The Blue Jays have fired hitting coach Brook Jacoby and first-base coach Tim Leiper, according to a report from John Lott of The Athletic, later confirmed by GM Ross Atkins. Both coaches had a year remaining on three-year contracts signed prior to the 2017 season.
The firings are the first in what could be wholesale changes for the staff under new manager Charlie Montoyo, per the report. Montoyo, formerly the bench coach in Tampa, has deemed the assembly of a quality staff “very important” as he enters his first season as manager in the bigs.
Jacoby, 58, had manned the post since the start of the 2015 season. Prior to his tenure with Toronto, the 12-year big league veteran held the same position in Cincinnati for seven seasons.
His dismissal is a bit of a surprise for a Toronto team that received encouraging 2018 production from several first-year players in the wake of serious injuries to Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki. Rookies Billy McKinney, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Danny Jansen, Rowdy Tellez, and Dwight Smith Jr. all performed at an above-league-average rate this season, albeit in limited samples, and reclamation projects Aledmys Diaz and Randal Grichuk, stalled Cardinals both, again flashed the ability that had catapulted each to regular status in St. Louis. As a team, the Blue Jays’ 101 wRC+ tied for 8th in the major leagues, a marked improvement over last year’s paltry output. Still, it’s a lineup that, under Jacoby’s watch, failed to produce a single breakout star, and witnessed the rapid diminishment of once-promising second baseman Devon Travis, plus the total collapse of former regular Yangervis Solarte.
Leiper, 52, was a longtime manager in the minor leagues before being appointed to John Gibbons’ staff prior to the 2014 season.
Move over Jacoby the Bbuddies are coming
Bring in Chili!!
Firing Jacoby and Leiper is not the solution.
First let’s identify the problem:
1. No elite position players or starting pitching put in place by Shapiro and Atkins.
2. A far too late initiated rebuild that should have started at the end of 2016. and failure to accurately recognize the team needed rebuilding at the end of 2016.
3. Putting in place a constant stream of poor minor league depth and waiver claims calling them major leaguers. The professional scouting dept needed a rebuild too.
4. Lack of trades to acquire front line elite players.
5. Lying to the fans about being competative.
Time to fire Atkins at least.
Jays still at decent talent at the end of 2016, and outside of Boston, the division seemed like it was relatively weak for the first time in years. But you know, Aaron Judge happened, thus spelling the end of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Not to mention the fact that they made the LCS that year…
Atkins has only been the GM for 3 seasons so it’s hard to place to blame on him. In his 1st year TOR made it to ALCS so TOR fans would’ve blasted Atkins if a rebuild started. He got Smoak on a good contract after 16′ and made a mistake with Bautista. Overall he hasn’t been terrible considering what he had to work with.
Lack of trades to get front line elite players…..how do you assume they do that without trading Vlad or Dante? And looking back in hindsight…Stroman? You say he failed to bolster the minor league system, start a rebuild, and acquire front line elite players…..those all go hand in hand.
Come on, guys, don’t argue with jimmertree. He has godlike psychic powers, overseeing all levels of baseball and 27 interstellar dimensions! He predicted everything that happened in the 2018 season — or so he told us after it happened. See? It is futile to resist!
The best was his prediction that donaldson would never be traded… until he was. Then he never said that. Lol
I think Dante is going to be a key building block once we acquire a guy actually named Dante
If you are referring to Bichette, he projects as a below average major leaguer. He won’t be a building block for any team.
Vlad projects as a star and can be a bigtime building block.
Yes, the same Bichete who ranks 11-15 on the lists of top 100’s in all of baseball is projecting to be a below average major leaguer. Must be a pretty negative list for the rest!
What proprietary data are you using to project Bichette’s future? If you’re going to go against industry consensus you should probably have some credentials/evidence to back up your claims
Signing Morales was, I think Atkins worst move but would signing Encarnacion to 80 million been a better move? I also agree with trading Donaldson during the offseason would of been ideal, but that’s easy to say in hindsight, nobody would of predicted him playing what? 32 games, and they’re infield depth didn’t look as rosy to start the season either.
