Blew Jays Redux: Passing The Buck

There are three kinds of lies. There are lies. Damn lies. And Toronto Blue Jays press conferences.

Once again the Rogers Jays are wallowing in PR confusion at the end of a frustrating season’s end. In 2022 they flamed out spectacularly in the first round of the playoffs— at home. In case you have lost your memory, they led Game Two 8-1 over Seattle. Game 3 seemed imminent. 

Then Jays manager John Schneider got hook-happy. Here’s how we saw it Oct. 10, 2022: “Having held Seattle to a single run over 93 pitches, (Kevin) Gausman was nonetheless yanked by interim manager John Schneider for reliever Tim Mayza. Boom. Now 8-5 Jays. 

After Toronto scored to make it 9-5, the retractable roof really caved in on Rogers’ dreams of a World Series. After Seattle scored a single run with the bases loaded in the eighth, J.P. Crawford lofted a meek fly to CF off All Star closer Jordan Romano. George Springer came in. Shortstop Bo Bichette went out. Not pretty. Imagine Cronenburg’s movie Crash. As the injured Springer and Bichette lay on the turf the Ms circled the bases to tie the score. 

Romano, stretched into a second inning, surrendered consecutive doubles in the ninth. The Mariners had a 10-9 lead they would not surrender. And 2022 was over for the swaggering Jays of the dugout barrio. They couldn’t outscore their mistakes and mismanagement. Bye-bye. So long. Farewell. And don’t bring back the sophomoric home-run jacket.” 

Give Jays management credit. They dumped the stupid jacket and exiled Vladdy Guerrero’s barrio pals in an attempt to make the club more serious-minded. So it was out with Teoscar, Lourdes and Gabby. And in with Dalton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier and reliever Eric Swanson. Oh, and to reward the impatient interim Schneider for something/ something the Jays gave him the job fulltime.

The net result? For all the Rogers-generated hype, the Jays wound up winning three fewer games and barely squeezed into the postseason. (Which they celebrated like it was V-E Day) Where, once again, the Jays succumbed to stupidity, sloth and John Schneider’s curious pitching changes. Faced with another two-game submission, Toronto saw declining superstar Guerrero picked off second in a crucial late-inning situation. 

But what had everyone in Jays Land really seething was Schneider’s decision to pull an unhittable José Berrios after 41 pitches— so he could flip the righty/ lefty batting order of the Twins. (Anyone who played Stratomatic in the old days knew this was daft.) Predictably the move backfired with Minnesota grabbing a lead they’d never surrender in the two-game sweep. 

In the end, Guerrero’s gaffe was likely more costly than the analytics-inspired pitching change. Berrios was not going to hit a three-run homer. For that matter, neither were any of the other feeble Jays hitters. But Schneider’s pitching decision was the thing Jays fans focused on when they asked, “Again?"

In particular, the notion that the curious flip was made in the management suit, not the manger’s office, took hold. After all, GM Ross Atkins and president Mark Shapiro had never tired in telling fans how clever their analytics were, how they marched ahead of the crowd. It boggled the mind that Schneider, who’s never managed in the majors before, could have made his call in a bubble. 

The suspicions were not allayed by the inept presser from GM Atkins after the season in which most people thought Schneider was ready for the chop to protect the suits in the suites. First, Atkins threw his manager under the proverbial public transportation over the Berrios yanking decision.

“I found out about it when you did," Atkins told reporters. "When (Yusei) Kikuchi was getting warm in the first inning, it was very clear that we had a strategy to potentially deploy. John Schneider made the decision to deploy that… There was not an influence from the office that factored into that, other than maybe it was an organizational strategy communicated to players. When I say organization, I'm including players, many players over the course of the days prior to that strategy.”

The guy makes Kamala Harris sound lucid. But in a massive tell, Atkins then said Schneider would be invited back as manager, a baffling decision sure to enflame the fan base. "This is extremely painful for me," Atkins said. Think how Jays fans felt.

So effective was this combative presser that it was deemed essential that president Shapiro, Rogers’ corporate-speak meister,  be brought from the bullpen to smooth the potholes left by Atkins. Reiterating that the Berrios’ decision was indeed made by Schneider and his coaches, he then announced that Atkins was coming back in 2024. 

“I understand the frustration, it’s palpable for me and for the other leaders in the organization,” Shapiro began. “It’s not acceptable for us to have fallen short of expectations.. When we fall short of expectations, the responsibility and accountability clearly lies with me. We’ve got work to do. It’s going to be a painstaking process.”

With you, Mark? Okay, let’s help the painstaking process. The man Schneider and Atkins were hired to improve upon— Canadian Alex Anthopoulos— has made the Atlanta Braves a dominant team. Since AA moved to Atlanta they’ve won 90, 97, 38 (Covid year), 88, 101, 104 games. They’ve won a World Series and two other playoff series. 

They’ve developed young everyday superstars who don’t get picked off second base. They have built a pitching staff largely from within, not splashy FA signings. They have swagger without cockiness. They are set for years to come. 

The Jays? They’ve won 73, 67, 32 (Covid), 91, 92, 89. They’ve won zero postseason games while missing the playoffs in three seasons. The players they traded are starring for other teams in this postseason. They are again employing an inexperienced company guy as manager.

 That's the measuring stick, Mr. Shapiro. And you’ve failed it. But Rogers loves corporate speak better than winning.  So Blue Jays fans will have to live with it. Again. No wonder they’d rather talk about moving the fences and Junior Jays days.

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Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx