The Blue Jays have hired Ross Atkins as their new general manager, as first reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Atkins, who was serving as the Indians vice president of player personnel, will report to Jays president Mark Shapiro, who was previously Atkins' boss with the Indians.
Toronto reportedly narrowed its general manager search to Atkins and assistant general manager Tony LaCava, who served as the team's interim general manager after the departure of Alex Anthopoulos last month. LaCava will remain with the organization as an assistant, and will continue to have a significant role in the team's decision-making processes.
Atkins, 41, was also considered to be a candidate for the Phillies' general manager opening before the team hired Matt Klentak in October. He is a former minor-league pitcher who was part of the Indians front office for 15 years, serving in a multitude of roles before being promoted to vice president of player personnel in 2014.
As Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports points out, the hiring of Atkins represents the 13th team to change general managers since last year's Winter Meetings in San Diego. With almost half of the teams in the league making significant changes to their front offices within the last year, many organizations have undergone philosophy changes, which should make next week's Winter Meetings in Nashville very interesting.