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Anthopoulos On Manager Search, Farrell, Aviles

By Edward Creech [October 21, 2012 at 4:30pm CST]

Blue Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos held court with reporters during a conference call this afternoon in the aftermath of the John Farrell-Mike Aviles-David Carpenter trade. Here are the highlights:

Anthopoulos wants to interview candidates he didn't interview when he hired Farrell in 2010 because he was denied permission to do so or they were unavailable at the time. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter) believes Tim Wallach and Manny Acta, respectively, fit that description. Davidi adds the search could begin with the three finalists Farrell beat out: Sandy Alomar, Jr., DeMarlo Hale, and Brian Butterfield, although a promotion for the Blue Jays' third base coach appears unlikely.
Anthopoulos will address the coaching staff once a new manager is hired, tweets MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm.
Anthopoulos was prepared to enter 2013 with Farrell as manager. "We could have and we talked about it, and he was prepared to do so, as well, " said Anthopoulos (quotes courtesy of the Boston Herald's Scott Lauber). "The big thing here was the fact that once John had indicated this was something he wanted to pursue, it was his dream job, it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to not at least see if we could work something out."
Anthopoulos said Red Sox owner John Henry made the first approach and compensation talks, which remained on an ownership-level, focused only on Major League players, tweets Davidi.
Anthopoulos expressed his displeasure that there was "gamesmanship from a negotiating standpoint, not on our end," writes Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. Anthopoulos, however, added neither he nor ownership have any issues with their Boston counterparts.
In the same piece, Anthopoulos called Farrell's leaving "a perfect storm of events" tracing back to the Red Sox's 2011 collapse and the departure of Terry Francona. "If that [September collapse] hadn't occurred, I don't think this story ever would have started, I don't think there would have been the interest, and I don't think we'd be talking today."
Anthopoulos sees new acquisition Mike Aviles "at a mininum" as a utility infielder, but he could also earn playing time at second base, tweets Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe.
David Carpenter was not going to make the Blue Jays' 40-man roster, according to Anthopoulos (via ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes on Twitter). Carpenter could find himself in similar situation in Boston, tweets Alex Speier of WEEI.com.