Fire Ross Atkins and John Schneider? Why frustrated Blue Jays fans calling for both are off base

 

Nobody can argue that a team hasn’t been successful if it has advanced to the playoffs three times in four seasons.

Since 2019, the Blue Jays have not participated in a single regular-season game while out of the playoff picture.

However, it has been difficult to watch them for more than a year.

The last season was tedious. Fantastic pitching and defense, without a doubt, and just enough hitting to defeat the Seattle Mariners by one game before Minnesota swept them out of the postseason with just one goal scored.

In the history of the team, it was the least enjoyable postseason season. The club president acknowledged that as well.

During his post-season press conference in October of last year, Mark Shapiro declared, “This season was a grind.” It was never simple. It was difficult, and it was quite frustrating. We won 89 games, so I’m not sure why. There was never a season that seemed like it required more work, in my memory.

Over the winter, general manager Ross Atkins stated that he planned to add up to four bats. However, he turned to focus more on pitching and defense after his attempt to sign Shohei Ohtani was unsuccessful.

Not only has that tactic not improved the team’s fortunes nearly one-third of the way into a new season, it appears to have caused them harm.

The Jays have only scored two runs in 20 of their previous 51 games, most recently on Saturday in a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. They are currently sitting at 23-28, three games lower than they were at this stage in that terribly frustrating 2023 season, when they never finished more than one game below.500.
What’s the response? A sizable portion of the fan base believes that it is to go scorched earth. Set everyone on fire! The people you can’t fire, trade. Hold onto Davis Schneider and perhaps Danny Jansen, and start the rebuilding process right away!

Hopefully, we can all agree that this would be going a little too far. However, the most vocal supporters appear to feel that Atkins and manager John Schneider must Proceed.

There is a significant contradiction that isn’t being seen when viewed through the prism of rage and irritation.

It’s possible that Schneider managed the team poorly and Atkins assembled the team poorly, but there’s one thing that suggests they can’t both be true at the same time.

At.551, Schneider’s winning percentage is the greatest of any manager in Jays history. The Jays manager from 1982 to 1985 and future Hall of Famer Bobby Cox comes in second at.549. Tim Johnson (1988) is next at.543, Jimy Williams (1986–1989) is at.538, and Cito Gaston (1989–97, 2008–10) is at.516.