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Ross Atkins and John Schneider deserved their new contract extensions, even if they haven’t been perfect
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Photo credit: © Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Ben Wrixon
Mar 24, 2026, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 24, 2026, 07:38 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays’ current leadership group is here to stay. 
The organization announced on Monday morning that vice president, baseball operations and general manager Ross Atkins agreed to a new five-year contract extension through 2031, and manager John Schneider inked a two-year deal that will keep him in charge through 2028. This news follows the signing of a long-term contract extension by President and CEO Mark Shapiro in December. 
All three have officially been rewarded for their work, which culminated in last season’s magical run to the World Series. However, it wasn’t long ago that fans were clamouring for them to be replaced. These extensions are nonetheless well-earned—even if the road that led the organization to where it is today wasn’t without its bumps. 
It’s hard to argue with where this trio has taken the Blue Jays. Their players came within two outs of winning a World Series in 2025, re-igniting Canada’s love for baseball in the process and firmly establishing the team as one of MLB’s main characters. 
Zooming out, the Blue Jays have made the playoffs four times in the last six seasons. That’s no small feat considering this same organization once went over twenty years without making the postseason from 1993-2015. This is the most consistently successful era of Blue Jays baseball since the glory days of the early 1990s. 
What can’t be forgotten, though, is how fruitless all those playoff appearances were before things finally clicked last year. That’s where things get more complicated for the trio of Shapiro, Atkins, and Schneider, as they haven’t always pulled the right strings. 
Their most egregious misstep was the analytics-driven decision to pull Jose Berríos early in the 2023 Wild Card round against the Minnesota Twins. This move backfired, led to the team’s elimination, and ultimately poisoned the well heading into 2024. It created a serious disconnect between them and the players that took a while to resolve. 
Then there are the trades that didn’t work. Shipping fan-favourite slugger Teoscar Hernández to the Seattle Mariners for now-retired reliever Erik Swanson was a head-scratcher. Several other bullpen misfires—Brad Hand chief among them—have also had their consequences. Even more recently, taking on the massive contract of Andrés Giménez doesn’t look like it was a wise choice. 
But, for all mistakes, it’s impossible to ignore how much good this trio has done. Shapiro has overseen the tremendous renovations to the Rogers Centre. Atkins is the man who signed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to his franchise-altering contract extension, as well as reeled in George Springer, Dylan Cease, and several others. Schneider, meanwhile, probably deserved to win AL Manager of the Year for the great work he did in 2025. 
The moral of the story is that nobody is perfect. Atkins and Schneider have made many mistakes, and probably will make several more during their time in Toronto. But they earned their new contracts on the strength of their overall resumes, which, contrary to what anyone might tell you, include far more good than bad. Leadership continuity matters. 
Now all that’s left to do is for this group to win it all—together. 

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