go burn up.
Business owners that try to make money are the WORST…
Toronto’s owner is all about the profit. Especially now that their hockey contract has been nothing short of atrocious. Cost many innocent people their jobs.
I agree that there are other things, in addition to profits, that are important for businesses. At the end of the day though, if your business doesn’t make money it won’t continue to exist.
It seems people lose their mind at the idea of a baseball club making money.
Yep I agree. People seem to believe the players deserve all the profits without thinking about the outside help that make an organization and a stadium work.
I’d be good if he lands a 3 year extension. And, let’s really hope at the end of the 3 years when he moves on to another organization he doesnt leave Ross the Boss as his internal replacement at the top.
All things considered, Shapiro has done his job. Dirt infield and other improvements at Rogers, procuring public money from Dunedin for the ST facilities, rebuilding the farm system, cutting as much salary as possible and saying the right things even if it’s not what the fickle fanbase in Toronto wants to hear. He deserves the extension.
It would be poetic justice for Skeletor to get a two year extension and then Rogers to start private/publicly looking for his replacement in one years time just like they did with Beaston and Anthopoulos. Skeletors replacement needs to come in and scold him on not making any trades. Holding on to your garbage prospects gets you nothing!
Thought Shapiro did good in Cleveland…
Did Cleveland win a World Series in any of the years 2002-2014 when he was running the show?
He didn’t even have back-to-back >.500 seasons. It will always be one step forward and one step back when you rely on your farm system rather than having the balls to take a risk and for it.
I can’t stand Shapiro, all he’s done on criticize AA’s success and either trade away any of the decent players for next to nothing or let free agents walk. It’s good for him, nice job, good salary, keep on telling everyone about the great farm system….but for the fans, nothing! The Blue Jay fans need more than hope. 2019 was terrible. I hope I’m wrong about this man, but I don’t think so!
Would be so pleased to see him go along with Atkins!
The only way I see Shaprio getting an extension and for the fans to be happy is for the current management to redeem themselves. To do that Shapiro and Atkins have to do whatever it takes to sign Gerrit Cole and pull of miracle trades left and right and have guys like Pearson taking monumental steps and make the playoffs next season. The chances of at least have one of the scenario I mentioned above is probably close to 0.
You should understand Shapiro AA has traded away the prospects for players that were going out of their prime that accounted to just 2 years of success and nothing else.
I do dislike some trades Atkins and Shapiro made like the Stro trade but they did a good job rebuilding the farm system I think they should stay for a year or two and allow them to continue developing the farm. When the farm is developed to its maximum the Jays will have a lot of directions to choose.
As much as we may not like as Blue Jays fans, last thing this organization needs is instability. Another front office group coming in, and “shaking things up”. At least with Shapiro, they are able to finish out the plan, whatever that may be. Big league roster obviously lacks talent as of now, but we can’t ignore how much young talent is in this organization, and having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, which won’t stay that way moving forward. The arrow is certainly looking up.
It wouldn’t be a shake up if the Rogers board brought in a well established baseball man like Dave Dombrowski or pat gillick. Tal e my in the organization is irrelevant to winning now at the major league level.
Talent*
You act like the management team has been awful. They have done at least an ok job. What exactly is your problem with them?
What is considered an OK job? Taking a contender to 4th place?
How many people were screaming for a rebuild? Have they not built a solid base? They have committed to a rebuild and they have some promise. What would you have liked them to do?
First, they completely mismanaged the 2016-17 offseason and somehow signed 3 DHs. It was clear they weren’t serious about winning.
So then I thought “ok, let’s rebuild”. That was 2017. They didn’t. They waited and now they don’t have the surrounding talent for Vlad, Bo and company. To answer your question about having a solid base, we do not know. We can assume Vlad will be great. We hope Bo will be. We hope Gurriel can stay healthy. We hope a couple more current position players step it up. Outside of Pearson, we don’t know what to make of the minor leagues. 1 pitcher can’t lead a team to the next level.
Jays are way behind schedule thanks to mismanagement of Donaldson, Smoak and others. What I’d like for Rogers to do is hire winners.
R u kidding? They fired the scouts that brought us guys like Vlad Bo etc. They got nothing for our assets and signed RG to a 52 mill non warranted extension. They got terrible players like Drury who is a negative war player, then there’s Fisher a 40 % k rate player who played terrible defense. They got nothing for glavis. We have no pitching and they’re going to trade Giles.
