CLEVELAND -- Michael Chernoff started his journey in professional baseball as an intern just two days after graduating from college, and now, more than a decade later, he is the new General Manager of the Cleveland Indians.
At just 34 years old, Chernoff could not be more excited to assume the role vacated by Chris Antonetti, after he was promoted to President of Baseball Operations on Tuesday to replace the departing Mark Shapiro, who recently accepted the role of President of the Toronto Blue Jays and CEO of Rogers Centre.
"I just would like to thank Paul and the entire Dolan family for this opportunity, and of course, Chris for the continued growth since I've been here," Chernoff said. "I came here 12 years ago as an intern two days out of college, wide-eyed and sort of unsure what my future would hold in baseball, so it's a real honor to have this position, to be able to help Chris lead the organization, and most importantly, to do it in a place that's really special to me.
"The people here, the culture here, I've been a part of this for 12 years, and that's what drives me every day. We face challenges every day in trying to strive for our goal of winning the World Series, and I think we do this together. I think that's what makes this fun, and I think that's what makes this a great place to be. I'm really honored and appreciative of the opportunity to help lead that, to continue to evolve in the growth here and to do it together as a group."
Chernoff joined the Indians in 2003 as an intern in the Baseball Operations department, and spent the last five years in the role of Assistant General Manager. His main responsibilities included player and contract procurement.
During Chernoff's time as the assistant to Antonetti, the Indians reached long-term contract agreements with pitchers Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, catcher Yan Gomes, second baseman Jason Kipnis and outfielder Michael Brantley.
Kluber won the American League Cy Young Award and Gomes was a Silver Slugger Award winner in 2014. Kipnis represented the Indians in two of the last three All-Star games (2013, 2015), and Brantley was an All-Star during the 2014 season, where he later finished as a finalist for the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
"In a lot of ways, like Chris said, it's a clarification of how the growth has happened here," Chernoff said. "It's an incredible opportunity that Chris and Paul have given us over time, not just today, to grow as an organization, for a lot of people to grow in their jobs. In some ways, this clarifies that a little bit and provides maybe the next step. I felt that way going from an intern to an assistant. It's just sort of an evolution, not anything major was changing."
When news of Shapiro's departure came to light last month, Indians Owner and Chairman Paul Dolan said the club would not search externally for a replacement, and did not acknowledge actively looking to fill the role of president. However, the decision was made to promote Antonetti and elevate Chernoff to GM in order to keep up with the growing trend in baseball.
"If you look back at the last 10 years, I think the roles and responsibilities of leading a Baseball Operations department have grown considerably," Antonetti said. "There's a lot more personnel to manage, a lot more departments, a lot more information to manage. What we've seen throughout baseball is there are a number of organizations that have gone to the structure of President of Baseball Operations and General Manager.
"In reality, it's more of a recognition of the way we've been operating over the past handful of years. Mike has been involved in everything that we do in Baseball Operations, and Derek Falvey, who will be the Assistant GM, his responsibilities have continued to grow over the years. He's been involved in a lot of our areas in Baseball Operations in a similar way, very integrated into our Major League team and working with Tito and our coaching staff.
"I think what we try to do in our environment, we have a very collaborative working environment that we all work together on any challenge that we may have, whether it's a free-agent signing, whether it's things we're doing in player development or scouting. The way that works, we kind of work together on those things, and more often than not, if we spend enough time on it, we'll end up getting to the same spot."
