In the wake of Alex Anthopoulos replacing JP Ricciardi as Toronto Blue Jays general manager and Anthopoulos making several front office moves of late, the Blue Jays have announced that the Washington Nationals director of amateur scouting Dana Brown has left his position with Washington to become a special assistant to Anthopoulos.

Brown is responsible for the drafting of pitchers Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and John Lannan by the Nationals.

Brown & Anthopoulos have known each other since their days together with the Montreal Expos, in which Brown hired Anthopoulos to the team’s scouting department.

The move by Anthopoulos possibly signifies a more direct focus on the scouting aspect for the Blue Jays in the near future, which Anthopoulos has made clear, is one direction he would personally like to focus on in a more in depth manner.

The Blue Jays were hit or miss in the entry draft under Ricciardi drafting the likes of Russ Adams in 2002, Aaron Hill in 2003, David Purcey in 2004, Ricky Romero in 2005, Travis Snider in 2006, Kevin Ahrens in 2007, David Cooper in 2008 and Chad Jenkins in 2009 with their first overall selections.