Maddon and Anthopoulos held the first meeting of their Mutual Admiration Society over the weekend.
On his last weekend in Toronto this season, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon wanted to meet someone he'd been eyeing from afar.
The object of his affection was of Greek heritage; a bit young for him maybe, but smart as a whip and an independent thinker.
The stars aligned - well, word got relayed via the visiting clubhouse attendant -- and Maddon finally got to spend some quality time with the object of his baseball man-crush: Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos.
With the introductions made, Maddon chatted for 45 minutes with the Blue Jays 34-year-old executive over the weekend as the two American League East division rivals met for a four-game series at Rogers Centre.
"I just wanted to sit down with him and try to get a better feel for it because every time I read the paper they're doing something I like so I wanted to meet the guy," Maddon said.
The respect is mutual, naturally. The Rays are a franchise the Blue Jays can look up to as an AL East club that has managed to slay the twin dragons known as the New York Yankee and the Boston Red Sox.
So unlikely has the Rays rise from a low-budget sad sack to two-time AL East champions that they've been the subject of a well-received book -- The Extra 2% by Jonah Keri -- that details how a meticulous, value-conscious approach can create enough advantages to overcome the combined $363.1-million payrolls of baseball's spending titans.
"What they've done - I mean they've gotten credit - but I don't think you can give them enough credit for winning the American League East two out of three years and making the World Series," Anthopoulos said. "To me they're the model for any organization, small market, medium market or large market. They're just well-run in every area."
The Rays won the toughest division in baseball last season with a $71.9-million payroll and have peeled back from that high-water mark to a Spartan $41.9-million this season, second-lowest in baseball.
Their success has provided hope to the Blue Jays and their $62.5-million, opening-day payroll. Anthopoulos' efforts to swing for the fences in the MLB draft; trade top talent before they leave as free agents and lock-up key young players with aggressive contracts all have parallels to Tampa Bay's approach.
But Anthopolous contends there's a key difference: the Blue Jays will be able to spend more aggressively than small-market Tampa Bay has when the time comes.
"I hope we can parallel their success on the field," he said. "But with our stadium, our market our demographics we have greater upside in terms of revenues and payrolls, I would hope."
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if the Jays try some version of the famous contract Tampa struck with slugger Evan Longoria - who they inked to a six-year, $44.5-million extension after playing just six games in the majors -- with their own power-hitting third-base star-in-the-making, Brett Lawrie (Anthopolous wouldn't comment).
And certainly Anthopolous' obsessive stockpiling of draft picks gets the nod of approval in Tampa Bay, where the core of their playoff teams are homegrown stars such as Longoria and pitchers James Shields and David Price.
To Maddon the whole process looks familiar.
"I've just been impressed with everything they've done. They're doing everything right, man … They're going to be a definite pain in the butt over the next few years. I see everything working," Maddon said. "I really believe it starts at the top and I believe - I know -- the GM and front office have done a great job rebuilding this and that's the primary reason [they're] headed in the right direction."
The only problem for the Blue Jays is that the Rays have been on the path to AL East enlightenment for about three years longer than their Toronto blood brothers. They're better equipped to compete with the division bullies in front of them, not to mention treat Toronto like an irritating upstart that needs to be kept in fourth place.
Maddon was speaking glowingly even as Tampa Bay had won three straight against Toronto at the Rogers Centre with a chance to sweep the four-game series Monday night, which would push the Rays lead over Toronto to 8.5 games.
The gap reflects the season series between the two clubs, where Tampa Bay has won 10-of-14 so far this season and 13 of their past 18 games going back to 2010.
In the other dugout, Jays bench coach Don Wakamatsu, filling in for manager John Farrell, was trying to put a positive spin on his club's struggles against the third-best team in their division: "To me it's a positive; that hey, we're that close to turning things around and winning ball games. You need to be in those ball games to have young players experience that."
It is, of course the proper attitude and a necessary one.
But until things change Maddon and the rest of the Rays can look at the work of Anthopoulos praise it all they want.
It looks good on them, after all. Tampa Bay has been doing the same thing, just longer and better.
