Shapiro sees ‘no grounds’ to fire Blue Jays GM after disappointing year
“We left spring training objectively with a chance to to be a contending team and playoff team. And to me, that’s not grounds to make a change. … If I felt there was a better alternative to run our baseball operation, I’d make that change.”
Despite the Toronto Blue Jays finishing last in the American League East, team president Mark Shapiro confirmed on Wednesday that general manager Ross Atkins will retain his position.
During a season wrap-up conference, Shapiro acknowledged the disappointing outcome, with the Blue Jays ending at 74-88. He admitted both he and Atkins were not satisfied with the team's performance.
"Ross needs to improve. I need to improve. Our entire baseball operations team needs to improve," Shapiro stated, but also highlighted that under the current leadership, the Blue Jays have made the postseason in three of the past five years.
"We left spring training with an objective chance to be a contending and playoff team. To me, that's not a reason to make a change. If I believed there was a better option to lead our baseball operations, I would make that change."
Though the team reached the playoffs, all appearances were limited to the wild card round, where the Blue Jays failed to win a single game.
The players wrapped up their disappointing season with a three-game sweep against the Miami Marlins, where they were outscored 26-7.
Atkins was appointed by Shapiro in 2016 after the departure of former GM Alex Anthopoulos, who resigned, citing concerns about having the autonomy to run the team under Shapiro.
In Anthopoulos' final season as GM, the Jays finished with a 93-69 record and made it to the AL Championship series. Under Atkins, the team returned to the AL Championship series the following year with an 89-73 record.
