***Once upon a time in the annals of New York National League baseball, Leo Durocher, then managing the Giants, pushed owner Horace Stoneham to purge his roster of its beloved mainstays for what Leo saw as a very practical reason: "It ain't my kind of team." If Leo had to wait around for balls to fly out of the Polo Grounds, there wasn't much managing for him to do. Soon after his midseason hiring in 1948, the transformation was on.
This isn't the only notable piece of news that Mattingly has been involved with this off-season. Shortly after the Blue Jays' defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, Mattingly departed from the team. Moreover, Mattingly was one of a handful of players up for a Hall of Fame nomination via the Contemporary Era committee. Unfortunately, he fell six votes shy of getting in, while former Blue Jay Carlos Delgado missed by three votes.
Shapiro deserves plaudits for overseeing not only the renovations of the player development complex, but also upgrades to the Rogers Centre. Ownership is happy with the way those projects have been handled.
During his quick pause, he crosses his arms. The camera continues to pan around the conference table, showing a group of seven or eight staff, including Raquel Ferreira. While a couple people are looking at their laptop, several others seem to be staring at the ground or off into space... One staff member shakes his head, as in, No, I'm not going to get up on this table.
"There were conversations," Breslow said. "... It was actually John who spoke directly with Raffy. We felt like it was important based on the situation that unfolded yesterday to come out here and have an honest conversation about what we value as an organization..."