If Sanchez and Stroman come back and anchor the rotation like they can, and they get some bullpen help, they should be competitive next year, I definitely see some trades coming this offseason, should be an interesting off season, to see which way they go. Def see Stroman maybe being traded if they get a good package. Smoak should net a couple okay prospects, and maybe Martin might get a decent prospect with salary going other way.
They might as well release Tulowitzki that has the potential for a huge distraction, but I doubt they’d want to eat all of that. Maybe he can be a first base coach for Lieper lol
If Sanchez and Stroman come back and anchor the rotation like they can, they will barely be above .500.
JAysFan, I agree with many of your points. Time to go all in on the trading and releasing.
I don’t think we’ll see both Stroman and Sanchez back to form. I suspect Sanchez has a much higher upside now that the finger has been surgically repaired. Stroman is not an ace, never will be. He is capable of a big game performance here and there but can hardly keep it together consistently. He blows up on the mound every second game and allows a boatload of runs. I still think Stroman can be an elite closer.
That would mean trading Ken Giles for quality prospects and giving stroman[or sanchez depending on the finger] a shot at it.
Why would Toronto want either pitcher to move to the bullpen? Their team won’t win 85 games next year, there’s no motivation to move them into the bullpen. They’ll either succeed as starters or fail as starters.
I’m not the only one who beleives that Snachez and Stroman would excel in the pen.
I’m not going into names, never do, but many in the baseball community beleive that if a starter can’t make it and he has very good stuff the next step is closer and if that doesn’t work then setup guy.
The only question about Stroman and Sanchez is how close are the Jays to trying the pen with these guys. A year of failure isn’t enough?
^Jimmer what if the Jays put Hentgen in the bullpen after an awful 1995 season?
Look, a lot of arms could become really good relievers. It used to be that guys went to the bullpen because they couldn’t start or their arms prevented them from being starters anymore. Think Wade Davis for the former and Danny Cox for the latter.
Jays are not close in any regard to put them in the bullpen. They lack arms. Plus they need one to get hot so they can deal them.
‘Not going to name names’ he says lol
Stroman had thrown 200 innings of 3.09 ERA baseball the year prior, like in 2017. He’s been a 3 WAR pitcher in 3 separate seasons. It’s frankly preposterous that you would suggest he’s not capable of starting.
Super, you need to learn how to read. I said he’ll be a 3 as a starter but I beleive he would be elite as a closer. Others in baseball beleive the same.
I did not say he is not capable of starting. Get it right.
They made the ALCS in 2016, why would they have rebuilt then?
Heh…. I can see why people on various Blue Jays forums make fun of you, jimmertee.
The Blue Jays were a bottom-5 farm system at the end of 2015, and it was pretty much Anthony Alford that prevented them from being bottom-2. Now they’re a consensus top-5 farm system, something they haven’t been since…. what, the early 1980s?
Atkins and the organization are doing the exact things they need to do in order to get into a position where they can trade for high-end players.
They’re also drafting and developing MLB-capable position players, which is something the team was absolute garbage at for many years. Like, seriously, name a Blue Jays drafted + developed position player that’s in the majors today, other than Kevin Pillar.
Who cares about the farm system. It didn’t matter to Dombrowski or stearns and they got their teams back into contention in 2 years or less. This farm system building thing is just a red herring becuase the Jays executive can’t build a mlb level winner.
Your #2 complaint (and really #3 as well) was they took too long to start rebuilding and weren’t doing a good job of it, yet when faced with evidence of the rebuilding going well you say no one cares about that, that it’s a red herring, and that they really should have been building a Major League winning club over that time instead?
Interesting take
Perhaps I haven’t be clear or communicated well.
Rebuilding a farm system is not the focus. It cannot be the focus and it is never the problem. When Drombroski hit the Sox, he correctly assessed the team which Atkins and Shaprio did not with the Jays. Yes I and others called in correctly at the end of 2016 theh 2017 Jays would be crap..
Dombrowksi immediately traded 4 prospects for Kimbrel. and followed up with trades for Sale, Pomeranz, Smith, Thornburg, Ziegler etc etc. He signed quality players in FA. We don;t see the crappy minor leaguers on the MLB level RedSox that Atkins contnues to funnel onto the Jays MLB club.
