Minnesota Twins: Anthopoulos Drops Out as Front Office Candidate

Jul 31, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos addresses the media during a press conference before a game against the Kansas City Royals at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 31, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos addresses the media during a press conference before a game against the Kansas City Royals at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Well that was a quick decision for the Minnesota Twins.

After various reports cited former Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos as a candidate for the recently created Minnesota Twins President of Baseball Operations, his name was just as quickly taken down as a potential candidate.

This leaves the Twins back at square one with no clear indication of who will take over the position.

According to an interview with SportsNet, Anthopoulos had no desire to move his family from Toronto to L.A. to Minnesota in a span of less than a year.

More from Puckett's Pond

This is unfortunate as the hiring of Anthopoulos would have signaled a definitive change to the front office.

He was, after all, the man who helped lead to the Blue Jays back to contention and just two wins away from the World Series in 2015.

Anthopoulos was also responsible for Toronto’s acquisitions of last year’s American League MVP Josh Donaldson, former Cy-Young Winner David Price and former National League MVP Troy Tulowitzki.

Now that Anthopoulos’ name is no longer a candidate, who else should the Minnesota Twins look at?

We’ve already put together a list of potential candidates but so far, owner Jim Pohlad’s goal of having a GM hired by the end of the season looks unlikely.

Either way, it seems troublesome that Anthopoulos was not willing to take the job in Minnesota. He may have stated a more PR friendly reason but it’s not entirely crazy to think he may have looked at this team and not have a big desire to jump on.

And who can blame him? He’s probably enjoying the Hollywood nights out in Los Angeles.

The irony of this news is that I was in the middle of writing a piece on why Anthopoulos would be a terrific choice for the Minnesota Twins.

His aggressive approach and modern baseball style could have worked wonders for the young team.

Unfortunately we’ll never see the Alex Anthopoulos era for the Minnesota Twins.

So who’s next?

There are rumors Tony LaRussa may be on his way out of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

Could he be an answer?

How about Jed Hoyer? Could he possibly be pulled away from the wonderland known as the Chicago Cubs and brought over to the land of Prince?

Time will tell, but as it stands, this is seems to be Rob Antony’s job to lose. He seems to be the only one who may really want it.

Next: Buxton Must Continue to Improve

Now Twins fans just need to determine if that’s who they would like to see.