Rogers Name Paul Beeston Team President and CEO of the Blue Jays

by Tom Dakers on Oct 27, 2009 3:10 PM EDT in News Comment 22 comments

FILE--Toronto Blue Jays CEO Paul Beeston smiles during a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. The Blue Jays are taking the interim tag off Beeston's title. He was appointed president and CEO of the club and Rogers Centre for a three-year term Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Frank Gunn)

3 months ago: FILE--Toronto Blue Jays CEO Paul Beeston smiles during a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. The Blue Jays are taking the interim tag off Beeston's title. He was appointed president and CEO of the club and Rogers Centre for a three-year term Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Frank Gunn)

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Here is the press release:

PAUL BEESTON APPOINTED CEO OF THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS

and

ROGERS CENTRE

TORONTO (October 27, 2009) Rogers Media today announced the appointment of Paul Beeston as President and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club and Rogers Centre for a three year term.

"Paul Beeston was appointed interim CEO in October 2008 and we began an exhaustive search process for a permanent candidate. While we interviewed a number of highly qualified individuals for the position, Paul's unique set of qualities made him our clear first choice," said Tony Viner, President and CEO, Rogers Media. "While Paul was initially appointed on an interim basis, he approached the role with his usual high energy and conviction to set the club up for success -- something he's now committed to do for the long term."

"We are thrilled that we were able to convince Paul Beeston to take on this role," continued Tony Viner. "Paul's background with the club, his credentials in the baseball world and his enthusiasm for this sport will be incredible assets."

Paul Beeston will work with newly appointed General Manager, Alex Anthopoulos.

Me again....I guess we all figured this would be the way it would turn out. Best wishes Mr. Beeston, hope the team does great under your leadership.

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Huh. I must say, the number of times I heard “this isn’t going to happen like this” had me convinced. I have no idea what to expect anymore. Maybe that’s for the best.

by Jevant on Oct 27, 2009 3:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

So hopefully that means the other part of the rumours were true. About a willing to increase payroll if Paul stayed on.

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on Oct 27, 2009 3:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Damn

I guess my resume got lost in the mail :(

I ♥ Dick Vermeil

by craig in calgary on Oct 27, 2009 3:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I guess this means cito is staying

by ClintB on Oct 27, 2009 4:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I think I would like Cito to take a half step out. Lets bring in Rance Mulliniks and have Cito provide him some on-the-job training.

by aagoodfella on Oct 27, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rance???

Why?

by Jevant on Oct 27, 2009 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ditto.

I don’t get all of the Rance love. He’s done a little work as a batting coach, but none of his other jobs (broadcasting, real estate) are not exactly heavy on the people management skills.

He could be an excellent manager or he could be the second coming of Buck Martinez. Why take that risk though?

by siggian on Oct 27, 2009 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Can't hire someone that has never managed......

I have seen the press box to manager thing way way too often, I can’t say I’ve seen it work. But then I think Rance is too smart to do something that silly.

by Tom Dakers on Oct 27, 2009 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed.

However, I wouldn’t mind seeing Butterfield take the leap.

by REMO on Oct 27, 2009 7:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah I'd like to see him get the chance.

Everyone speaks highly of him and he’s put in the time to learn the job. When I have seen him interviewed, he sounds like he knows the game. He’s one of those guys I’d love to talk to because he seems to know a lot.

by Tom Dakers on Oct 27, 2009 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well, I like Rance and the feedback is mixed here. I think that a person with baseball experience and good baseball knowledge (and assuming he has good people mgmt skills) can make the leap to filling out lineup cards etc …

but setting aside the specifics of Rance for a moment, i think the most important part is that whoever is the next mgr, that person should be brought in and work with Cito to transition

why? 2 reasons. I think Cito has a lot of good team knowledge and wisdom that can be leveraged. Second, I think Cito’s game calling is getting too costly to continue.

by aagoodfella on Oct 28, 2009 9:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

that's not how things work

you don’t bring in a manager to work with the last manager. It just divides the team, half with be loyal to one guy, half will be to the other. And no one would know who the boss is. If you’ve decided you don’t want Cito managing then you don’t want him to manage. There isn’t an inbetween. The good part is that there is no way on earth Cito would go for that, he’s a proud man and not a fool.

What the team would do would be give Cito a title of special adviser to the president or something like that and they could call him when they want. But there is no way you want to hire a new guy that is so weak he’d be going to Cito before he wants to do anything.

And, of course, there is no way you would hire someone ‘assuming he has good people’ skills. You’d hire someone that has shown he has what you want. If Rance wanted to be a manager, he would be managing somewhere in the minors, to show folks he could do the job. There are hundreds of manager jobs in the minors, anyone that was good enough to be thought of as a major league managers would have one of those. If you want the top job you don’t just apply for the top job, you work your way there.

by Tom Dakers on Oct 28, 2009 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cito would not be the manager, the other guy would be the manager. Cito would just be the mentor – and yes, that is how mentorship works.

