Oct. 1: In addition to Martinez, the Blue Jays are reassigning field coordinator Gil Kim and assistant pitching coach Jeff Ware, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. It seems they’ll remain with the club in other capacities but will no longer have direct roles on the major league staff. Assistant pitching coach David Howell is also slated for reassignment, per Davidi.
Kim was hired back in 2016, taking on the role of director of player development. He’s been on the big league staff since 2020. Ware was a minor league pitching coordinator and pitching coach in the Jays’ system for several years before joining the big league staff with a particular focus on the team’s bullpen in 2023. Howell was in his third season on the big league staff, and his focus has been on general pitching strategy.
Toronto will be on the lookout for some new staffers heading into the 2025 season and it’s possible that additional changes will be made.
Sept. 30: The Blue Jays are parting ways with hitting coach Guillermo Martinez, reports Scott Mitchell of TSN (X link). It’s the first change to John Schneider’s staff on the heels of a disappointing season.
Martinez has been Toronto’s hitting coach since the 2018-19 offseason. The Jays have also employed Don Mattingly as bench coach and offensive coordinator for the past couple seasons. However the Jays divided responsibilities between Mattingly and Martinez, they’ll look for a new voice at hitting coach.
The Jays had high expectations this year after winning between 89 and 92 games in each of the previous three seasons. Instead, Toronto finished at the bottom of the AL East with a 74-88 showing. The offense was a big part of that. The Jays finished 23rd in MLB with 671 runs. Their rate stats were closer to average. They hit .241/.313/.389, finishing between 13th and 20th in the slash categories. The Jays were 26th in home runs, though, certainly not providing the kind of power they’d anticipated. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. connected on 30 homers; no one else on the team reached 20.
Guerrero looks like a top 10 hitter in MLB. The Jays got promising work out of rookie infielder Spencer Horwitz. There wasn’t a ton else that went right for the team offensively. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Justin Turner were traded midseason. Leo Jiménez was the only other hitter (minimum 200 plate appearances) with a better than average wRC+, and his .229/.329/.358 line was marginally above par. Toronto’s biggest focus on the offensive side is getting Bo Bichette back on track. The star shortstop entered the 2024 campaign as a career .299/.340/.487 hitter. He hit .225/.277/.322 this season around a trio of injured list stints.
If the Blue Jays can part with their hitting coach, the Cardinals should do the same.
I mean, at least the Jays didn’t announce his replacement a year in advance while simultaneously stripping him of his duties but keeping him around so as not to pay him for nothing for a year.
Mozeliak has been with STL for 30 years. He’s spoken about his time coming to and end for 2+ years. I find it improbable that he has had little to no say in the transition to Bloom or in the hiring of him in the first place. One might be critical of Mo’s results or the choosing of Bloom, but my take is this is about the best example of adult professionals making mature decisions that your going to see in any pro sport.
@Rsox
Oddly enough, the Jays did do exactly this, although not officially.
Matt Hague had been the hitting instructor at AAA, and he came up last fall to help out. This season, he was the main hitting guy on the top rail at all the games and the players interacted a lot more with him then anyone else.
Guillermo seemingly disappeared during games. I rarely saw him more then once or twice a week.
The players, especially the young ones, really like Hague’s approach, apparently. Guillermo felt like the main hitting coach in name only this season. It sure looked from the outside as though he’d been shuffled down the pecking order.
You could be right. Other than Guerrero it seemed like every Jays hitter too steps backwards this season.
Personally, I’m not a fan of multiple hitting coaches because (and it showed here) i think that players will gravitate to whichever one they agree with, or whichever agrees with them more, rather than a team-cohesive approach
Ditto the Red Sox. Fatso needs to be canned.
I just hope Jerry Dipoto doesn’t hire him.
This is an excellent opportunity for Justin Turner. Respected in the clubhouse, knows the team, knows the opposition pitchers, knows Toronto. First step guys.
