Anthopolous reflects on time with Blue Jays

TORONTO — Alex Anthopoulos sat down for a news conference at Rogers Centre like he has done countless times over the years, but this time it was as a member of the opposition.

Anthopoulos made his return to Toronto on Friday afternoon for a three-game series between the Blue Jays and Dodgers. The former Toronto general manager, and the main architect behind assembling the core of the current Blue Jays roster, is now the vice president of baseball operations in Los Angeles.

The 38-year-old originally joined the Blue Jays in 2003 as a scouting coordinator, but he later received promotions to assistant general manager and then GM. He made a surprise exit at the end of the 2015 season, citing that it was no longer the “right fit” after Mark Shapiro had been named the club’s new president.

Anthopoulos was inundated by media requests in the city where he still lives, and as a result, he decided to do a news conference. He touched on a wide variety of topics about his time in Toronto, and here are some of the highlights:

On his reasons behind walking away at the end of 2015…

Anthopoulos: “I know a lot was made that I wasn’t as forthcoming, or maybe it should have been a little more specific, but I wanted to keep that more private overall … I did my best to try to enjoy the playoffs. I really made a conscious effort to try to enjoy it. And until the decision is final, it’s not final.

“I would say through the end of the month of August, I expected to be here for five, 10, 20 years, whatever it was going to be, and then things rolled into September, and that’s probably the first time it entered my mind that it might not be back. But certainly the decision wasn’t done until the end.”

On ownership and payroll during his time in Toronto…

Anthopoulos: “I know a lot was made of the ownership here. I can tell you, when I was in the job, no one would probably believe me, but I think people would believe me now, I’m certainly not tied to it. But when it came to ownership, when you made the recommendations from a baseball standpoint, you got the support. So, ownership never told you ‘You can’t do so many years on a contract, you can’t have this type of …

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