Thank you, Alex

We’ll leave it up to our esteemed colleagues in the Star’s sports department to explain the mysteries of Rogers Communications and how they let Alex Anthopoulos get away. Here on the editorial page we’re used to figuring out less complicated matters like the Hydro One sale (see above), the Harper government and foreign crises. But this one stumps us.

Instead, as simple Blue Jays fans, we’ll just echo the chant that the team’s faithful travelling supporters took up at Camden Yards in Baltimore on the last evening in September as the Jays were disposing of the Orioles 15-2. “Thank you, Alex,” it went.

Thank you for Josh Donaldson, and Russell Martin, and Tulowitzki, Price, Estrada and the other great players you brought to Toronto.

Thank you for putting in place the pieces for the greatest run any team in this city has had since we can’t remember when. We needed that.

Thank you for building a team that brought swagger back to this city. Thanks for making us feel like winners. Thanks for the Bautista bat flip — the signature moment of this memorable season.

To incoming Jays president Mark Shapiro: good luck. You’ll need it. You’re not even behind your new desk yet, and already way too many fans have it in for you.

This is unfair. Moving the players around is the fun part of running a ball club. Who wouldn’t want to do that? Unfortunately, that’s what Anthopoulos was so good at, and it’s crowded in the Jays’ executive suite.

No, it’s Rogers that should carry the can for this head-scratching blunder. By some accounts they didn’t even communicate with their young GM as he was putting together the best team in decades. Then they let him slip away.

As fans, we can only hope the house that Anthopoulos built will remain strong next year. And as the Jays move through another winning season we can repeat: “Thank you, Alex.”