Blue Jays: Charlie Montoyo is charming even when trying to be mad

Charlie Montoyo spoke of his frustrations after the Blue Jays were swept at the hands of the Twins, and even with some foul language, he’s still an impossibly likeable character.

Just when it looked like the Blue Jays had woken up and might make the 2019 season interesting, they’ve dropped five in a row and eight of their last ten, falling back to 15-22.

It’s bad enough when you lose that many games in a short period of time, but it gets worse when the scoreboard is as ugly as it was in the series with the Twins. The Blue Jays were outscored 20-1 in the three-game stretch, scoring their only run on a solo shot from Billy McKinney when the game was out of reach in the series finale.

Things eventually hit a boiling point when the going gets tough, and Montoyo saw his first ejection on Monday night, and even spoke with the media on Wednesday after the sweep and used some choice words to describe the performance of his young team.

“I’m usually very positive, but we didn’t play good the last three days. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses for this and that because we didn’t play good baseball. My kids know it, I know it, so I’m not going to insult your intelligence by saying ‘we did this’ or ‘we did that’. We did not play freakin’ good baseball over the last three days. We got hit. We didn’t hit. So it was not very good. Thank God tomorrow is an off day so here we freaking go. We’re going to keep f—ing working hard. That’s all I got.”

You can’t blame the first-year skipper for the way he’s describing things, and he’s absolutely right that the team just didn’t perform at home against the Twins. There is no reason to make excuses, and while we can point a few fingers (when are they going to cut Socrates Brito anyway?), it was a team effort in futility.

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The thing is though, even when he’s trying to be angry Montoyo still has a certain charm about him. I know there is a section of the fan base that isn’t particularly fond of some of his early decision-making, but this guy is really hard not to like.

Maybe it’s because he spent so many years honing his craft in the minor leagues, or that he clearly loves his job even when the team is losing. Whatever it is, he’s mostly won me over even though I’ve openly wondered why guys like Brito and Alen Hanson were getting playing time, or why he felt the need to pinch-run for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Those are small transgressions in the grand scheme of things.

Overall, I see a man that can’t help but have a small smile on his face even when he’s trying to be mad. He’s clearly excited about coming to work every day, and the potential of the young players that make up this franchise. I’m not suggesting that he’s not to be taken seriously when he’s “angry”, but as a fan, I can’t help but chuckle a little bit when we’ve had a brief window into that side of his management style.

I’m willing to bet that the warmth that he emulates from the dugout and on camera is something that his young players feel as well, and even though we’ve only watched 37 mostly frustrating games, I like what I’ve seen so far from Montoyo. I also believe that he’s the right man for the job, especially when the most important part of that gig will be nurturing young players like Guerrero Jr., Danny Jansen, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and eventually others like Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichette.

In the meantime, I’m willing to bet that Montoyo will see much better days as the skipper of the Toronto Blue Jays, and something tells me he’ll be smiling either way.