It would appear that the Toronto Blue Jays are at a crossroads in their plans to establish themselves at the top of the MLB’s American League East Division following their latest postseason debacle. Coincidentally enough, I find myself at a similar crossroads when it comes to my team of choice in the realm of professional baseball.
The 2023 season can only be described in one phrase for I’m sure most Jays fans – and that would be ‘frustrating as all hell.’ It was supposed to be a year where a more mature, seasoned squad was going to take that next step forward, but following yet another Wild Card series sweep in the opening round of the playoffs, all the team did was take two steps backward.
The Game 2 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Twins a couple weeks ago hadn’t even finished before the finger pointing began. Most of those fingers immediately went in Manager John Schneider’s direction, whose controversial decision to pull starting pitcher José Berrios early in the game when he was clearly dominating is still being heavily criticized today.
And as much as General Manager Ross Atkins tried to place the blame for the decision solely on the skipper and his staff a couple days after the 2-0 loss and Toronto’s elimination from the postseason, I didn’t believe him. Many others didn’t either. It very much seemed like a pre-determined strategy regardless of how the game was unfolding. In short, the coaching staff – whether directed by the higher-up management types or not – executed a plan that did not need to be executed in the first place. Just another instance of this team being unwilling or unable to adjust to the circumstances as they unfolded.
Of course, this whole pitching debacle is moot after the fact, simply because the Jays couldn’t score runs on a consistent basis over the course of the entire season. That is the reason why we’re sitting here dissecting essentially a lost season instead of watching Toronto playing in the American League Championship Series, which is what the majority of fans hoped would be the bare minimum of what this team could accomplish this year.
You could argue that the Blue Jays haven’t been able to find that critical balance of quality pitching, batting and defense needed to build a successful postseason club since the team won back-to-back World Series titles 30 years ago. Yes, it’s now three decades and counting. Toronto had marginal success in 2015 and 2016 during the ‘Bautista-Encarnacion-Donaldson era’ when it made it to consecutive League Championship Series, but of course you’ll notice the absence of quality pitching names in that reference. That’s for a reason. The Blue Jays of eight years ago slugged their way deep into the playoffs, but in the end, it was quality pitching that made them fall short both seasons.
The 2023 campaign was the complete opposite; where the pitching was extremely deep both in terms of starters and relievers while backed by a solid deployment of defensive players, the Jays never really got going offensively. They had spurts where the home runs were flying out of the yard in high frequency, but the ability to cash in runs at key moments was lacking all season long. This was never more noticeable than in their short-lived playoff series, where they scored a whopping one run in two games. Again, frustrating as all hell.
Toronto’s powers-at-be sacrificed offense in favour of pitching and defense this year, and it showed. And while it was great being able to limit opponents’ ability to score, it’s difficult to win when you can’t score yourself. Now that it’s been made apparent that pretty much everyone in the front office will be returning in 2024 for some reason, Shapiro, Atkins and company are now back to the drawing board to try and find that balance. Given their lack of favourable results since entering the fold in late 2015, I’m not exactly oozing confidence for the pair to turn things around at this point.
In my opinion, Atkins should have been canned for trading the team’s best prospect in Gabriel Moreno, alongside emerging star Lourdes Gurriel Jr., for Daulton Varsho prior to the 2023 campaign. Nothing against Varsho – who is an excellent defensive player albeit somewhat of a middling offensive threat – but watching Moreno and Gurriel help lead their new club, the Arizona Diamondbacks, to the NLCS has been difficult to watch. There seemed to be little foresight in the equation, other than trying to acquire a better defensive player and left-handed bat at the time no matter the cost. That one is going to cost us dearly for the next decade-plus.
It just seems to me that there is not much accountability with the Blue Jays heading into another long, long off-season marred by lingering disappointment. The general insistence by Shapiro and Atkins that all is well and that the fanbase can basically expect more of the same old-same old in 2024 really irritates me. All is not well with this team, and the Rogers ownership doesn’t seem to overly care as long as revenue remains high.
I took Finn to his first Jays game in September, which was also my first since 2019. And while it was a fun experience with my son which generated a lot of memories for both of us, it pained me last week when he asked if we would be going back next year. There was no way I could adequately explain to him that this franchise would not be getting a dime out of me in any facet in 2024, so I just said, “We’ll see.” If ownership is unwilling to properly invest in the team’s future by bringing in competent management supplemented by a winning product on the field, I see no reason why I should continue to invest my time and money for more of that same old-same old. It has become severely old, as it were.
Being disillusioned with the state of professional sports and its severely-inflated ‘money first, fans second’ mentality in general, I’m not sure how much more I can give to ye olde Blue Birds. It’s been a mostly one-sided relationship the last several years. Maybe my frustration will have subsided by the time spring training opens up and I’ll have a renewed sense of optimism?
We’ll see.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you back here in a fortnight.
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This is a bi-weekly opinion column; for question or comment contact Dan McNee at dmcnee@midwesternnewspapers.com.