Dombrowski didn’t trade everyone he kept the ones he knew where going to be good and traded to fill in the holes with elite players.
Dombroski did the same when he hit Detroit. He now has
2× World Series champion (1997, 2018)
National League champion (1997)
3× American League champion (2006, 2012, 2018)
1990 UPI Executive of the Year
2006 Baseball America Executive of the Year
2011 co-Sporting News Executive of the Year (Doug Melvin the other recipient)
Andrew “Rube” Foster Award
Lou Boudreau Hall of Fame inductee
What has SHapiro or Atkins done?
The thing to take away is HOW Dave does it. He doesn’t focus on the minor league systems, he trades whatever he has got and signs big money free agents, to bring in elite players at every position. It isn;t about waiting for the farm system to improve, it is about winning now.
Except you’re missing the complete concept of having any semblance of a farm system to trade for these so called mlb studs. If other teams don’t like your farm, how can you expect to trade any of them for anything of quality?? So ignoring the farm makes zero sense. And let’s also factor in that the Canadian dollar and tax system comes into play for three team as well. Rogers is always going to answer to shareholders first… that’s the problem with corporate ownership. Dont expect them to be blowing past $200M rosters any time soon.
Dombrowski was GM in Detroit back in 2002. He oversaw their 43-119 (.265) 2003 season. He had 6 .500 or lower finishes in his first 9 seasons there. Yes, they lucked out when making the wildcard in 2006, but that luck evaporated quickly after, and it was back to under 500 in 2008.
It wasn’t until the team became a top payroll in the game, in an attempt to buy a championship for Mr I, that Dombrowski starting fielding a more consistent winner in Detroit (but even that was short lived before it collapsed into a sub-500 season)
Similarly he took over the Red Sox when they were trying to get under the tax threshold. Starting in his first season he was allowed to spend as much money as he could to try and buy a win. He’s spent north of 820 million in his 4 seasons in Boston, and that doesn’t even include all the future commitments he’s agreed to
So Dombrowski is really a case of ‘spend enough money and you’ll probably eventually make it to the WS’ – but when not allowed to spend money his track record isn’t great at all
(Funny side story; prior to his time in Detroit and Boston, he was ironically known for building up weak farm systems, and turning losing franchises into threats because of it, for the Expos and Marlins – the very thing you are complaining Tor should not be doing!!!)
So your complaint really is that the team doesn’t have a 200m payrol to be able to win with, and that’s the fault of Shapiro & Atkins? (And that instead of being a 200m spending front office like you wish, they are incorrectly acting like Dombrowski did when building his reputation in Mon and Fla – which is bad in your mind)
To be completely honest, looks more like you are complaining just to complain, with no real logic behind it at all.
Agreed except I never said to ignore the farm system. Obviously Dombroski, Cashman, Stearns and Gillick never ignored the farm system but it shouldn’t be the focus or the reason a club can’t compete.
Not having a top ten farm system never stops the best GMs.
The Jays are the richest owner in MLB Baseball. They need to keep the payroll even with the Yanks and the Sox or Dodgers. No excuses.
Wnen the Jays won in 92 and 93 their payroll was the highest in baseball. And they had a brillient , elite GM in Gillick.
Look at Dave Dombrowskis whole career, why pick and choose the one of two bad things of HALL OF FAME level GM? That’s illogical.
Wake up and smell the coffee. The Jays are not going to win anything at the MLB level with Shapiro and Atkins. The goal is to win at the MLB level isn;t it?
“Look at Dave Dombrowskis whole career, why pick and choose the one of two bad things of HALL OF FAME level GM? That’s illogical.”
