Jays cut 24 front-office jobs

All staff members of the Toronto Blue Jays were invited to a catered farewell Monday morning for outgoing team president Paul Godfrey. According to one person present, several top Jays staffers, including general manager J.P. Ricciardi, spoke at the upbeat ceremony. The emcee for the event was the Jays’ director of guest services, Will Hill.

Yesterday, Hill’s job and 23 others were eliminated as part of a wider cull by team owner Rogers Media. That represents about 10 per cent of the front-office staff not involved in baseball operations.

News of the cuts came only hours after the death of team owner Ted Rogers.

Changes to the front-office directory on the Jays’ website early yesterday evening showed that 24 names had been deleted. The highest-ranking erasure was that of Mark Lemmon, vice-president, corporate partnerships and business development.

None of the cuts affected the baseball operations. The vast majority – 20 – hit full-time contract workers in the ticketing department. Some of those employees had been with the club for several years.