Blue Jays: Charlie Montoyo has been fired

According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Toronto Blue Jays have fired manager Charlie Montoyo.

The move comes one day after the club was able to snap a four game losing streak and after they had lost nine of their last 11 games.  At the time of the firing, the Blue Jays hold down the final Wild Card spot in the American League, but are fourth in the AL East, which is below what many had expected for the team in 2022.

Montoyo was fired midway through his fourth season as the team’s manager and will be finishing with a .500 record with 236 wins and losses to his name.  He will end up fifth all-time in wins by a Blue Jays manager sitting behind John Gibbons, Cito Gaston, Bobby Cox and Jimy Williams.

I am not sure that the timing is the right move, but I also don’t believe Montoyo is the right guy to be the manager of a World Series contending team.  I found he misused his bullpen too often early in the seasons, that has led to burn out, and I did not agree with a lot of his in-game decisions.  With that being said, Montoyo had one of the toughest manager jobs in baseball as during COVID he had to deal with having multiple home fields, as in 2020 the club had no games in Toronto, and in 2021 the season was split between Dunedin, Buffalo and Toronto.

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Charlie Montoyo finished with a 236-236 record over three and a half seasons as the Blue Jays manager while dealing with COVID and several home fields.

There has been no announcement on who the replacement will be, but I wouldn’t be against John Schneider receiving the interim managers job to how he does with it for the remainder of the season.  Schneider is the current bench coach on the Blue Jays and was the manager for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2018 when he coached the team to the Double-A Eastern League Champion.

Whoever takes over the team will have 74 games remaining in the season to get the Blue Jays into the Post Season.   As stated above, the club is currently holding down the last Wild Card spot, are a game behind the Boston Red Sox for the second spot, and a game and a half behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the top position.

This one move won’t be enough for the club, as the rotation and bullpen need to be improved.  The good news in the rotation is that Jose Berrios is looking to be getting back to his capabilities as he is 3-0 over his last three starts with a 3.18 ERA.

The replacement for Montoyo may be announced by the time this article is published, but if not who would your choice be to manage the club into the second half?  Do you agree with Montoyo losing his job?