That is exactly what you are trying to do; ignore all the constant losing seasons he produced in Fla and Det (16 seasons without a top payroll, merely 1 wild card appearence that happened to result in a WS birth over those years) to instead focus on the few times he got to try and buy a trip to the WS in 1997 with the Marlins, early 2010s with the Tigers and now since 2015 in Boston – that, in your mind, makes him a model GM everyone should try to emulate and exactly what Shapiro and Akins should be (despite them not being allowed to be a top spending team in the league – something you fault them over, not the owner, because of course)
Again, just complaining to complain – and to try and manufacture that complaint, using as an example a GM that didn’t do well at all when he wasn’t able to buy his way into the playoffs (ironically saying Shapiro&Atkins should be more like him, while complaining when they are just like him when he didn’t have the payroll) It all really shows why you’re the laughing-stock
Sure, technically they are the richest owners based on Rogers being a corporation. But their main revenue comes from cable/internet/telco, not from the Jays!!!! Even in 2015/2016, the money the Jays brought in was a drop in the bucket compared to what the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox brings in thanks to amazing TV deals.
So no, the Jays won’t have a payroll like those teams as it will bring losses for Rogers. Why would they as a public traded company?!?
But they can be in the top ten in payroll, which many teams would love to have!
Stick to scouting jimmertree.
“Who cares about the farm system” says jimmer who claims to be a scout.
Paul, what that means is that the farm system is not the focus or reason the Major League club is not playoff bound. When a blogger focusses on the farmsystem as a reason for not being successful at the major league level, they are totally out to lunch.
Whether a MLB team is winning or losing, the farm/drafting director sole task is to keep the funnel as full as possible of talent but in no way does it affect a GM from a high spending club to fieid a high end team every year.
So when I see folks commenting that farm system “this” and the farm system “that”, it doesn’t matter to the MLB club, esecially one as wealthy as the Jays. Hence, “who cares about the farm system”. Please don;’t drink the Jays don;t have money KoolAid, money can fix a poor farm system if the executive has the stones and wisdom. Never held Beeston or Gillick back.
Yep jimmertree, you’re right. Let’s just do what the marlins did. Trade away everything for talent, win once, dismantle, wait another decade til the farm system can trade up for talent, win again, now everyone’s doing it.
I don’t like the new
Mgmt in TOR either but they did it in Cleveland and now the tribe are set to win for years!
Jimmer. Who did the Red Sox trade for Chris Sale? And Craig Kimbrel?
Your team doesn’t need to be homegrown (Bogaerts/Betts/Benintendi/Bradley Jr…) but if you don’t have viable young talent you are operating with less currency than any teams. You can weaponize your minor league system, but you need one to use.
Just like AA traded away Syndergaard/Norris/DeSclafani/Hechavarria/Marisnick/Buccera/d’Arnaud/Boyd/Hoffman/Tinoco/Barreto/Nolin/Graveman to build that 2016 team. Learn your Jays history.
Good take
Owners wanted to keep the ball rolling after the highest attendance in the American League, they had to wait a year on the rebuild because of this. They knew the roster was aging and hands were tied and were pushed to try and field an aging winner. Now the rebuild commences with the third best minor league system,, I think I’ll keep shapkins around for a while.
Let’s see if you want Shapikins around 3 years from now when the Jays haven’t won anything extending the drought to 5 years under them. It was 12 years in Cleveland[2002-2014] without a world series appearance let alone a WS win under Shapiro.
As far as the owners wanting to keep the ball rolloing, I don’t buy that for a minute. In fact, I am calling that as HS.
It is the [competent] baseball people that advise the ownership if the team can compete for a championship and it is up to the same Jays executive to tell the Board there is no chance of winning. They blew it pure and simple.
Their hands weren’t tied. They chose to tie their own hands and advised the fans they were trying to be competative. Is it all about the money and not winning or good baseball decisions at the MLB level? Remember Mat Latos? Perfect illustration of one of many stupid baseball decisions that could never result in a championship.
I am asking the fans to please stop defending Shapiro and Atkins and start demanding MLB level moves for Elite players.
jimmertee just hated the Jays. as simple as that. Throwing logic at them is as useful as a knat hitting its head on the hoover dam
Please don’t assume or speak for me, that’s not polite or professional.
I love the Jays. I shared in Season tickets for years, then flex packs for years. No hate about it.
I travelled to spring training most years for 10 year period to see them.
I love the Jays, just can’t stand the current level of Mgmt. I want the Board of directors to bring in an Elite GM and Pres of the order of a cashman or Dombrowksi or Gillick. SHapiro and Atkins aren;t the solution.
I think at this point we’re going to have to see the expense reports you filed as a scout.
