TORONTO - Toronto Blue Jays president and chief executive officer Paul Beeston is giving his general manager a vote of confidence despite a mediocre season and a third-place finish in the American League East. The future of general manager Alex Anthopoulos has been the subject of much speculation in recent weeks. He overhauled the roster two years ago but the Blue Jays have gone 157-167 since and extended their playoff drought to 21 years with an 83-79 finish this past season. Alex I can say for a fact is back, Beeston said Friday in an interview on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. Anthopoulos has been with the franchise for over a decade and has served as GM for the last five years. He hasnt finished what he started out to do, Beeston said. Im 100 per cent supportive of him. I think that he has done a very good job. I think we are now seeing the benefits of what happened with his development (and) his investment in the farm system. I think thats only going to be better for the future. Beeston also said he expected manager John Gibbons to return next year. Anthopoulos has also voiced his confidence in the Blue Jays skipper, who has a rolling contract that kicks in every Jan. 1. The Blue Jays had a strong first half in 2014 but struggled after the all-star break and fell out of the playoff picture last month. Beeston said the teams payroll of about US$135-137 million will rise in 2015. The 69-year-old native of Welland, Ont., also confirmed that hes in the last year of his contract but said he has no plans to leave the organization. Im here as long as Rogers wants me here, he said. I enjoy what Im doing. Also Friday, the Blue Jays announced they have outrighted infielder Munenori Kawasaki, first baseman Dan Johnson and catcher George Kottaras to triple-A Buffalo. Johnson and Kottaras, a Toronto native, have both elected free agency. Pirates Jerseys 2020 . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Pittsburgh Pirates Pro Shop .Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have been neck and neck all season, with 17 points separating the rivals and double points on offer for the race.Tensions between them have spilled over during the campaign and the pairs fragile relationship was evident during Thursdays pre-race news conference, when Rosberg goaded Hamilton by advising him to race cleanly. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/ . - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to meet with Richie Incognito to determine if one of the central figures in the Miami Dolphins bullying scandal can help their struggling offensive line. Pirates Jerseys China .Y. -- Dwane Casey admitted hed been concerned about his young Raptors team who had zero experience playing in close-out games -- what awaited them with the vastly-experienced Brooklyn Nets, and how theyd react. Stitched Pirates Jerseys . The defeat leaves the 41-year-old Nestor to concentrate on the mixed-doubles event after winning 12 straight matches and winning Australian titles in Brisbane and Sydney with two different partners. "This was a little bit of a let down, but all credit to them," said Nestor.The NHL All-Star Weekend is in the rear-view mirror and game action resumes Tuesday with 11 on tap. Before we drop the puck on the remaining 40-plus per cent of the 2014-15 regular season - by the way, the trade deadline is five weeks today and the Stanley Cup playoffs start in 11 weeks - let’s take one more moment to reflect on what we’ve seen in the NHL so far. More precisely, let’s have a look at what NHL head coaches think and feel in TSN’s Who’s Best survey. Just prior to the NHL All-Star break, TSN surveyed 20 NHL head coaches - 10 in the East; 10 in the West - to determine Who’s Best in five categories: Best Team; Best Goalie; Best Defenceman; Best Player; and last but not least, Best Coach. There were four stipulations. One - don’t vote for your own players or team. Two - vote for only one person/team per category. Three - vote only for players/teams/coaches in your own conference and four - base your votes on what you’ve seen on the ice this season. So without further ado, here are the results of TSN’s 2014-15 Who’s Best NHL Coaches Survey: EASTERN CONFERENCE BEST TEAM: It’s only fitting the New York Rangers and New York Islanders play in the first game back after the All-Star break, because those were the top two teams in the East, according to survey results. The Rangers, who went to the Cup final last season and currently sit third in the Metropolitan Division (behind Pittsburgh and the Islanders and just ahead of Washington) received five votes, compared to four for the Islanders, who sit in first place in the division. The only other team to get a vote was Pittsburgh. BEST GOALIE: It wasn’t unanimous, but Montreal’s Carey Price ran away with it, securing eight of 10 votes. New York Ranger Henrik Lundqvist got the other two. BEST DEFENCEMAN: Only four blueliners - Ranger Ryan McDonagh, Tampa’s Victor Hedman, Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and Montreal’s P.K. Subban - received votes. McDonagh, with four votes, edged Hedman, who had three. Letang had two and Subban one. BEST COACH: There wasn’t a lot of consensus on this one, with seven coaches getting at least one vote. Tampa’s Jon Cooper, Florida’s Gerard Gallant, Washington’s Barry Trotz, Detroit’s Mike Babcock and Montreal’s Michel Therrien garnered one vote apiece, leaving the Rangers’ Alain Vigneault and the Islanders’ Jack Capuano to battle it out for the remaining five votes. Capuano got the nod, getting thhree to Vigneault’s two.dddddddddddd BEST PLAYER: It says something about the Eastern Conference that just one player – New York Ranger Rick Nash – got more than one vote. So the Blueshirt winger took the title of Best Player with a grand total of two votes. Players who got one vote apiece: Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby; Philadelphia’s Jake Voracek; Tampa’s Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson; Boston’s Patrice Bergeron; Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk; and New York Islander John Tavares. WESTERN CONFERENCE Generally speaking, there was more consensus in the West than the East. Here are the results: BEST TEAM: Anaheim and Nashville sit atop their respective divisions and the Ducks and Predators are one-two in the Western Conference overall standings, so it’s not a surprise that they got two votes apiece, the same as the Chicago Blackhawks. What may surprise some is that the St. Louis Blues picked up the other four votes to emerge as Best Team in the Western Conference. BEST GOALIE: No contest. Nashville’s Pekka Rinne (currently injured) was the unanimous choice, picking up every available vote. Rinne leads the league in wins (29) and has a .931 save percentage. BEST DEFENCEMAN: Only four blueliners received votes, but Los Angeles King Drew Doughty carried the day with four votes. Incidentally, Doughty also received one vote as Best Player. The remaining six Best Defenceman votes were split evenly (two each, if you’re math challenged) between Nashville’s Shea Weber, Calgary’s Mark Giordano and St. Louis’s Kevin Shattenkirk, who sits one point behind Giordano on the list of the league’s top-scoring blueliners. BEST COACH: Nashville’s Peter Laviolette, who has guided the Preds to second overall (behind only Anaheim) in the NHL at the break, was the runaway winner, getting six of 10 votes. Winnipeg’s Paul Maurice, who has the surprising and exciting Jets comfortably in the first wild card spot in the West and seven points ahead of Calgary, received two votes. Calgary’s Bob Hartley and St. Louis’s Ken Hitchcock got one each. BEST PLAYER: Unlike the East, the West has a clear-cut winner. Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf received eight of 10 votes. The only other vote getters were Kings defenceman Doughty and St. Louis scoring winger Vladimir Tarasenko. So there you have it, TSN’s 2014-15 Who’s Best NHL Coaches Survey. Now, let the (rest of the) games begin. ' ' '