That’s a start! A few more need to pack their bags! Although it has been literally beaten to death, Shatkins duo needs to go. If that doesn’t happen nothing is going to significantly change in 2025! The players this team needs will never sign with those two at the helm. I feel awfully bad for players at the tail end of their careers who don’t have many years left, who desperately want to end on a winning team because as long as the owners continue to make money on this team they’re not going to be prepared to really get after and sign who they need to put a championship team on the field. Why spend more money when you are still making money. As long as they put a ”hopeful” team on the field Jays fans will continue to support them and the owners know it!
Nah, it doesn’t matter who is running the team. It will still be the only one outside the US. I don’t understand fully why that’s a problem for players, but it is. Its like the Rockies trying to sign FA pitchers. Unless they overpay to the point of the contract being an Instant albatross, they will sign elsewhere. Its not being cheap.
Yeah…agreed. The Skydome has been reconfigured such that the seats are presold to suits and corporations, rather than to families with kids. They can field a middling team and still fill the seats, instead of having to put together a competitive team to attract people and their wallets. The Jays were #1 in attendance in 2016…now finishing 9th. By reducing the number of seats, each ticket increases in price, to the point that it’s the kids that lose out on attending games. If you notice the crowd behind the home plate in the newly constructed section…they are not baseball fans. Most are eating and playing on their phones. They kicked the home plate lady out, and replaced with her with some corporate guy and his client. Same basic model the Leafs go by…and they haven’t won anything in 50 years, but still fill the barn every night,
It’s a poor product framed in a cheap atmosphere.
So while I agree with some of what you’re saying but it’s not so doom and gloom.
It’s still pretty affordable for kids and they created new spaces for kids that they never had before. The amount of money they poured in to the stadium should not be overlooked, and they created a much more fun experience for fans overall.
Yes it’s going to be more corporate in places but the jays were lagging behind a lot of teams in that regard so it’s a catch up. Much of the previous version of the park was not a great experience, you can’t have strong attendance without having casual fans in the park, it’s not blasphemy to build those spaces to encourage people to come
Not true. I flew out from Alberta to watch some games. The majority of the people there were families.
And the new stadium renos are great. It was a very positive experience.
Try getting out of your basement occasionally.
Typical MLBTR posters……
The Jays were 9th in MLB in salary….and much of that was given to older players past their prime that were radically overpaid for their production.
Learn about baseball and learn to THINK!
That’s the problem solved, fire Martinez! Sarcasm heavy. You can change all the players and all the coaches and it won’t matter because it’s Mark Shapiro in charge making these decisions. Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins need to be taken out of baseball leadership. Otherwise nothing will change.
True, but the Jays suck so any change is good change.
Exactly what Jimmertee says ….!
Wait, didn’t Shapiro say he like continuity in the organization when calls were being made to fire Atkins? Now that I think about it, he might have said hypocrisy instead of continuity.
@ Nosaint….You cannot believe a word shapiro or his lackie atkins say ….Period !
A year too late, this better only be the first domino to fall.
Whew…
‘One’ less coach to blame when we don’t hit/score in ’25
From your astute Braintrust – get used to additions by subtractions
(…by subtraction)
The team is rotten to the core. Dump the whole group and start fresh.
It’s absolutely gross that Atkins is still making decisions for this organization. He has better job security than a meteorologist
” Blue Jays Make Several Changes to Coaching Staff ” Just NOT the Right ones Yet !!!
The Cleveland Clowns have Got to Go …!!
Schneider needs to be replaced. I don’t feel as if the front office needs to go as much as others but the choice to give Schneider the job to begin with I felt was kind of a fluke move. While the hitting coach needed to be replaced the fact that the staff as a collective were almost all worse I can’t imagine that can be chalked up to Pete’s coaching. Schneider shoulda been replaced mid season when it was clear the team was not anywhere near the last few years levels
Eh I don’t like JS but I’d like to see him with a better roster and without involvement from the FO on pitching changes.
I think he’s the least of their problems
Make sure Mattingly is one of the other names!
Keep it going…right to the top!
Start by firing the Cleveland clowns!!!! Boycott them until Rogers gets the hint and cans them!
These are not the changes you’re looking for *waves hand*
shapiro and useless GM lackie atkins, press conference today….Watch the LIES get SPEWN out of BOTH of their Lieing mouths…Disgusting Cleveland Clowns !!