Report: Blue Jays close to naming Mark Shapiro club president

The Toronto Blue Jays are close to naming Cleveland Indians president Mark Shapiro the team's next president, according to sources of Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

An announcement of the hiring is expected to take place some time this week, and could come as early as Monday morning reports Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince reported something similar Saturday and confirmed the report Sunday, while also stating that Indians chairman and CEO Paul Dolan could absorb his role.

Shapiro is expected to replace current Blue Jays president Paul Beeston, who plans on retiring at season's end.

The 48-year-old is a former general manager and farm director with more than a decade of baseball experience. He has been named MLB Executive of the Year twice in his career.

He also headed up the renovation process at Progressive Field, and with the Rogers Centre in need of a face lift, that too could have interested Toronto.

According to sources, he intends to keep Alex Anthopoulos - whose contract expires on Oct. 31 - in the GM role once he takes over.

Reports about the Blue Jays' interest in Shapiro heated up in mid-August after Dave Dombrowski was hired by the Boston Red Sox.

Toronto has also pursued Kenny Williams of the Chicago White Sox and Dan Duquette of the Baltimore Orioles for the role.

Shapiro was the architect behind the American League Central champion Indians in 2007 - a club that advanced to the AL Championship Series, but lost to the Red Sox after holding a 3-1 series lead.