Blue Jays hire Mark Shapiro as president

The Blue Jays will hire Mark Shapiro as their next president, according to a report from Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Shapiro, who is currently serving as the Indians' team president, will replace Paul Beeston in the same position with Toronto.

Shapiro, 48, joins the Jays after serving in the Indians' front office since 1991, having acted as assistant farm director, farm director, general manager and president in his time with the organization. He is likely to keep Alex Anthopoulos on as Toronto's general manager, at least partially due to the success the team has had since Anthopoulos aggressively acquired stars Troy Tulowitzki and David Price last month.

Toronto pursued Orioles' general manager Dan Duquette and White Sox' president Kenny Williams to replace Beeston last offseason, but could not agree to compensation with either club and will instead turn to Shapiro to lead the organization in the future. The hiring of Shapiro is the latest in a series of front office moves around baseball that has seen the Red Sox, Tigers, Mariners, Brewers and Angels undergo significant changes since the beginning of the season.

At this point, it is unclear if the Indians will demand compensation for Shapiro, as lateral moves such as the Red Sox' hiring of John Farrell in 2012 usually require some sort of deal to be worked out between the clubs. Precedent suggests that any player compensation going to Cleveland in the deal will be relatively insignificant.