TORONTO — When Toronto Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro last spoke to the media before the season in March, he expressed optimism about a rebound from the team’s core, which he believed was ready to take the next step and lead a serious championship contender.
Four and a half months later, Shapiro addressed the media again and expressed how “bitterly disappointing” the Blue Jays’ performance this season was, finishing in last place.
“In the nine seasons I’ve experienced, this is the biggest discrepancy from our expectations,” said Shapiro, standing in front of the team’s bench. “That’s not to say we haven’t had difficult season finishes. That’s not to say we haven’t had seasons where we knew it was going to be a challenge for us, but this was by far the biggest discrepancy from our expectations and the biggest disappointment.”
During his 17-minute speech on Wednesday, Shapiro touched on several topics. In addition to what went wrong this season, Shapiro left open the possibility of Ross Atkins returning as the club’s general manager next season, he talked about the club’s intention to compete in 2025 and gave an outlook on future payroll.
Here are the key takeaways from Shapiro’s session with the media.
About the disappointment of the 2024 season
Shapiro called the bullpen “our Achilles heel all year long” and a major culprit for why the club failed to meet expectations, citing injuries and poor performances from key back-end relief pitchers.
Closer Jordan Romano’s season was significantly impacted by injuries. (Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
The weak offense and the fact that some regular players like George Springer, Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk did not perform as they had hoped were other reasons for the club’s subpar performance.
Shapiro said that now that the trade deadline has passed, the Blue Jays will focus on figuring out what went wrong and how they can improve.
“We have to learn. We have to get better,” Shapiro said. “I think the trade deadline was the beginning of that, making sure we get better from challenges, adversity and disappointments, but that has to happen in the way we build the team for next year.”
On the current working status of GM Ross Atkins and the coaching staff
With the transfer deadline over, the key question for the Blue Jays – especially given their increasingly frustrated fans – is whether Atkins will return as GM next season.
When asked directly whether Atkins, whose contract runs until 2026, would return, Shapiro replied: “I am very rarely unequivocal. When asked during the season or throughout my career, I have never made any comments about my job status and never will.”
“That being said, I’m a big believer in stability and continuity and that those are competitive advantages in professional sports and that reaction and change doesn’t necessarily mean improvement,” he continued. “We have to get better. We have to get better. And I think stability, continuity and adjustments are what I’m focused on right now.”
On the one hand, this answer suggests that he does not necessarily believe that a GM change would solve the team’s problems. On the other hand, it is not an explicit vote of confidence in Atkins and gives Shapiro room to decide one way or the other about Atkins’ future at the end of the season.
When asked how to weigh the benefits of stability versus a change that takes the club in a different direction, Shapiro said, “If you are sure you can be better, make a change.” However, he did not reveal in detail how he came to this conclusion.
As for the performance of manager John Schneider and the coaching staff, Shapiro said he would leave it to Atkins to comment on the specifics, but expressed his pleasure at how “solution-oriented” the coaching staff has remained.
“There was no blame and no finger-pointing,” Shapiro said. “They stayed consistent. They stayed committed to getting better, finding solutions and being part of our continued improvement. They were a source of strength in a very tough year, as were our players.”
Plans for 2025 and beyond
At the trade deadline, the Blue Jays could have conducted a complete sell-off, trading away stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bichette, and starters Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman to acquire a wealth of talent. While the Blue Jays traded away some players who still had control of the team (Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Nate Pearson), they mostly limited themselves to transferring players with expiring contracts, a decision that underscored their commitment to next season and beyond.
“We believe there is enough talent to build a competitive, championship-ready team next year,” Shapiro said. “If that weren’t the case, we would have made different decisions (at the deadline). That being said, there’s still work to be done to make sure we continue to develop the players here, identify players who could potentially contribute who are in our system but aren’t here, and understand what to expect from our veteran players and then better bring it all together and complement externally. There’s still a lot of work to do before we can make any definitive statements about ’25, but that intent is clear.”
Perhaps avoiding “definitive statements” about next season gives Shapiro the leeway to change course if the offseason doesn’t pan out as hoped. Playing with largely the same team for a third time can’t be the solution. This club has slipped over the past three seasons, going from 92 wins in 2022 to 89 wins in 2023 and on its way to 75 wins this season. Significant changes are needed, including rebuilding the bullpen, adding a starter or two and revamping the lineup.
Still, Shapiro said the team is confident that “there is enough talent in our system and on our team and we can draw on that from elsewhere to put together a (championship) core.”
As for how they can build a better team, Shapiro said he thinks the organization has done a good job of “identifying talent individually,” but “we haven’t done a great job of collectively putting that talent into a winning roster.” He said discussions about next year have focused on roster composition, handedness and the balance between offense and defense, though they’ll be able to be more specific about what the team needs going forward once the season is complete.
The next eight weeks will be about evaluating what they can expect from their experienced and young players next year and assessing the new players in the organization.
“Those three things, combined with learning from the mistakes we made this year and making sure we do a better job when we combine that talent with the talent we bring in from outside,” Shapiro said.
Regarding the possibility of extending the contracts of Guerrero and Bichette, who will be free agents after next season, Shapiro said only: “It is certainly easier to build a sustainable championship team when you have such talent on board for a longer period of time.”
On the payroll now and in the future
When the Blue Jays signed players from their MLB roster at the trade deadline, staying below the competition tax threshold was a secondary concern.
“Our main concern and relentless focus has been to bring talent into our system. We were aware of the CBT because it brings benefits to baseball – the draft picks where we select, but not something we were focused on,” the club president said.
Shapiro confirmed that the Blue Jays are currently just under the CBT threshold of $237 million, but noted that the number is “flexible” due to roster fluctuations throughout the season.
“Whether we are below that at the moment or not, which is quite easily the case, these things can change over the rest of the year,” he said.
In recent years, the Blue Jays have set franchise records for salary spending. Regarding their budget for next season, Shapiro said they are “not setting any salary in August,” but that “I wouldn’t assume there will be any major salary cuts.”
However, their performance on the field has affected their bottom line this year, Shapiro confirmed, saying: “When you lose, it affects sales.”
However, lower ticket sales would have “very little impact, if any” on baseball decisions, Shapiro said, but “there is a direct correlation between winning and fans coming to the stadium, so we have to win.”
When asked if the Blue Jays needed to make a splash early in the offseason to appease their angry fans, Shapiro said, “It’s important to get better and win.”
(Top photo of Shapiro: Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images)
