The Alex Anthopoulos Blue Jays era is over.
News broke Thursday morning that the general manager and architect of the Jays’ first playoff run in 22 years turned down a five-year contract offer from Rogers.
More details on exactly what happened will surely emerge soon, but for now, sentiment among fans can be summed up like this:
A live look at Blue Jays HQ. pic.twitter.com/pyyXfc3LgD
— Matt Galloway (@mattgallowaycbc) October 29, 2015
Or like this:
━━━━━┒Blue Jays Twitter
┓┏┓┏┓┃
┛┗┛┗┛┃\○/
┓┏┓┏┓┃ /
┛┗┛┗┛┃ノ)
┓┏┓┏┓┃
┛┗┛┗┛┃
┓┏┓┏┓┃
┛┗┛┗┛┃
┓┏┓┏┓┃
┃┃┃┃┃┃
┻┻┻┻┻┻
— Terry (@tlheard12) October 29, 2015
Or this:
Blue Jays fans checking Twitter this morning.. pic.twitter.com/NMA7HOUq4A
— nicholas jameson (@nickjameson) October 29, 2015
In a somewhat prescient piece, Globe columnist Cathal Kelly commented on this exact worst-case scenario after Anthopoulos’s year-end press conference on Monday:
“For the first time, you began to consider that Rogers might be stupid enough to let the architect and figurehead of all the Jays’ success slip out the back. If that happens, the bandwagon doesn’t just pull up short. It hits a rut, goes into the ditch and catches fire.”
Anthopoulos, who is from Montreal, joined the Jays as a scout in 2003, before becoming assistant GM and then finally GM after the firing of J.P. Ricciardi following the 2009 season.
In a news conference Wednesday, Anthopoulos played down any notion that he was pushed out, and said his intention had been to continue on with the Jays.
AA: "My goal, my desire was to remain with the Toronto Blue Jays until the end of my career" ... and that changed after the season.
— Brendan Kennedy (@BKennedyStar) October 29, 2015
His roots sparked a few people to offer up a proposition, given Montreal’s bid to bring back the Expos.
Can the city of Montreal just hire Alex Anthopoulos to be a GM in waiting? What do you say @DenisCoderre?
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 29, 2015
The Blue Jays put out a statement from outgoing president and CEO Paul Beeston in an apparent attempt to calm everyone down. It was at least a little ironic, given that Rogers “functionally fired [Beeston] through the media” last year.
Statement from Paul Beeston regarding Alex Anthopoulos pic.twitter.com/MLT2Ggpc0w
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) October 29, 2015
So the Blue Jays are now in the hands of incoming president and CEO Mark Shapiro, who comes to Toronto after a long career with the Cleveland Indians. It will fall to him to select the next GM, and to appease a fanbase that has gone from excited to angry in an instant.
Artist rendering of the welcome that new Jays president Mark Shapiro can expect when he lands in Toronto. pic.twitter.com/H4TN7Z1jKV
— scott feschuk (@scottfeschuk) October 29, 2015
#ComeTogether, right?