I’m only saying that because you seem to constantly be trying to pass yourself off as a professional baseball scout.
Otherwise, you’re kind of the target of a whole lot of far better-educated baseball fans who disagree with the prehistoric stuff you say. Producing some credentials would probably be your only vindication at this point.
I think there’s a few factors at play Jimmer, that you might be overlooking or not giving enough credence to.
1. Sign free agents. The Jays payroll in 2015/2016 hovered around $140M to $150M. The top teams (i.e. Boston) were around $225M last year. Getting Jays ownership (Rogers) to increase team payroll to be akin to the top spenders is probably an unrealistic expectation, given that no other GM/Pres combination (in the Rogers era, forget the Gillick era) has done before. So expecting Shapiro and Atkins to be able to do so, is like i said, probably unrealistic.
2. If Rogers were looser with the purse strings, then Jose Bautista would likely be a Jay at the price of 5 years and $150M. So if you’re going to discredit Shapiro and Atkins for not influencing Jays ownership to spend money, you should also give them credit for avoiding what would have been dead money on the roster.
3. Speaking of dead money, theres about $40M of that in the form of Martin and Tulo. Those are not Shapiro and Atkins fault. That’s the remnants of AA. At the time, in 2015, those moves made absolute sense. We got rid of Jose Reyes and replaced his bad contract with an equally bad one. And we all expected that, in years 3-5 of those contracts, we might feel some pain. And we’re feeling it now. Sure, they could influence other teams to take on those contracts, most likely only by offering to pay for 80% or more, and taking on a fringe player in return. But, we’re still paying those salaries, doesn’t solve our competitiveness gap, and see problem in #1 re: payroll won’t increase to bring on more players.
4. As you pointed out in some posts above, other GM’s have built winners by trading prospects for elite players. We did that in 2015, when AA sold most of the farm (which, coincidentally, the only real bad move there was Syndegaard, all other prospects we traded have not panned out as stars). But nonetheless, the farm was bare, so this is not an avenue Shapiro and Atkins could use when they came aboard. So, building the farm system to hopefully flip some prospects for MLB impact players in the future is the right move.
5. Bringing on players like Mat Latos, and the barrage of pitchers that we had in 2017 wasn’t with the intention to win a championship. It was directly related to most of our pitching staff spending 50% or more of the season on the DL.
Given the above, at current moment, I dont see what levers they realistically can pull to make MLB level moves for Elite players. If you have specific things you’d do though, love to hear what those specifics are. How would you specifically accomplish the things you’re asking for?
My frist take would be somehting like this, but this will change even as early as approaching the rule 5 draft where every team is forced to make moves.
If we look at most teams[not all] that have won the world series they have had a true #1 ace pitcher and then a solid staff behind them. Dombrowksi got Sale, Houston got Verlander, the Giants had MadBum etc etc.
let’s assume the Budget is now 230 Million.
The first step to rebuilding the Jays is the rotation. As of today Nov 04 2018, Stroman is a 3. Sanchez finger is still not resolved, so lets assume he’s a 3 if he can pitch at all; Borucki is a 3 now and with his new weightlifting regimen he should be a 2 in two years; ReidFoley has no idea where the ball is going, he’s a 4; Gaviglio is 5; Pannone is unknown because of PED’s. Pannone would be a bullpen guy except for his PED boost to a 3-4. We’ll see the real Pannone this year.
1. Sign Patrick Corbin to be Jays #1 starter., then Borucki, Stroman, Sanchez, RediFoley/Gaviglio. Corbin is the only FA alpha dog I like this year.
2. Cut Mark Leiter Jr, , replace him and recently claimed Fernandez with elite setup releivers. Buy them or trade for them.
3. SPring training competation for catcher. Carry 2 catchers North: Likely Jansen and Martin. Cut Maile. Macguire to minors.
4. Outfield: Pillar Center, Grichuk Right, ALford and Hernandez Left; Trade Mckinney or option before he sucks more than he has. Cut Dalton Pompey, send Davis to Minors. Dwight Smith Jr is MLB depth and is I beleive out of options.