Underperforming players was also to blame though for 2017. Edwin left and took the exact same contract that the Jays offered. Morales was a bad signing. It happens. Bautista has to be brought back. He was the franchise icon. They also signed Gurriel that offseason too. They had guys like Tulo and Martin underperform and Sanchez hurt the whole year. You can’t say that they absolutely blew it if there’s a whole mix of things that went wrong
I do understand where you are coming from. It’s frustrating watching them lose and in no way am I saying that the current FO has been spectacular. There is a lot worse out there and it’s tough for Toronto to compete with teams like NY, BOS, and TB
Giles was hurt. No one wanted to give anything up for Galvis or he would’ve been traded. Most FOs want their own staff, so the firings are somewhat understandable. Drury wasn’t the main piece in the Happ trade and Fisher was a project, he could still turn into a serviceable player, maybe he stinks but who knows
I agree with you all the way wereallguestshere, but the Jays do have a nice foundation to build upon. They’ve let all the bad contracts go, or waited them out to expire, they’ve added a lot of young talent to the organization.. now it’s time, to see what Shapiro and Atkins are really made of. They probably did take a lot of heat, for a much needed rebuild, but that doesn’t excuse their offseason mishaps, all of which you’ve mentioned and I agree with. But as of today, they really have a great foundation to build upon. Now, what they build it into, time will tell.. With having a couple core pieces as young as they are, having one of the best farm systems in baseball, one of the lowest payrolls as of now, we still can’t ignore how good of a position they are in right now.
Fisher a project lol. Atkins made it sound like we just got a Betts type player.
They signed Morales. Fine. You don’t sign Pearce and then sign Bautista who NEEDED to DH at age 36 turning 37. They needed a LF, they didn’t get one and played Pearce. They needed bullpen help to replace Cecil, they signed an old, 83 mph throwing JP Howell. Stupid.
I’m not here to advocate for AA. This front office isn’t as sharp as some believe. Serious mistakes have been made, like not sealing the GIles deal with the Yankees or rubbing core players the wrong way like EE, Donaldson, Tulo, Bautista, Stroman and probably others we do not know about. These are red flags most Jays fans choose to ignore.
Trust me, I’ve noticed as well. And I agree with you wholeheartedly. As much as we’d hope someone else was running this team, truth is, the jury is still out on these guys.
R U Kidding? What did you expectr to get for a pitcher with a 6.02 era and a 1..686 whip who had a 3-13 record in 112 innings pitched to go with his 3 years of injury riddiled seasons?? What did you expect to get for 36 year old Happ? and who was making these missed offers?
Listen. All FOs have made mistakes. You make it seem like they ran the team into the ground and they have nothing. Give it time. There is a solid core of young players who could turn this team into contenders. They aren’t the best FO in the league but they aren’t the worst by far
Giles deal with the Yanks was in-place, apparently Atkins blew that one. As for Galvis, two words: Jedd Gyroko. Good GM deals Galvis. The excuses for Galvis is appalling. McKinney is the main piece in the Happ deal? Great, now he might be gone in a few weeks. Fisher is awful. This really sells the great Blue Jays team, doesn’t it?
Some players pan out, some don’t. They took chances on McKinney and Fisher. They had intriguing qualities and they decided it was worth the risk. No team was interested in Galvis at the deadline or else he would’ve been moved. Giles was hurt, the return likely would’ve been less than what it would be if he were healthy. If they don’t move him in the offseason or next year, then be mad at them for that. They’ve had some good moves as well
They are both doing a fine job, in my opinion. They are well respected, the both of them in the baseball industry. They just didn’t fall off a turnip truck you know.
I can’t stand Shapiro…..
But the fact is that AA left him with an outrageous, bloated payroll; a roster full of over-the-hill-veterans; and a few terrific prospects in the farm system….but not much else. A restructuring had to be done.
It took years for Shapiro to get out from under those contracts, and he has built – along with his staff – a decent farm system. He did what he had to do, and took the heat for it.
The other side of the coin – most prospects don’t pan out for long, so we have to watch what happens with the Jays youngsters. And the trades he made have been pretty awful. Look at what the Indians got for Trevor Bauer at the deadline with a year-and-a-half on his contract. Contrast that with what Shapiro-Atkins got for Marcus Stroman – with the same amount of time on his contract and teams desperate for pitching help at the deadline.
Unfortunately the Jays play in the same division with the big money Yankees and Red Sox. Along with what is very probably the sharpest MLB organization in the Rays. Now it appears the Orioles have found a smart baseball mind and ownership has – for now – allowed him to bring in quality people and run things. Fact is that the Jays don’t look to be in the best position – but that would be the case no matter who they would bring in other then Shapiro to run things.
