Anthopoulos leaves the Blue Jays

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Alex Anthopoulos quickly became a Canadian sports icon this year after building the first Blue Jays team to make it to the post season in 22 years. That’ll surely top his resume once he hits the open market after he turned down a five year contract extension with the club and while there’s plenty of speculation the now *former* GM isn’t saying much about why he’s leaving.

Back in 2009, people were wondering who this 33 year old ‘kid’ was after he was named the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. there wasn’t a lot of faith he could get the job done. Six years later, Blue Jays fans are up in arms trying to figure out how Alex Anthopolous, the best GM in the game, slipped through their fingers. And he wasn’t planning on talking to anyone today, until he agreed to a conference call this afternoon at 1pm.

“My goal, my desire was always to be with the Toronto Blue Jays for the remainder of my career.” That was Alex Anthopolous addressing the media about his dedication to the Blue Jays. A team he built into one of the elite clubs in Major League Baseball, that broke a 22 year playoff drought. So why did he turn down a lucrative five year extension to stay in Toronto? “Yesterday afternoon when I had to make a final decision that I decided that this wasn’t the right fit for me going forward.”

Many have speculated that the arrival of Mark Shapiro to replace Paul Beeston as the Jays President and CEO forced Anthopoulos’ hand. The 38-year old shot down those rumours. Instead, Anthopoulos praised the Jays as much as he could. “I’m always going to be a Blue Jays fan at heart. My kids will be Blue Jays fans at heart and I’m going to be pulling for the team. I think they’ll have a great off season and win the American League East next year.”

A good strategy for a man who just won the sporting news MLB executive of the year award and is gearing up to hit the open market.