Indians vice president of player personnel Ross Atkins will be the Blue Jays next general manager.
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With Anthopolous declining a five-year extension to stay on as the Blue Jays’ GM at the conclusion of the regular season, the club was forced to begin their search while appointing LaCava as the interim general manager. Atkins and Shapiro will work in tandem in Toronto, with Shapiro having final say in personnel decisions. He joins the front office along with fellow longtime Indians front-office executive Mark Shapiro, who was named president and CEO of the Blue Jays in early July. Atkins, 42, will be officially introduced as Toronto’s GM on Friday morning.
As for LaCava, Joel Sherman tweets that he’s expected to remain with the organization as an assistant GM and senior vice president. He was the assistant farm director to John Farrell from 2001 through 2003.
The 29-year-old from Breese, Ill., played in 18 games for the Blue Jays last season hitting. Atkins received respect throughout the MLB community from the large turnaround in the Indians minor league farm system after he took over as director of player development in 2006.
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Atkins, 41, was also considered to be a candidate for the Phillies’ general manager opening before the team hired Matt Klentak in October. Carter Hawkins has admirably filled Atkins previous position of director of player development, which has included bolstering the Indians connections with the research-based development community.