Mark Shapiro has done nothing of significance to deserve an extension. There has been more drama over the finals days of many core players from the 2015-16 teams who have left, and seemingly on a sour note. At some point that falls on the guy in-charge.
Blue Jays still have big questions over their OF and Pitching. Only a few pitchers found success from the AA era. Expect more of the same with this regime. If Jays fans think they have 7 or 8 pitchers for the future, expect one to be an All-Star and two to be effective. Ignore the minor league rankings because aside from Pearson they probably won’t see another top prospect reach the majors in 2020.
This is going to be so much fun to watch all the squirming and complaining that will surely follow a Shapiro extention! a complkete break down by all those darkclouders out there!
What complaining? Of course Rogers will extend Shapiro. The only way he does not receive that extension is if Rogers successfully sells the team. Doubt they will be able to sell the team.
Yeah it’s better to be a blind cheerleader of losing year after year as you so enjoy.
Its possible to be a fan and a realist.
You’re not the latter.
For sure firegibby, the 1st of many to complain, been 3 seasons since a playoff game,you make it sound like 10 seasons
This team need to be rebuilt at the end of the 2016 season. It was called for that by me and many others, but Atkins and Shapiro and the Rogers Board screwed up. We are 2 years behind in this rebuild.
Fans would have been very upset if the team went into rebuild mode after reaching the ALCS. They are a year behind at most.
Not if it was mid-2017 when it should have been.
Extension he should be fired. He’s king of losing fans. He decimated the Indians attendance and also the Jay’s. He waited too long to rebuild got nothing for players. Aa left him the top prospect in the game this year. If he didn’t have him attendance would have been even lower. He list over 550 000 fans this year while increasing ticket prices. He said he wouldn’t have done the Miller deal if he were still in Cleveland.
Please if there is a god don’t give him an extension. To say Cleveland was kind and let him talk to Toronto is a joke, he had done nothing with Cleveland. They were packing his bags and buying him the bus tickets before Jays made him and offer. And he dragged his little buddy BooBoo (aka Atkins) with him because they both knew his days were numbered with Cleveland. Notice how Cleveland got much better after these two left, Notice how Atlanta has got much better with AA.
You can rebuild a team without shredding it, its called trading and free agencies along with developing a good farm system.
Notice all the teams playing in the post season had former Jays players on their rosters with maybe the exception of the Cards.
Hope they keep Shapiro. One less team we have to worry about winning. The guy might as well be named Sam Walton when it comes to spending a dime.
They said they’re going to spend a bit this offseason .. Wonder who they end up signing. Anybody have any ideas, serious ones .. They said no more “depth acquisitions”, they want plug and play guys on the rotation end. They said they won’t go crazy in free agency, so that obviously takes Cole out of the equation. Maybe Wheeler from the Mets? Should be interesting the type of pitchers these guys acquire, and what type of contractual deals these guys will sign for.
I just had to check the Jaystalk level comments.
Suffice it to say, its quite easy to tell who is on that level. Atkins/Shapiro inherited the bare farm and bloated payroll of underperforming talent from AAs attempt to save his job.
They’ve done well and deserve the extention.
What? Ahh that “bare” minor and major league league system had many good players and stars. Including Bautista, Encarnacion, Happ, Donaldson, Smoak, Estrada, Osuna, PIllar, Stroman, Tephara, Loup Vlad Jr, Sanchez, Pompey, Tellez, ALford, Greene, Urena, Reid Foley, Harris, Penetecost, Davis, Smith Jr, Borucki, Travis, Mcbroom.
Just what do you define as “bare”. All these were very good prospects or stars that could have been traded for great players.
But Shapiro and Atkins screwed up, along with the Rogers board of directors.
Atkins and Shapiro need to be fired now.
OMG
Oh yes. That Ryan McBroom who turned into an all-star. Seriously, most of the players on that list are not valuable assets
Back then at the end of 2016/mid 2017 many of these players were coveted by other clubs including the Mcbroom’s.
McBroom was not even in their top 20 prospects back then
No he wasn’t but Cashman thought highly enough to trade for him. What does that tell you?
Horrific. “Finish the job” of driving attendance into the ground? Of waiting to “compete”? Of lying? I mean he’s the perfect PR dummy ventriloquized by Rogers. But awful for anyone who likes the Jays.
Shapiro gets turned down after applying for commisioner of the BIG 10,,,,,,yeah he wants to see this rebuild thru,,,,,,bs,,,,,,maybe selling cars is more up his ally