The reaction is kinda like when Farrell left for his Dream Job. Not because Farrell was liked, but I remember there being a doom and gloom feel.
Shortly after, AA pulled off the big 2012/2013 off-season deals and everyone forgot.
I never expected Price to resign. And I expect one of Edwin and Bats to be gone as well. I guess it all depends on how he leverages it. Is Price replaced with another legit stud starter? There's a huge drop after Stro...they really can't go in to next year like that I don't think. Also, does he have enough foresight to deal one or both (EE/JB) and max their value or does he let them walk and take a pick.
Sounds like he feels similar to AA regarding Free Agency. It's a small market mentality. Not saying it's not true...but if you only makes moves based on long term value, you're shorthanding yourself.
Who knows. I was pretty damn confident that AA was going to be back for sure...and look how that worked out.
There's no telling what Shapiro/ownership is thinking.
Maybe they bring Gibby back to buy them time. If the team struggles next year, boom...blame Gibbons and fire him then. That buys Shapiro a year as it wasn't his guy.
He has every right to do that as a President. It's a ballsy move...and he's basically putting a bullseye on himself before he has even started his first day.
If success continues, everyone will forget pretty quickly. But we all know perfectly well that anything...ANYTHING doesn't go the Jays way...ie. Price signing elsewhere...Estrada going elsewhere...not landing a big arm to replace Price...any FA that slips through our fingers...any dip in performance next year...any mediocre draft picks...any prospects halting their development...and it's gonna be a "This wouldn't have happened under AA" kind of thing...
AA wanted to sign here... But not with the shackles that would've been part of the contract. You might not believe it, but i have no doubt that they didn't want to give AA control like a "normal" gm would have.