Imagine the Blue Jays if Alex Anthopoulos had stayed as GM

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The greatest moment, however brief, that Edward Rogers has had as de facto owner of the Toronto Blue Jays came late in October 2015, when he offered huge money and considerable term for Alex Anthopoulos to remain as general manager of the Blue Jays.

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The money was potentially life-changing for the young Anthopoulos. Rogers, as the man in charge of the Jays, had never met his general manager before they held this post-season exchange.

For once, Rogers read the wind properly and determined he needed Anthopoulos in charge of his baseball team.

Still, he was rather late in making his assessment and he misread the situation — which was clear that Anthopoulos would not, under any circumstance, work for new president Mark Shapiro. I actually advised him over breakfast that he should take the money and get fired at the end of the season under Shapiro. But he had too much integrity to agree to any terms at all in Toronto.

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Why does that matter now, nine years after the fact? It matters because of the insane contract Juan Soto has signed with the New York Mets that will pay him $51 million per season for the next 15 years, and that the Blue Jays chased him to the finish line.

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It matters because Anthopoulos has a better player than Soto — Ronald Acuna Jr. in Atlanta — whom he signed to an eight-year, $100-million contract four years ago.

What’s the difference between Soto and Acuna?

Both have won World Series —Soto’s coming in Washington, Acuna’s in Atlanta.

Acuna has won an MVP and a rookie of the year award in the National League. Soto has finished second in MVP voting and was second to Acuna in rookie of the year voting.

Both have won five Silver Slugger awards. Both are exceptional talents.

Acuna is considered a better fielder, a much faster base runner — he stole 73 bases in his MVP season — and more of an all-around talent than Soto.

The Mets will pay Soto $51 million per season. The Braves will pay Acuna Jr. $17 million for the next four seasons.

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Anthopoulos, who went in early after Acuna with the Braves, will pay one-third of the money the Mets will pay Soto over the next four years, getting both players into their early 30s.

Take a step back to another time in Blue Jays history, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was a teenage free agent in the Dominican Republic and any team could have signed him. But only one team did — the team that had Anthopoulos in charge of baseball decisions.

They outworked and outbid and outfinessed the rest of baseball in getting Guerrero Jr. for a record price. While, at times, he has disappointed, it’s only because expectations have been so high.

This much is certain, because it has happened with so many of the players in Atlanta: Had Anthopoulos stayed with the Jays, Guerrero Jr. would have been signed long-term years ago.

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He did that with Acuna. He did that with Michael Harris II. He did that with Ozzie Albies. He did that with Austin Riley. He did that with Matt Olson, for whom he traded after recent World Series hero Freddie Freeman walked away.

This has been how Anthopoulos has operated in a marketplace that hasn’t always signed its young so early.

Instead, where do the Blue Jays find themselves? They wound up on the contending side of another failed bid for greatness in the Soto sweepstakes and, because of the amount they declared they were willing to pay, they are now all but forced to sign Guerrero Jr. for more than he’s probably worth — and if they don’t choose to do that, how do they replace him?

Shapiro and Anthopoulos were like oil and water during their brief time together in Toronto. And we know which one is slippery.

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There are no Blue Jays everyday players signed long-term except for the statistically diminished George Springer.

Springer will be paid $25 million for each of the next two seasons, which is $16 million more than the Braves will pay Acuna over the same time.

Combined, general manager Ross Atkins and Shapiro have nothing concrete signed long-term for this club. They haven’t developed anything worth signing.

Instead, the club is caught in the web of Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, who have both watched how free agency has played out this winter — look at the money the Giants threw at Willy Adames got (seven years, $182 million) — which means the prices for everybody are going sky-high. And now the Jays will have to overpay for what is left in free agency.

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Had Anthopoulos remained — which Rogers wanted, even if Shapiro didn’t — you can bet that Bichette and Guerrero Jr. would have been signed long-term, likely for respectable terms.

Rogers had it right for a minute when he read the tea leaves and decided to try to keep Anthopoulos with the Blue Jays. That was a rare moment of sporting vision.

We now return you to today and the future. With Ed Rogers more in charge than ever before of a baseball team with the wrong president and the wrong general manager under his leadership — an owner unwilling to do anything about that.

This is a now a Blue Jays team without foresight or vision, reacting to the market instead of doing the Anthopoulos thing and creating your own.

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