The Toronto Blue Jays president and CEO Paul Beeston introduces the teams new uniforms on Nov. 18, 2011.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
The Toronto Blue Jays are embarking on a season when both their president and general manager are on the final years of their respective contracts, and with a fan base that's exasperated by the baseball's team lengthy playoff drought.
For Paul Beeston, who has emerged slightly battered and bruised but otherwise upbeat after his employers at Rogers Communications finally saw fit to extend his contract to be the team's president and chief executive officer for another year, it all comes with the territory.
"I don't think we are dysfunctional at the present time," Beeston said somewhat defiantly during an interview on Sportsnet 590 The Fan radio in Toronto on Tuesday. "I think everyone now knows that I'm here for the year and we are going to go forward as a group."
But nobody said the job would be easy. The Blue Jays are at a crossroads heading into the 2015 Major League Baseball season.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos is beginning his sixth season as the man calling the shots in the baseball department, and he has yet to deliver on his stated goal to get the Blue Jays into the playoffs.
That is something that Toronto baseball fans have not experienced since 1993, when the Blue Jays won their second of back-to-back World Series championships. Their 21-year postseason absence is the longest active futility streak in the 30-team league.
This could be Anthopoulos's final shot. Should the Blue Jays falter out of the starting gate this season, the popular belief is that both Anthopoulos and Blue Jays manager John Gibbons will be relieved of their duties.
Would Beeston, who hired Anthopoulos in the first place, be willing to make that tough decision knowing that he himself already has one foot out the door?
"Let's be realistic – nobody feels comfortable firing anybody," Beeston said when asked directly if he would make mid-season management changes if he felt it was necessary. "If they are, they've got to be a little bit sadistic. But the answer to that is yes. I mean, if you have to make the decision, then you have to make the decision."
As for the tawdry manner in which his own employment status was handled by Rogers over the last couple of months, Beeston, 69, took the high road. He is choosing to move forward, and not focus on what has transpired.
"We're now looking at what's happening from this day forward," Beeston said. "I don't think there's any benefit at the present time of discussing any of that. I wanted to stay here through 2015 and I'm here through 2015. So what happened, happened, and what didn't happen, didn't happen. The result is that I'm here and I'm happy to be here."
After a couple months of the silent treatment, Rogers confirmed via a simple news release issued Monday night that the Jays' first-ever employee would return for one more season as president and CEO.
By doing so, the telecommunications giant put an end to a rather clumsy saga in which Rogers contacted at least two other MLB teams to inquire about hiring their executives away to replace Beeston in Toronto.
The leading candidate was Baltimore Orioles GM Dan Duquette, who is under contract to the Orioles through the 2018 season. This in itself raises serious questions about tampering by the Blue Jays in their pursuit of another team's executive.
The courtship of Duquette reportedly came to an end on Sunday after the Blue Jays decided Orioles owner Peter Angelos was asking too much in compensation for the release of his GM. According to various reports, the Orioles were seeking a number of Toronto's minor-league prospects, including pitcher Jeff Hoffman, their top pick in the 2014 draft.
Beeston is of the belief that the Blue Jays are headed in the right direction and, with the off-season additions of Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin and Michael Saunders, should contend for the American League East crown this season. For that, Beeston said he is excited.
"Let's be realistic about it, no one wants to see their career played out in the media," Beeston said. "But you know, it's what sports is all about. And so I can't walk away from it any more than [ex-Maple Leafs coach] Randy Carlyle can walk away from it and say it doesn't affect him, or he doesn't think about it."
But Beeston said he's focused on the upcoming season, not on the recent controversy.
"So I don't think the company has been damaged by it, I don't think the ball club's been damaged by it," he said.