Even though he’s not the top dog with his new team, Alex Anthopoulos expects he’ll be with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the long haul.
Anthopoulos was officially named Dodgers vice president of baseball operations Tuesday afternoon, and hours later joined Bob McCown and Arash Madani on Prime Time Sports to discuss his new role and some of what it entails.
“From an office standpoint, and just speaking from my experience in Toronto as a GM, there’s always things going on, so I’m really going to be involved in every aspect of the baseball operations,” the former Toronto Blue Jays general manager said on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “You kind of do it as a group … Andrew (Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations) and Farhan (Zaidi, general manager) are the guys that are here day-in and day-out and I’m going to be with them, basically working alongside them.”
After a historic trade deadline helped push the Blue Jays to the post-season for the first time in 22 years, Anthopoulos made the surprise decision in late October not to return to Toronto. In the days that followed, the 38-year-old made it clear his intention was to return to baseball in some way or another and that it wouldn’t necessarily be in a GM capacity. After some time off and a chance to weigh his options, Anthopoulos ultimately chose Los Angeles and his new position.
“I had to break a tie at the end. I had a lot of conversations early on, and kind of narrowed things down,” Anthopoulos said. “At the end, I was just basically considering two spots — L.A. being one and another place — and they were really both great opportunities.”
“Push came to shove, I think that relationship with Andrew and Farhan, that kind of carried the day.”
Anthopoulos acknowledged that the Dodgers have given him the option to pursue other opportunities should the right one come up, but the Montreal native feels he’s made the right decision and doesn’t expect to be going elsewhere any time soon.
“I wanted to pick a place that I felt that I had a chance to be here for a long time, and I’d thought there’d be stability,” he said. “I’ve got the freedom that if something comes up that I want to pursue, I’ll have the ability to do that and that’s great. But I haven’t thought about that — my mindset is that I’m going to be here for a long time.”
“I’m certainly excited. It’s been almost two days now here, and it feels like I’ve been here for a while. It’s been a great fit.”
