SARASOTA, Fla. – On the surface, the addition of James Click to the Toronto Blue Jays‘ the front office is rather simple.
When the reigning World Series champions’ general manager becomes available, there’s not much to lose by adding him to the team’s leadership. In some ways, it’s as simple as that.
In recent years, the Tampa Bay Rays (Jon Daniels), New York Yankees (Brian Sabean), Los Angeles Dodgers (Alex Anthopoulos), Milwaukee Brewers (Matt Klentak) and Texas Rangers (Dayton Moore ) were among the many teams to be hired. former baseball operations executives in senior roles. There’s even precedent for the move within the Toronto front office, as Ben Cherington worked for the Blue Jays before returning to GM’s ranks with Pittsburgh.
At the same time, not all former GMs offer the same skills or have the same ambitions, far from it. Due to these differences, these job descriptions can vary significantly. Where Click fits in is an interesting internal question for the Blue Jays, of course, but other baseball executives are also fascinated by how far ahead the 45-year-old is, who was celebrating a World Series victory a while ago. just a few months with the Houston Astros. .
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Click arrived at the Blue Jays’ Player Development Complex in Dunedin, Fla., on Wednesday for his first official day in his new role. As vice president of baseball strategy, he will work with general manager Ross Atkins on “strategic planning, decision-making and evaluation.” The team added that “it will work at both professional and amateur levels to identify best practices, develop plans and implement strategies.”
So what does it look like day to day? At this point, Click has not been made available to the media, but its role appears to be entirely new.
While Cherington had an impact on various aspects of baseball operations in Toronto, contributing to free agent strategy, for example, his in-season focus was primarily player development. In New York, Sabean, 66, is described as a senior adviser. Between his stints at GM in Toronto and Atlanta, Anthopoulos worked closely on day-to-day baseball operations with the Dodgers.
At the sound of it, the role of Click will be different. A longtime Rays executive, he burst into the game with database and coding skills. But while it’s accurate to describe him as an analytics specialist, the conversation doesn’t end there. He hired 11 scouts two offseasons ago — a move that reflects a desire for organizational balance.
“At the end of the day, the scout being in the stadium, being in the house, being able to get a sense of the person and not just the data on the pitch, is something that we value a lot,” he said. Baseball America Last year. “Based on my assessment, when I arrived, I think the staff had gotten a bit too thin.”
Click’s impact in Toronto is unlikely to be so evident anytime soon. It will take time to review the internal models of the Blue Jays, get to know their people and understand the culture and communication of the organization. Over time, he will likely meet with department heads to learn more and report back to Atkins. Much of this work is expected to take place remotely, at least for its first year.
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If this all seems vague, maybe an example will help. Any organization adding Click – and there were others, of course – would want their opinion on their internal research and development work. R&D systems that drive a team’s proprietary stats, preliminary models, and biomechanical research are extremely important. From another perspective, there will be chances to sharpen these tools and improve everything from scouting to trades to recovery.
It’s an area where Click’s expertise could help push the Blue Jays forward, but unlike Cherington, he’s not expected to go too far in the weeds of a department. at first. Nor is he expected to become a replacement for Atkins in managing the big league team or simply sit back until another opening emerges.
The impact may not be easy to see – especially on day one – but the potential for change is wide and the downside certainly seems limited.
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