Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro on the team’s struggles this season, the future of Ross Atkins, next year’s budget, and more
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With the Blue Jays slowly trudging through the latter part of a lost season, President and CEO Mark Shapiro spoke to reporters in Toronto on Wednesday about what happened this year and what the plans are for next year.
Shapiro said that this season has been the biggest disappointment among his nine years with the Blue Jays. He also specifically mentioned the team’s bullpen, which ranks 28th in baseball in ERA, as something that’s been an Achilles all year.
“It’s not a mystery why we fell short of expectations. The bullpen has been an Achilles for us all year,” Shapiro said. “In the nine seasons I’ve been through here, this is the biggest disconnect between expectations and the biggest disappointment. We need to learn and we need to get better from that.”
The Blue Jays hired Shapiro in the summer of 2015 and he took over following the team’s run to the American League Championship Series that fall. The team went on another deep playoff run in 2016 but declined to 76 wins in 2017, 73 wins in 2018, and 67 wins in 2019 as the Blue Jays sought to build a new core.
With that new core, the Blue Jays returned to the playoffs with a 32-28 record during the shortened 2020 season and came up just one game short in 2021 despite improving to 91-71. The 2022 and 2023 seasons saw the Blue Jays win 92 and 89 games but get swept in the Wild Card round of the playoffs in back-to-back years. This year, they’re on pace to win 75 games, which would represent a similar single-year decline from the one the Blue Jays had between 2016 and 2017.
General manager Ross Atkins was hired by Shapiro shortly after he took over ahead of the 2016 season and every player currently in the organization other than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Luis De Los Santos are ones that he’s drafted, signed, or acquired. While Shapiro didn’t confirm whether Atkins will be back next season, he gave a passive vote of confidence by reiterating that he values continuity and stability.
“I very rarely am unequivocal about anything. Commenting on job status during the season is not something I’ve done or will do,” Shapiro said. “That being said, contextually, I’m a big believer in continuity and stability and think those are competitive advantages. The focus of my conversations with Ross is what can we learn about how we put the team together.”
Given Shapiro was comfortable letting Atkins guide the ship through a selling and retooling process at the trade deadline, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him remain in the same role through the off-season and into next year. He also added that questions about manager John Schneider are ones for Atkins to answer, though Shapiro said the coaching staff has been a “source of strength” for the team.
The team’s strategy ahead of the deadline was ultimately about “infusing talent into the organization.” Shapiro added that getting under the Competitive Balance Tax threshold was a secondary factor “because of the baseball benefits” rather than saving money.
“We had an open mind going into the deadline. That was evidenced by the (Isiah Kiner-Falefa) and Nate Pearson trades,” Shapiro said. “We were open to trading players that had control beyond this year. But ultimately, we believe in the players that we have, and we believe in the foundation between the young players that have transitioned, the players we acquired, and the veteran players we have in place.Now, we need to evaluate and make sure we have a core in place that’s championship-caliber, contending-caliber for next season and then supplement where we need to supplement.”
Shapiro acknowledged that sales have been impacted by the team’s on-field results but also added that he doesn’t expect a “large-scale pullback” when it comes to the budget for next season. The Blue Jays are still in the top-third when it comes to team payrolls after the trade deadline and the expectation is that they’ll be able to spend this winter.