GM search narrowed down to pair of choices
LaCava, Atkins finalists for Jays’ vacant general manager’s job
With Major League Baseball’s annual winter meetings set to begin next week in Nashville, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro appears to be closing in on naming a new, permanent general manager.
According to the latest industry buzz, Shapiro has narrowed his search to two finalists: Tony LaCava, the Jays’ longtime front-office executive who has served the role in an interim capacity following Alex Anthopoulos’s abrupt departure at the end of the season; and Ross Atkins, the Cleveland Indians vice-president of player personnel who worked for Shapiro in Cleveland for more than a decade.
It is no sure thing an announcement will come by the end of this week, but it makes sense that Shapiro — who did not respond to a request for comment for this story — would want his front-office roles settled by the winter meetings, baseball’s annual off-season convention when team executives, player agents and league officials conduct most of their face-to-face negotiations. The meetings are not the trade and signing frenzies they once were, but it’s still among the sport’s most important gatherings, when the frameworks of trades and contracts — if not the deals themselves — are often established. So it would be a convenient deadline for Shapiro to confirm his right-hand man.
Atkins, 42, has spent his entire professional career with the Cleveland Indians, who picked him in the 38th round of the 1995 amateur draft as a right-handed pitcher out of Wake Forest University. After five unremarkable seasons in the Indians’ minor-league system, Atkins transitioned into player development, where — under the supervision of Shapiro, who was then the team’s general manager — he climbed the organizational ranks to become head of the farm system, a position he held from 2007 to 2014.
Atkins, who was promoted to his current role as vice-president last year, has heard his name floated for other general manager vacancies in recent years and earlier this year interviewed for the Los Angeles Angels’ job.
In LaCava, Shapiro has another familiar face. The 54-year-old Pennsylvania native has worked in Toronto’s front office for the last 13 years, serving as the top lieutenant to both Anthopoulos and his predecessor, J.P. Ricciardi.
LaCava also previously worked for Shapiro as a scout in Cleveland before joining the Jays.
Whether or not he loses the interim tag, LaCava isn’t going anywhere. He signed a multi-year extension — believed to be at least two years — in November that covers him whether he is named the permanent GM or is returned to his role as assistant.
“I’m a Blue Jay,” LaCava said when it was announced he would be taking over for Anthopoulos, at least temporarily.
“So whatever my seat on the bus is, that’s fine.”
While Jays’ fans have been disap- pointed the team has not been seen pursuing David Price, the organization has been among the more aggressive in the early off-season, shoring up the starting rotation with a series of mid-range moves: re-signing Marco Estrada, trading for Jesse Chavez and signing J.A. Happ.
None of the deals were headline-grabbers, though, as Shapiro and LaCava appear happy to bet the club’s elite offence can carry an unspectacular starting rotation.