A bad month of PR now finds Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos in the awkward position of not only having to defend his moves, but the principles behind them.
Maybe he should give Brian Burke a call.
After all, following a summer in which the Maple Leafs GM came under fire for citing his principles as the reason he failed to offer free agent centre Brad Richards a “cap-circumventing” contract, Burke knows better than most what it’s like to have your ideology questioned.
In the case of Anthopoulos, however, the trouble for the Blue Jays GM began on Dec. 6 in Dallas when he first dropped the dreaded p-words: payroll parameters.
The comments alarmed the fan base, despite the fact he’s been loath to make any promises regarding when his team will contend for a playoff spot.
His words were a fastball to the ribcage for those that had been fantasizing this would finally be the off-season that ownership began to flex its financial muscle.
Just a few days later, the outrage turned to excitement after several reports indicated the Blue Jays were the front-runners for Japanese ace Yu Darvish and the right to pay him the expected $100 million-plus it’ll take to sign him.
“OK,” the fans thought. “This ‘payroll parameters’ talk must have been a smokescreen all along.”
Fans clung to this belief, despite the fact that throughout the Darvish drama, Anthopoulos had adhered to his policy of refusing to comment directly on any specific player.
He refused comment at the beginning of the process and at the end — even going so far as to refuse to confirm whether the Jays had even submitted a bid when the entire baseball world believed that to be the case.
In a conference call with reporters, Anthopoulos explained that his policy was based on his past experience of seeing too many deals get killed with loose lips and not wanting to tip his financial hand to agents and other GMs.
But policy be damned, fans and media wanted to know — heck, some felt as though it’s their right to know how much the Jays bid on Darvish and what their payroll will be in 2012.
But when Anthopoulos and the Jays kept their lips sealed — at least officially — at that point they had not only lost a pitcher, but the trust of a rather vocal and large percentage of their fans as well.
Overnight, fans went from wondering whether the team would spend big bucks, to demanding they do.
Some have even suggestedfans put the Jays on a 30-day clock to make tangible improvements to the roster, similar to the 30-day negotiating window the Texas Rangers now have to sign Darvish.
Recently, the Jays had been rumoured to be in hot pursuit of free agent outfielder Carlos Beltran before he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.
Aside from a smart baseball move, a Beltran signing would have done some damage control too, but when it became apparent that a no-trade clause — something Anthopoulos refuses to award — became a potential stumbling block in negotiations with the Cardinals, the immediate suspicion among fans was that AA’s principles may have gotten in the way of a good deal.
Prince Fielder has his supporters amongst fans and media, including yours truly, but guess what? Paul Beeston doesn’t believe in awarding seven- or eight-year deals and Anthopoulos has yet to award one beyond five.
Those darn principles again.
But here’s what fans need to remember:
Anthopoulos and his principles have done far more good than harm to the franchise in his 26 months at the helm, and he might not have been able to execute the Vernon Wells and Roy Halladay deals without the silent approach.
Sure the jury remains out on some of his moves (See Colby Rasmus, Halladay deals), but the fact that so much still rides on so much youth is perhaps an indication in itself that this team isn’t as close to contending as some would like to believe.
The danger for Anthopoulos and the Jays however, is that they’ve already proven that their principles aren’t exactly set in stone and can be subject to change when it suits them.
For example, Anthopoulos has acknowledged it took some arm-twisting to get president and CEO Beeston to break with his long-standing team policy and sign off on awarding Ricky Romero a five-year, $30.1 million deal back in August of 2010.
And last month, in response to rampant speculation the Boston Red Sox would attempt to poach Jays manager John Farrell, the Jays amended its policy of not preventing employees from seeking lateral moves with other organizations.
Two or three years from now, if Travis d’Arnaud and Kyle Drabek are playing starring roles in Toronto and the Blue Jays need to move a declining Jose Bautista, the Anthopoulos’ stealth-like approach to the Halladay trade and refusing to award no-trade clauses might look like a stroke of genius.
In the meantine, especially should Prince Fielder signs elsewhere on a six-year deal, Anthopoulos and the Blue Jays might remain quiet but their fans surely won’t.