Last offseason the Los Angeles Dodgers overhauled their front office, beginning with the hire of Andrew Friedman as president of baseball operations.
Shortly after, Farhan Zaidi replaced Ned Colletti as general manager, and Josh Byrnes was added to an expanded front office.
Byrnes joined the Dodgers under a newly created senior vice president of baseball operations title.
While Byrnes is involved in the process to name the Dodgers’ next manager, the club may arrive at a point where they need to find a replacement for Byrnes.
According to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, Byrnes is among the candidates for the Toronto Blue Jays’ general manager vacancy:
Josh Byrnes, twice a National League general manager, is another name mentioned as being in the mix to be the next GM of the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays’ need for a GM is a result of heralded executive Alex Anthopoulos turning down an extension and abruptly leaving his post as general manager one week after the American League East champions were eliminated from the postseason.
It’s believed Anthopoulos was worried by the presence of Mark Shapiro, who was hired in August and replaced the retiring Paul Beeston as Toronto’s president on Nov. 1.
Interestingly, Colletti, who was transitioned to a special advisor role after Zaidi’s hire, interviewed with the Blue Jays:
Ned Colletti, former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was interviewed by Rogers Communications to replace outgoing president Paul Beeston in July.
Byrnes has been a general manager for parts of eight seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. He was fired by San Diego in June 2014.
Of his eight seasons as GM, Byrnes’ teams had a winning record only twice. The 45-year-old executive was named a candidate in September for the general manager position with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The Angels instead tabbed New York Yankees executive Billy Eppler as their GM. Of note, the Dodgers reportedly hired international scout Ismael Cruz away from Toronto. The Dodgers and Blue Jays will play a three-game series at Rogers Centre in May 2016.
Toronto went 489-483 over Anthopoulos’ tenure after he replaced J.P. Ricciardi as general manager in October 2009. Their best season was 2015, which also coincided with the Blue Jays’ lone postseason berth under Anthopoulos.
