The Toronto Blue Jays is pictured before an MLB game against the Boston Red Sox last week at the Rogers Centre.Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
First out the door was Paul Beeston, the irascible Day 1 employee from Welland, Ont., who vacated his post as the long-serving president and chief executive officer of the Toronto Blue Jays at the end of the 2015 season.
Beeston, who was 69 at the time, stepped down on his own volition, which cleared the way for Mark Shapiro, by way of the Cleveland Indians, to become the new sheriff in town.
Shapiro's arrival prompted the sudden exit of Alex Anthopoulos, the beloved general manager and Montreal native who was felt to be concerned over his autonomy running the baseball team with a very much hands-on new CEO.
Now it is Stephen Brooks, another Canadian, who is breaking ranks with the country's only major-league franchise. He abruptly resigned as the club's senior vice-president of business operations on Tuesday.
Shapiro and the Blue Jays confirmed on Wednesday that Andrew Miller, another refugee from the Indians, will fill Brooks's brogues, joining the team next month as its executive VP of business operations.
Miller is the third person Shapiro has plucked from the Indians to join him in Toronto.
Ross Atkins was the first, replacing Anthopoulos as the GM. Atkins was followed north by Eric Wedge, the former Cleveland manager who is now a player-development adviser in Toronto.
Atkins, Wedge and Williams are Americans.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
But to some, the erosion of home-grown content from the baseball team's front office is a concern, especially given the Blue Jays' marketing emphasis on being Canada's team.
At this rate, the Blue Jays will be Canada's team without any Canadians working in the front office.
It is an issue that Shapiro said he fully understands.
"I'm aware, extremely sensitive and extremely appreciative, of the role and position of the only Canadian franchise in Major League Baseball," Shapiro said during a telephone conference call with a couple of reporters on Wednesday. "And I take that seriously."
Shapiro spoke several hours before the Blue Jays (4-5) spanked the New York Yankees (4-3) 7-2 at Rogers Centre to level the three-game set 1-1. The Blue Jays' stale offence erupted for a season-high 10 hits, including three from Ryan Goins to make a winner out of J.A. Happ, who was solid, scattering seven hits and one earned run over six innings.
When it comes to hiring, Shapiro insisted that the ability to do the job takes a front seat over nationality.
Shapiro went on to describe Miller as "among the brightest, most talented executives I've seen in any organization," during his tenure in the game.
Not that Brooks, a Toronto native, is chopped liver or anything – although Shapiro was not specific as to why the chief business employee and the club parted ways.
Brooks did not respond to text, e-mail and telephone messages seeking comment.
Shapiro said the decision came about after "a series of conversations" with Brooks and that there was "some disconnect in alignment."
"The hiring of Andrew was necessary to seek and hire the best possible people to lead and help this organization continue to build off the outstanding core that's already here," Shapiro said.
One thing Shapiro made clear was that he did not like his senior executives reaching out to the public through social-media platforms such as Twitter.
That was something Brooks did on a regular basis and he built up popularity among baseball fans who were thrilled to have an exchange – even if it only was through Twitter – with a member of the baseball hierarchy.
Shapiro said that the club's Twitter role should be a function of a "primary spokesman" and is certainly an area that will now have to be "back-filled" by someone else in the organization.
"I think throughout baseball and sport, the primary spokesmen of the organization are hopefully the manager, the players and then the general manager," Shapiro said. "You default to club president and business leaders only in very small situations and circumstances."
One area Miller will undoubtedly find himself concentrating on will be the Blue Jays' desire for a new spring training facility in Florida – be it in the current location in Dunedin or elsewhere.
While he was in Cleveland, Miller was the driving force behind the Indians' new $108-million spring training facility in Goodyear, Ariz.
That facility, which Cleveland shares with the Cincinnati Reds, opened in 2009 and includes a stadium that can seat 10,000 fans.
"It complements an area that doesn't exist here," Shapiro said.