View from the hot seat

The Greater Toronto Area is home to approximately 4,600,000 people. While my experience shows 3,400,000 drive SUV's and clog our 400 series highways, it is safe to assume that 4,599,999 of them are thrilled with the latest developments playing out almost daily on our sports pages. My math would indicate that there remains one sole holdout from all the giddiness. I'll come back to him a little later.

The GTA is home to three major league sports franchises. The long time fan favorite Toronto Maple Leafs who, even in the dark years of Harold Ballard, can do no wrong. The Toronto Blue Jays who, triumphantly running to two consecutive World Series titles making bandwagon jumpers of us all, still excite our interest from early spring to late July, but then there's not much point to watch anymore. And, finally, the upstart Toronto Raptors who, purple dinosaur and all, have taken Vince Carter and slam-dunked themselves into our collective consciousness. I couldn't, in good conscience, include the Argos or the Rock in this list. That would just be wrong.

The Toronto Raptors have far and away been the dominant name in the news cycle lately. The biggest story, of course, was the signing of Vince Carter to a 6-year deal worth, potentially, in excess of $90 million US. One of the most exciting players in the NBA, he is the cornerstone on which this franchise will continue to succeed. Much of the credit for this coup has to go to team General Manager Glen Grunwald. Earlier in the off-season, he had successfully re-upped Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams, and Antonio Williams to long term deals.

Grunwald, a former Raptors Assistant GM under Isaiah Thomas, a former Denver Nuggets Vice President, and a member of the 1981 NCAA Champion Indiana Hoosiers, is extremely well versed in basketball savvy. He understands that a team is more than just a collection of parts. Personalities and egos are just as important as points and wins in today's NBA.

It goes without saying that his ability to keep the nucleus of a successful team together, who also genuinely seem to like each other, was the deciding factor in Vince re-signing with the team. It wasn't about money, his salary essentially being predetermined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and it wasn't about real estate. Vince buying a $4 million condo is like me putting down $2,500 for a tent. Vince wanted to stay with a competitive team, in a happy locker room, and win some titles.

Will they win before Kobe and Shaq play for different teams? Only time will tell, but at least some of that time is now on their side.

Grunwald then went out and significantly upgraded the centre position by adding Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwaan to the mix. Glen Grunwald, in my opinion, deserves the NBA's award for Executive of the Year right now. If he doesn't win, there is something seriously wrong with that process.

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven't dawdled through their off-season being, in fact, the busiest of the three team in terms of personnel developments. The Leafs signed Captain Mats Sundin to a long term deal, and reportedly are very close to signing All-Star goalie, Curtis Joseph, to a contract worth between an estimated $25 and $40 million US depending on the length of the deal. Both are easily fan favorites, and the Leafs had made it quite clear that signing these two was priority number one for the club. A lot of the teams efforts this summer have been handled by team Coach and General Manager Pat Quinn.

Like Raptors GM Glen Grunwald, Quinn brings a wealth of hockey experience to his role. He is the former captain of the Atlanta Flames, he is a former Vancouver Canucks coach and he was the recipient of the 1992 NHL Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year.

Quinn has been exceptionally busy this summer adding Alexander Mogilny, Mikael Renberg and Robert Reichel to the club.

The Leafs have also avoided the arbitration quagmire with a number of their important players including Aki Berg, Wade Belak, Dmitri Yuskevich and Cory Cross just to name a few.

All told the Leafs have re-signed or acquired over 18 players for their system during the summer. The lone remaining player of note who hasn't re-signed is Tomas Kaberle, but Quinn has made it very clear this rising star isn't going anywhere. It is reported that the Leafs being unwilling to part with Kaberle was a major factor in the undoing of the Eric Lindros to Toronto deal.

Obviously a large deal of the credit for the success of the Leafs and Raptors during recent years has to go to Grunwald and Quinn. And that brings me to the one man in Toronto not thrilled with the activities of either team. The man sitting on the hottest seat in all of Ontario. The man who puts the "dead" in trade deadline. That man is Toronto Blue Jays Senior Vice President and General Manager Gord Ash.

With rumors surrounding the club that high profile players Shannon Stewart, Jose Cruz Jr. and Kelvim Escobar were on the trading block, the Jays made absolutely no moves before the July 30th deadline. This was in the wake of a period that saw the Blue Jays lose 2000 All-Star Tony Batista to the Baltimore Orioles for a measly $50,000 US.

I can't claim to know everything about baseball, but I figured you never allowed a team in your own division a chance to upgrade! Sure, Batista was under producing but $50-large? The Jays have one need, and one real need only -- pitching. I don't see how a couple of minor league prospects, at least, weren't included as part of some deal. Instead, Ash lost Batista on waivers figuring no other club would be willing to take a chance on a decent third baseman.

Unlike Grunwald or Quinn, Ash brings almost zero baseball experience to the table. A graduate of York University in Toronto, Ash joined the team in 1978 as a ticket office employee. His other career highlights include supervising the grounds crew and managing the contracts of the minor league affiliates. His official team bio lists absolutely no baseball experience, which I think is starting to become exceedingly clear.

Ash is trying to fill big shoes with this club. Pat Gillick was responsible for the teams World Series in the early 90's, and now has taken the Seattle Mariners to gaudy heights, despite the loss of three perennial All-Stars in Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson. The Mariners currently sit a whopping 52 games over .500. The Jays were eliminated from post-season contention sometime in June.

The Blue Jays also recently waived the rights to pitcher Joey Hamilton and his big contract. I can't rightly blame the Jays for the demise of Hamilton's arm, but again whose name appears on the contract.

The Jays also played follow the leader this year when they signed former TV broadcaster Buck Martinez as team Manager. A number of other teams, including the Astros, have had success with this in recent years, so it looks like the Jays were trying to play the same hand.

The only good news to come out of Jays camp in a while was the recent signing of a contract extension by 2001 All-Star, and fellow Canadian, pitcher Paul Quantrill. Unfortunately, he's not going to take this team to the post-season by himself.

Major league sports require major league decisions. Pat Quinn and Glen Grunwald bring a bucketful of experience and, to be fair, a bucketful of cash to their negotiation tables. Gord Ash really brings neither. Ash has had to sit and watch the Leafs and Raptors spend millions of dollars to upgrade their teams, their chances, their season ticket sales and their advertising revenues. The Jays have had to bring back $4 bleacher seats on weekends. I think that says it all right there.