The Los Angeles Dodgers made the expected hire of former Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos official on Monday. The heralded executive joins the Dodgers front office as vice president of baseball operations.
In adding Anthopoulos, the Dodgers now have seven former or current general managers in their front office.
The group consists of president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Bynres, general manager Farhan Zaidi, senior advisor Ned Colletti, special advisor Gerry Hunsicker and special advisor to the chairman Tommy Lasorda..
Per the Dodgers release, Anthopoulos will “assist in all aspects of baseball operations.”
“We are thrilled to be bringing Alex on board,” Friedman said. “Farhan [Zaidi], Josh [Byrnes], and myself all have longstanding relationships with him and believe his experience and perspective will be a tremendous asset to our organization.”
Anthopoulos spent the past six seasons as the Blue Jays’ general manager. After constructing a club that made its first postseason appearance in 22 years, he was selected as Sporting News’ MLB Executive of the Year in 2015.
Anthopoulos joined Toronto as a scouting coordinator after the 2003 season. He was promoted to vice president of baseball operations and assistant general manager in 2006, then hired as the club’s general manager in October 2009.
He turned down an extension and surprisingly and abruptly left his post as Blue Jays GM one week after the AL East champions were eliminated from the postseason.
It’s believed Anthopoulos was concerned by the hire of Mark Shapiro, who replaced the retiring Paul Beeston as Toronto’s president.