If Cito was a young guy who was interested in protecting his back/career and guarding his turf, I think your position would have greater merit. But there is no real need for division, because Cito, by his own admission is near retirement. Petty politics of self-preservationism no longer need to be at the top of his agenda. It is a rare opportunity to from the Jays perspective to gain wisdom from a learned baseball professional, and to develop their own talent (for example Rance) from within with Cito’s guidance. From Cito’s perspective, it enables him to continue working in baseball – his chosen profession – and still provide meaningful value to an organization. One of the measures of leadership is how well you leave an organization to operate after you leave. This gives Cito a chance to make another great contribution to the Jays (after guiding team to 2 World Series). It is a win-win situation for all, IMHO.

by aagoodfella on Oct 29, 2009 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The position that you're describing is basically a bench coach

and I highly doubt Cito has any interest in becoming one.

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on Oct 29, 2009 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

IT doesn't work in baseball...

You may say it but it doesn’t work…you don’t hired someone if you think they need mentoring. You hire someone you think can do the job. He’ll hire a bench coach and folks he wants to discuss things with. If you hire someone you don’t think can do the job you might as well write your resignation now.

Imagining the press conference is fun tho. I’m hiring Fred as manager, but I don’t think he can do the job so I’m keeping Cito to tell him how to do things. If you think Cito has the wisdom you keep him as manager, if you don’t you put him somewhere else.

The only way Cito stays in the organazation is as a special advisor to Beeston or maybe Anthopoulos.

by Tom Dakers on Oct 29, 2009 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

We need to find a way to get him out of the booth.

by Frag on Oct 27, 2009 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is this good or bad?

I really cannot say I have much of a feel for how Beeston will do. Does anyone else?

by aagoodfella on Oct 27, 2009 4:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I’m kind of mixed on this. I can’t help feeling that a lot of went wrong last season can actually be blamed on Beeston. The Blue Jay ship was rudderless, so it drifted along without dealing with the fact that you had a lame duck GM, which consequently meant that Cito was left to his own natural tendencies. A GM more interested in the future might have done something about Millar and stocked the team with more prospects in September. (BTW, I’m not taking a shot at Ricciardi because I think he actually tried his best through most of the year. I think the turning point from Beeston’s POV was the Delucci signing. At that point, it became clear that Ricciardi had run out of ideas.)

I really think this franchise needs a huge shot in the arm. It’s comatose right now. I’m just not sure that AA is a terribly inspiring choice. He may turn out to be great, but he not a very commanding presence right now.

by siggian on Oct 27, 2009 5:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ditto

neither of these Beeston or AA strike me as inspiring choices — however, that does not necessarily mean they are bad but just yet unproven. After all, great talent has to emerge from somewhere.

But, putting on my skeptics hat, I will offer the following: (1) Paul Beeston has been President for awhile now and the results have not been inspiring [ counter point, it takes time to steer a ship in the right direction and if Beeston had a hand in say, dropping the Rios contract, perhaps he is ok ] (2) AA seems young and inexperienced and the recent hiring of his old buddy from the Expos now Nats seems a little incestuous and unprofessional [ counter point, young and inexperienced does not necessarily mean lack of talent and perhaps AA’s buddy from the ExpoNats is good at his job ]

Bottom line, the Beeston-AA combo provides Jays fans with very little upon which hang our hats that things are going to get better, soon or later. There is a big lack of track record for both here. However, this is not proof that things will not work out. I guess we are all going to take a leap of faith.

Meanwhile, we all just have to look at the plight of the Leafs as an indicator that bringing in a strong mgmt with a great track record does not necessarily translate to improved team results. Of course, it is still early yet to make judgment on Burke.

As usual, Toronto sports fans are stuck. LOL

by aagoodfella on Oct 28, 2009 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

“There is a big lack of track record for both here”

Hmmm Beeston was the first employee hired by the blue jays, was the team president during the glory years in the early 90’s and was then President and COO of major league baseball…Agreed that AA doesn’t have a track record but neither did Theo Epstien before Boston hired him as a young up and coming GM.

I’m not at all against hiring a young mind to run the team as long as the young mind has a vision and sticks to it. Will be interesting to see over the coming weeks/months what Beeston and AA have in store for the 2010 Jays.

by bunner on Oct 28, 2009 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think we are generally in agreement. On the surface, the decisions do not look all that inspiring. But it could work out. Great managers and GMs had to start somewhere. Hopefully, the Jays got some. But it is still unclear. I got my fingers crossed.

by aagoodfella on Oct 29, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

In my opinion I still think Cito has to go. And I think hiring Beeston is the only way that could happen. The team needs new ideas and a fresh face at manager might motivate everyone.

I like the moves. The key is increasing the payroll. If that doesn’t happen it’s gonna be another 75 win season.

by BigTimeBlueJayFan on Oct 28, 2009 11:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs