SAN FRANCISCO – Any internal anger the Toronto Blue Jays may feel toward the Boston Red Sox over the steady diet of John Farrell leaks or concerns about tampering haven’t been voiced to the commissioner’s office.
Speaking briefly to reporters Thursday evening after a news conference honouring baseball veterans that served during the Second World War, Bud Selig doesn’t see anything questionable in the Red Sox’s actions, and adds that the Blue Jays haven’t suggested otherwise.
"I’ve talked to Paul Beeston a lot," he said. "I’ve had no complaint from the Toronto club at all."
The Blue Jays have said the same things publicly, although GM Alex Anthopoulos suggested there was "gamesmanship" coming from other sources after the deal sending Farrell to the Red Sox for infielder Mike Aviles was announced Sunday.
The deal marked the fifth time a manager has been traded between teams, and reignited debate over whether teams should swap managers for players. Prior to that swap, the most recent one came last fall when the Miami Marlins sent prospects Jhan Marinez and Antonio Perez to the Chicago White Sox for recently fired manager Ozzie Guillen and prospect Ricardo Andres.
"As long as the two clubs can agree on that I don’t have a problem with that, as long as that’s within the rules and governed by the rules," Selig said. "I’ve talked to both clubs on the latest one and Paul had no problem with it and Alex was with him and so on and so forth. If somebody has a manager under contract and another club wants him and they agree on compensation, nothing wrong with that."
It wasn’t immediately clear where the Blue Jays stood with their manager search in the wake of Farrell’s departure, although the vast amount of work done by Anthopoulos two years ago will be a help.
The Blue Jays are expected to begin their process by speaking with candidates unavailable last time – names such as Manny Acta, Jim Tracy, Brad Ausmus and Tim Wallach are thought to be in the mix – before comparing them to those they’ve already spoken to.
The runners-up to Farrell last time were Baltimore Orioles third base coach DeMarlo Hale, Cleveland Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr., and Blue Jays third base coach Brian Butterfield.
Those spoken to either by phone or in person last time also include: Don Wakamatsu, Sal Fasano, Luis Rivera, Nick Leyva, Dave Martinez, Rob Thomson, Ron Roenicke, Pete Mackanin, Tim Bogar and Rick Renteria.
Meanwhile Mike Redmond, manager of single-A Dunedin in the Blue Jays system, interviewed Wednesday night for the Miami Marlins and is believed to have impressed. At this point he isn’t believed to be in the running for Toronto’s job.