2024 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[flambers]

Still think, Atkins won't be fired...

Only moves are minor stuff, which was already announced,

last years off-season was a disaster, can't wait for this one.

[flambers]

There you go, press conference is underway.

"no change", Atkins will be back

[Inferno]

Not surprised but Shapiro just said Atkins is safe. Guess I'm not watching much next season.

[Blaster86]

Looks like another season more focused on the Canadians than Jays

[Inferno]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1841495000263069980

[Inferno]

"I thought Schneids had a good year".

LMAO

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Inferno

https://twitter.com/user/status/1841495000263069980

Lol. The Braves made the post season and Acuna missed practically the whole year. The Jays have exactly one player at Acunas level - and if Vladdy had missed that many games the Jays would have been Angels/As level bad.

[flambers]

"The Toronto Blue Jays are staying the course for the 2025 season.

Both general manager Ross Atkins and manager John Schneider will return in their roles heading into 2025, it was revealed Wednesday at the team's season-ending news conference.

“If I felt there was a better alternative to run our baseball operation, I’d make that change," team president Shapiro told reporters regarding Atkins' return Wednesday.

Atkins later confirmed Schneider's return, adding that Don Mattingly would shift from helping oversee the offence to a more traditional bench coach role. "

[bizaro86]

I built a table showing the amount each team spent per win in 2024. Spoiler alert: the Jays were not a big success. The only teams that spent more in payroll per win were the two New York teams (which both made the playoffs and don't care about money) and White Sox (who were historically terrible).

The Blue Jays were the 9th highest payroll. Every team that spent more had more wins, and the only team in the top half of spending they beat was the Angels. This was a terrible management result by basically any metric, and its borderline gaslighting by Schapiro to try and suggest they did a good job.



Other fun notes - The As, with a payroll less than the Jays pay their starting rotation, had 5 less wins.

[bluejays]

Well, I admit I have egg on my face. It was always a possibility this would be the case but as the season wore on and their losses at seasons end, I’m utterly shocked Shapiro was able to pull this off. There is no excuse to this situation. Total guess is they have major major plans that they sold the board on for him doing the work on. The major free agents have all the clout now in the world because they know he has to succeed.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Well, I admit I have egg on my face. It was always a possibility this would be the case but as the season wore on and their losses at seasons end, I’m utterly shocked Shapiro was able to pull this off. There is no excuse to this situation. Total guess is they have major major plans that they sold the board on for him doing the work on. The major free agents have all the clout now in the world because they know he has to succeed.

Yeah. I mean, the Rogers board can figure out $/win as well - you have to think they're unhappy given how much money they're spending on this. I don't think almost getting Soto is enough this year - and all those expensive premium seats they just put in are going to be harder to sell as well. But I think the big test will be Sportsnet/cable subscriptions - baseball is their strategy to keep sports fans paying year round. If people stop that sub the strategic rationale for a big payroll goes away - and I think they'll try new management before they give up.

[KelVarnsen]

Rodgers and Shapiro don't want to win anything

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Rodgers and Shapiro don't want to win anything

I agree with that, but they do want to make money. And if the team is a perpetual loser that will absolutely result in lower ticket sales/sportsnet subscriptions.

[nixon45]

Absolutely pathetic that pretty much everyone keeps their job.

Apparently a 9 year sample size isn't enough to show this franchise is going fing nowhere.

[KelVarnsen]

It's rearranging the deck chairs on a sunken Titanic at this point

[FireGilbert]

Meanwhile the Marlins, with lower expectations and who embarrassed the Jays to end the season, are completely cleaning house.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Meanwhile the Marlins, with lower expectations and who embarrassed the Jays to end the season, are completely cleaning house.

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Yeah. I mean, the Rogers board can figure out $/win as well - you have to think they're unhappy given how much money they're spending on this. I don't think almost getting Soto is enough this year - and all those expensive premium seats they just put in are going to be harder to sell as well. But I think the big test will be Sportsnet/cable subscriptions - baseball is their strategy to keep sports fans paying year round. If people stop that sub the strategic rationale for a big payroll goes away - and I think they'll try new management before they give up.

The whole thing is shocking. It’s all an out positioning so Shapiro must’ve had an amazingly compelling vision. But at its core Atkins has failed at so much, with an appropriate sample. It just made sense to dump him. I’m not angry at this decision but never has an executive had this much leeway. From a consistency perspective this doesn’t sit right. Why does Atkins get so much rope?

[browna]

Originally Posted by bluejays

The whole thing is shocking. It’s all an out positioning so Shapiro must’ve had an amazingly compelling vision. But at its core Atkins has failed at so much, with an appropriate sample. It just made sense to dump him. I’m not angry at this decision but never has an executive had this much leeway. From a consistency perspective this doesn’t sit right. Why does Atkins get so much rope?

Because there is no one that Shapiro has found that he can control the way he does Atkins to carry out his vision. Rogers offered AA a bunch of money to stay but AA didn't want to work for a new regime/Shapiro.

Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill fleeced him on a trade and he's never forgotten it.

Mattingly changing roles is interesting, IMO better set up for taking the managerial role.

No matter who's fault it is at that point (bad offseason, injuries etc), if the Jays aren't a decent number of games above .500 by the end of May, Schneider is gone. I'm also not 100% convinced he starts the season if some top manager comes available to Shapiro's liking in the next month or two, no matter what hot air was spewed today.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by browna

Because there is no one that Shapiro has found that he can control the way he does Atkins to carry out his vision. Rogers offered AA a bunch of money to stay but AA didn't want to work for a new regime/Shapiro.

Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill fleeced him on a trade and he's never forgotten it.

Mattingly changing roles is interesting, IMO better set up for taking the managerial role.

No matter who's fault it is at that point (bad offseason, injuries etc), if the Jays aren't a decent number of games above .500 by the end of May, Schneider is gone. I'm also not 100% convinced he starts the season if some top manager comes available to Shapiro's liking in the next month or two, no matter what hot air was spewed today.

Regarding the last part, Zaidi is now available. Has an MIT education and was once sought after in every industry. Not sure he has the same bs ability as Shapiro, but it would be my choice.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Other fun notes - The As, with a payroll less than the Jays pay their starting rotation, had 5 less wins.

An interesting exercise would be how much each win above 81 should be worth. The idea is that replacement level players cobbled together will win x amount of games. But the wins above that should be worth more as 90 wins gets a playoff team.

The Jays will usually do badly here because they need overpays to get guys to play in Canada. But should not be this bad.