5. First Base: trade Smoak, Morales to first or released; Tulo to first or DH.
6. 2nd Base.: Trade Travis, Drury to 2nd, Diaz Backup
7. SS: Gurriel Jr, Urena Backup
8. 3RD base: Diaz, with Drury/Urena backup
There are a few spots left which I assume will be filled by minor leaguers making good and getting promoted. This team will win nothing. So all the while a good GM with try to upgrade every position except for Gurriel Jr and Jansen.
that’s it for now.
Yeah I think your assume the payroll is $230MM is where this trips up. Lol. Like I said above, the payroll is now at $140MM with $40MM of dead money given to Tulo and Martin. Convincing Rogers to increase payroll by $80-90MM is not likely in happening. That’s not a fault of Shapiro and Atkins – its a function of Rogers as the owner.
Are there moves you would make, where you think we can get Elite players, with the current payroll/roster? Can’t speak for everyone else here, but that’s why I give Shapiro and Atkins some benefit of the doubt. They’re trying to make the best of a situation with whats likely a fixed payroll, with 30% tied up to 2 players who are on the wrong side of their prime.
Exactly. Any team could be successful if they had 230M to spend annually… holding Shapiro and Atkins responsible is asinine right now. They can’t increase the budget they have, nor can they easily remove the $42M that’s Tulo and Martin. That’s 25% of their current budget! Show us how you’d turn this team around with the current restrictions and no increase…. otherwise, you can’t be taken seriously.
JAys for Days why are you assuming that they cannot increase the budget? I am told they can but choose not too, so I am not buying into the poor man cry KoolAid.
Who is telling you this?
^Front office GMs have been saying this since Ricciardi. Who do you listen to?
Rogers is loaded. Compared to the luxury tax the team has never spent to where they must to show all of the baseball they are the team to beat and are looking to win everything. They haven’t done that since Gillick. They spent, they developed, they won.
Now we hear excuses and most Jays fans on this site buy it.
They have been saying they have money but choose not to spend it? Lol
Rogers is rich. The Blue Jays are not always profitable. They cannot operate at a loss, it’s a publicly traded company and they have investors to answer to.
The Jays haven’t had a championship caliber team since gillick. This might surprise you but they’re often related to one another.
Good observation, winning and a big budget are often connected.
FYI, during the Beeston as President of the Jays era, he was never turned down by Rogers when he went to ask for money. never.
That changed with the new Rogers CEO. He threatened to sell the Jays because they were not a part of the core assets. He still might do that because his God is money.
It is sad how this team under the NEW Rogers CEO and under Shapiro, his lap dog have been in decline at the major league level.
Fans need to know that the “now great” miinor league system does not have nearly enough elite talent to bring this mess back within the next fews years.
Well, this certainly is a solid illustration of your utter inability to recognise MLB baseball as a business.
1) They inherited a farm system decimated by Alex Anthopolous’s acquisition of other teams’ free agent contracts. Due to these bloated contracts and no farm system, how were they going to acquire those elite players? Feel free to use your #scoutseyes to provide a couple examples.
2) After leading the league in attendance, it would’ve been suicidal from a business perspective to gut the team and go into full rebuild mode. Shapiro and Atkins knew the window had closed but they couldn’t admit it because the team still had to actually sell some tickets.
3) You mean all those scouts who did such a great job under Anthopoulos? The team hasn’t developed a quality position player in over ten years. Please provide examples of the “constant stream of poor minor league depth and waiver claims” that Shapiro and Atkins have called major-leaguers.
4) See #1.
5) See #2
Put those #scoutseyes to work, jimmertee.
1. They inherited a decimated farm system by Ricciardi and then AA. AA improved the farm only slightly and there has been minimal success from the homegrown talent from his tenure. The best players may be the ones he could not sign.
2. After leading the league in attendance, Rogers decided to penny pinch. Yes they were in the upper-tier of league payroll. When they needed to spend $175 to win, they paid $145-155. Rogers, despite being the richest owners in baseball, made bad business decisions in other entities and used the revenues from baseball to offset the losses.
3. You are 100% correct. But watch out, the Anthopoulos fan club on this site might be offended by your accurate point.
Yah I got that, their claws are out.
