I don't know about that. Ownership typically needs to be consulted on major deals anyway. On the prospect side, maybe that was the case, but there isn't any free reign on the budget. Even after today, any major signings would have to go through the president then ownership.
Today's pissing match was mostly Rogers. They didn't see this coming, hired Shapiro as AA's replacement, but Shapiro probably took the job assuming there was prospect depth. AA seen great opportunities to make astute deals to improve, and made the blockbusters. Shapiro had no say considering he belonged to another team, and he got pissed that some of his prospect depth is gone. The ONLY deal the guy could possibly be upset about is the Price deal, but look at the run the Jays made?
Anyway, AA earned the right to have more autonomy, but Rogers already promised his superior that authority, so where do you go from here? If I were Rogers, knowing that it's a double promise, I'd go back to Shapiro and ask if they can go back on their word or budge a bit as AA earned it. If Shapiro didn't budge, offer him some other incentives to do so.
While Rogers was the group that didn't think about the long term ramifications of poaching Shapiro, Shapiro is the one not relinquishing authority. He's as much in fault as ownership.
I am willing to bet that years later, AA will return to the Jays as President.
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