FanPost

Waving Goodbye to the Most Underrated GM in baseball.

According to a new report the Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos won't be returning to the Blue Jays. This is really sad news considering what he's done for the Jays. AA has assembled a great team and can be given a lot of credit for where this team is today. People will remember what he's done over the last year with his acquisitions of Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin, Troy Tulowitzki, David Price, Ben Revere, LaTroy Hawkins, and Mark Lowe. And while these are very impressive I don't think he gets enough credit for what he's done over the last 6 years. For years I have defended AA, saying that he had a long term vision and a breakout was coming. He started by trading away Vernon Wells and Roy Halladay. These were deals that were both hard to swallow at the time but needed to be done for the long term success of the Jays.

AA had a long term vision for bringing in young talent and letting them develop into good players (similar to what we've seen from the Royals). Through trades he acquired young talents such as Drabek, Arnaud, Gose, Wallace, and Travis. While these guys didn't all turn out they were all considered top prospects at the time the Jays acquired them. Hindsight is 20-20 so we can sit here now saying that those were bad moves but at the time we were getting guys who were considered "can't miss" guys. His vision of building young talent was most notable in his draft record. AA drafted players like Sanchez, Syndergard, Norris, Pillar, Stroman, Alford, Pompey, among others. He's had a real knack for getting really talented high school players to come play for the Jays. This has led to numerous young, talented players. Even though they didn't all make the majors with Toronto there was a lot of talent that he assembled.

AA was also very good with the international free agents. In the system currently the Jays have Roberto Osuna, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Richard Urena, Juan Meza, and Angel Perdomo. This doesn't include guys like Miguel Castro, Dawell Lugo, Franklin Barreto, Alberto Tirado, Jairo Labourt, and others who were traded in order to acquire star players. AA has been really good about finding guys internationally and bring them into the system. Some of those guys will contribute for the Jays and some were used as trading pieces but regardless they were all really talented.

AA's vision was supplemented by finding guys that had been written off and finding hidden value. AA will admit that hie couldn't predict the outbreak from both Bautista and Encarnacion, but he did identify that these two guys had potential to be really good players. Even though he wasn't the GM at the time, AA was one of the driving forces to the Jays getting both of these guys. This trend was continued when he picked up Melky Cabrera, Justin Smoak, and Chris Colabello. These were all guys who outperformed what many thought they could.

Many people will point to the trades made with the Marlins and Mets as AA's biggest mistakes. Admittedly, seeing Arnaud and Syndergard in the WS is a bit tough to swallow but at the time the trades were lauded. Again, hindsight is 20-20 and since the Jays didn't make the playoffs earlier it's easy to say that it was a bad trade but at the time we got a Cy Young winner, one of the best SS in baseball, an iron man pitcher and a guy who was at one time the best pitcher in the game (Josh Johnson). At the time we all thought it was a steal. And even today I don't think it was a bad trade. Reyes was a good player for the Jays when he was on the field and between Dickey and Buehrle they have combined for 1259 IP and 79 wins for the Jays. While Syndergard and Arnaud are both playing in the WS, I don't look at any of the player that we lost to the Marlins and feel like we really missed out. Overall I would say that these trades weren't great but they weren't bad trades either.

Frankly, my only real issues with AA's tenure has been his decisions with hiring managers. AA hired John Farrell in 2010 (for the 2011 season) and, while Farrell was considered a really good coaching candidate at the time, his heart was never in Toronto. I believe this is what led to AA hiring Gibbons before the 2013 season. He wanted a candidate that he felt would stay. I personally am not a big Gibbons supporter, but I don't believe he is bad as some others here believe (although he probably is on his way out now). So this is where I will say that AA hasn't been great but nobody is perfect.

AA made some great moves this year and will finally get the credit he deserves for what he's done (he should win executive of the year). But, AA has been a talented GM for the last few years and at only 38 he's got a long career ahead of him. Having a Canadian guy leading our team has been a real treasure and while AA isn't perfect I can't think of anyone else I would rather have at the helm. As a long time supporter of AA I will be sad to see him go and hope that he can find success in the next phase of his career. I thank him for everything he's done and will be sad to see him go.

Editor's Note: This is a FanPost written by a reader and member of Bluebird Banter. It was not commissioned by the editors and is not necessarily reflective of the opinions of Bluebird Banter or SB Nation.