Frustrated fans torch Blue Jays brass, Mark Shapiro over decision to keep GM Ross Atkins: ‘Pathetic franchise’

After zero playoff wins since 2016 and in the aftermath of an absolutely disastrous season for the Toronto Blue Jays, fans were rightfully clamouring for big changes within the organization heading into the offseason.

A frustrated fanbase, which trudged through a hopeless 2024 campaign, held out hope those changes would come on Wednesday when the club held its end-of-season press conference. However, it became immediately obvious that, once again, team president Mark Shapiro won’t be making the move to fire longtime general manager Ross Atkins, even after finishing dead last in the American League East division by a long shot with 74 wins.

Instead, Shapiro is sticking with his guy — for one more season, at least.

“There won’t be a change with Ross,” Shapiro said to kick off the press conference. “The reason for that is, you know, the process that I went through to consider whether or not there would be a change with his role was one of both considering alternatives and looking at the work that’s been done.”

Shapiro elaborated on the decision to keep Toronto’s maligned GM in the mix for at least another season, essentially saying the four years prior to this one weren’t quite bad enough to justify making a change at GM.

“I also think about the fact that we played in the playoffs three of the past five years and that for the past five, we played meaningful games in September, that each of the past four, we left spring training objectively with a chance to be a contending and playoff team,” Shapiro said. “And to me, that’s not grounds to make a change.”

The Blue Jays president also said the quiet part out loud, implying that Atkins is the best person for the job right now because of a lack quality options available to replace him.

“If I felt there was a better alternative to run our baseball operations, I’d make that change.”

No matter Shapiro’s reasoning, Blue Jays fans were understandably rattled to the core over the news — or lack thereof — with many flocking to social media to torch Atkins, along with Shapiro and the team for giving him a 10th season at the helm despite a shaky track record at best.

Shapiro’s underwhelming presser could be summed up with this wild exchange between the Blue Jays prez and provocative Toronto sports writer Rosie DiManno.

Yikes:

Though it’s going to fall on mostly def ears, Shapiro did, kind of, take some responsibility for where the team is at.

“This past season was a bitter disappointment. The accountability and responsibility lies with me,” said Shapiro, adding, “Ross needs to be better, I need to be better, our entire baseball operations need to be better.”

It’s no easy job to to sit in front of a tense gaggle of media and trot out reasons for fans to be optimistic, and Shapiro tried. But it was absolutely not a good day in front of the mic for the Blue Jays president, who was torched by Blue Jays media for many of his responses and comments on Wednesday.

Some changes, though minimal, have been made since the team ended its atrocious 2024 season on Sunday.

On Tuesday, the club parted ways with hitting coach Guillermo Martinez, who has been with the Blue Jays since 2018. The team also announced that Don Mattingly will return to the position of full-time bench coach after spending the 2024 campaign as the club’s offensive coordinator, while Gil Kim (field coordinator) and assistant pitching coaches Jeff Ware and David Howell will be moving into new, minor-league roles.

It also appears polarizing manager John Schneider will be back for another shot at it next season. Asked how he thinks his skip did this past campaign, Shapiro said: “Good job. He keeps getting better and will continue to get better.”

Shapiro and Atkins’ group — one that was constructed largely before the pair arrived — last won a playoff game during the pair’s first season at the helm in 2016. Since then, it’s been a rocky ride to say the least. Here’s how the club has fared over the past nine campaigns.

With little-to-no success on the field, it hasn’t been much better on the organization-building side of things. The team’s prospect pipeline is pretty week, with the club’s farm system ranking 24th out of 30 teams, according to MLB.com.

Atkins is signed through 2026 after inking a five-year extension with the organization back in 2021.