Is Blue Jays manager John Schneider in line for an extension?

When you take a step back and look at what the Toronto Blue Jays have accomplished this season, even the most sceptical fan has to be impressed. The Blue Jays are not only staying competitive in the American League playoff picture, but they are breathing down the necks of the AL East leaders, the New York Yankees.

The fact that they have gotten to this point with the personnel they are writing into the lineup every day feels like a minor miracle and on the latest At the Letters Podcast, Sportsnet reports Arden Zwelling and Ben Nicholson-Smith suggested that that fact should be a major reason to get John Schneider signed to an extension.

Zwelling says, “Coming into the season I would have said as Vladdy (Guerrero Jr.) and Bo (Bichette) and (Anthony) Santander go the Blue Jays are going to go and maybe that's still going to be the case but to this point the Blue Jays have gotten next to nothing from Santander and while Bo and Vladdy are having good offensive seasons, they haven't been the carrying forces they are expected to be. We haven't seen the power from them.”

Santander has hit .179 with six home runs and an OPS+ of 61 in 50 games played. Bichette and Guerrero have combined for 19 home runs, while the top nine home run hitters in the league have at least 19 home runs themselves.

Zwelling says, “John Schneider has pulled every lever, he’s run platoons and managed to the point that he's got his team to (six games) above .500. I just think that the way the Blue Jays have been operating and manufacturing runs this year and the success that they've had despite the expectations and based on what they are on paper and how they've played, I think it’s just a feather in the cap for Schneider and his coaching staff.”

The Blue Jays as a team are doing all the little things the right way this season. They are 15th in total runs scored this year (seventh among only AL teams), but the way they are scoring those runs without relying on the long ball has to be applauded. Toronto is second in the MLB in sacrifice bunts this season with 16 and fifth with 23 sacrifice flies. They are hitting .343 with runners on third and less than two outs, with an OPS of .819. They are taking advantage of their platoons, by hitting lefties hard this year. They sit third in MLB in average (.271) and OBP (.343) and they have the third lowest strikeouts against (126), when they face a lefty thrower.

Nicholson-Smith says, “Schneider has a very high baseball acumen when it comes to just little random stuff like knowing whether Josh Lowe hits left-handed or whether certain players have reverse platoon splits. He knows this just off the top of his head. A lot of managers have that, but not all of them, and we're seeing his baseball acumen realized on the field this season.”

Zwelling suggests that there’s been a lot of growth and development for Schneider since taking over the role in the middle of the 2022 season. He says, “Schneider is a first-time manager in the Major Leagues, and he's now been doing this for two and a half years, but if you take on any job, no less one with this much stress and expectation and pressure, you’re probably going to feel rough in the early going. It takes time to get the sea legs and figure things out and I think that Schneider has grown and developed over the years from his experiences…and I think that he's only getting better.”

Schneider doesn't have a contract for 2026 and the reporters feel it is only a matter of time before the Blue Jays make an announcement that he will be back for next season and beyond.  

“I think right before the All Star break there should be a press conference at Rogers Centre where he gets his three-year extension, because I think that he has done such a good job and if he gets away this offseason and goes to another organization I think that will be an error on the Blue Jays part,” says Zwelling.

Nicholson-Smith agrees, adding that even if he’s not back with Toronto next year, he will likely still have a major league job. “What's interesting is, he’s getting to the point where he's going to be fine and if the Blue Jays for some reason decided that they didn't want him around I think that other teams would.”

Schneider has the fifth most wins in Blue Jays history with 249 (going into Friday night) and the sixth best win percentage at .528. He has been a part of the Blue Jays organization for over 20 years, beginning with his years as a player, when the Blue Jays drafted Schneider in 2002. He retired in 2007, and became the manager of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Blue Jays in 2008.