Is TrimReaper your burner
No. Jimmer doesn’t exploit your incompetence like I can. And do.
lol. made my day.
I guess I’m supposed to be mean on my keyboard than to respectfully disagree with you Jimmer. My apologies. I’ll be more despicable next time.
When a new Manager comes in, they normally want to bring in their own coaches so this isn’t new.
So going on (yet again) about the hate for the front office has nothing to do with the firing of two coaches.
Dude… just stop. You keep saying “elite players” like it actually means something. Give us an example of an “elite player” you want the jays to acquire, and what you would give up for them. Maybe you if actually provided proof to your claims and didn’t spout uneducated statements you wouldn’t be as hated on here as you are.
Jimmy needs more to do. Like….a lot more. #scoutseyes
[myTeam] totally should have started a rebuild immediately at the end of [lastGoodSeason]. It was blatantly obvious to everyone that year that despite the fact that they won [lastGoodSeason.winTotal] games and nearly won the [lastGoodSeason.playoffAdvancement] they should have immediately blown the team to smithereens.
Lmao so true
They both seem like good coaches that could work out well for other organizations, especially Jacoby.
Both Jacoby and Leiper are quality baseball men and good people. They will land on their feet.
Maybe they read MLBTradeRumors and they’ll give you a job washing their cars.
I think Jacoby Ellsbury has ruined it for all other Jacobys in baseball.
who cares I want an early free agent signing!!
Jacoby dismissal is not surprising at all. The Jays approach at the plate has been awful for a few years. They have no plate discipline & have no idea what a strike is. The offense is homer heavy & that is what Jacoby preached. The Jays have needed a new approach & a new voice. With a new manager in the fold, it was a perfect time to move on from Jacoby
It’s a shame you never watched or appreciated Jose Bautista’s control of his at bats.
If only he could keep his emotions under control when a borderline pitch was called a strike.
When you know the strike zone better than umpires I imagine it would be very difficult. It’s affecting his livelihood, I can’t imagine I would be pleased if someone was taking money away from me.
Bautista knows the strike zone better? Yeah, suuuuuuuuuure.
The Jays are resetting, and the new manager should bring in their players. Otherwise, why hire the manager if you don’t trust their decisions to help the team in various areas?
Rivera should not be the 3rd Base Coach. Not saying he should be fired but he’s not very good as base coach.
Some of you have mentioned when the Jays should have begun the rebuild process. Well, 2016 was too early, Shapiro/Atkins started it late. That was by design to prolong their stay in power (see: Ricciardi, JP). By starting late, they hurt their leverage with certain guys (Donaldson, Stroman, Osuna, and because nobody needs a 1B, Smoak).
This is a team that needs to grow over the next couple years. This is a project that could be a long one, or a short one depending on how and when Rogers and the front office choose to spend.
With the benefit of hindsight it’s very easy to point this all out
Hindsight? 37-45 going into the 4th of July.
44-54 as of July 23. Hindsight still?
48-56 as of July 29. How much more did the front office needed to hit reset?
Hindsight….ha, nice try.
I don’t know if you’re talking about 2017 or 2018, but they would’ve been over .500 in 2017 had Sanchez been pitching. They were a .500 team when you take away the Latos, Lawrence, etc starts. And Donaldson was kind of ineffective. I don’t think it’s offside to say that they could’ve competed, whether you use hindsight or not. Don’t forget the Yankees were supposed to be awful in 2017, so the division was wide open going into the season.
They couldn’t trade Donaldson in July because he was on the DL lol
^Check your facts StupidStinker, Donaldson played nearly every game in July 2017. A few teams were ready to get him, Jays didn’t like the offers.
As for JDGoat…yes please tell every Yankees fan that 2017 was supposed to be an “awful” year. Then come June they are suddenly in the race at 30-20, and then 10 games above .500 going into the trade deadline. You’d be upset if the Jays did nothing in the same position as the Yankees.
We also couldn’t say the Jays would be over .500 if Sanchez was pitching. That’s ridiculous. Very few pitchers can win 10 more games than they lose come mid-season. That is what it would have taken for the Jays to be above .500 at the deadline. Your math doesn’t add up.