3 former Blue Jays players who should replace John Schneider as manager

José Bautista

This one definitely would be the sentimental favourite among Jays’ fans. After all, José Bautista brought almost a decade of hope, fun and excitement to Toronto during his tenure with the club. Not only can he be found already on the Jays’ Level of Excellence, he has also provided many lasting memories to Toronto and their faithful. In particular, his most notable “bat-flip” home run in Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS against the Texas Rangers that will no doubt live on forever in Jays’ history. With 288 home runs and 766 RBI in his 10-year tenure with Toronto, his energetic vibes just breeds success whenever with the team.

One main characteristic that makes Bautista a great candidate to lead the current squad is his strong desire and passion to win. Not to take anything away from any of the Jays’ managers in the past few years, but none of them possessed the persona and energy that Bautista has for the game of baseball. Just take for instance his reaction at the 2014 trade deadline when the Jays failed to make any major moves despite being in contention. Bautista let everyone know how badly he wanted to win with the team and adamantly voiced his displeasure when they failed to provide any significant upgrades in the end,

On top of that, Bautista has over 1798 games of experience under his belt over his 15-year career in the major leagues. More importantly, he has been through all the ups and downs with the Jays’ teams he has been on and knows exactly which strategies may work and which may not. The only caveat compared to the other two promising candidates above is the fact that he doesn’t have any prior managing experience in his resume. However, Bautista does have some previous front office experience when he worked as a special advisor to the general manager for the Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League. Moreover, everyone needs a starting point, so what better place to do so than to go back to where he has had the most impact in his career. If it ever comes to fruition, hopefully he can continue to bring much more success and everlasting memories to the Jays in his new role.