Blue Jays Scapegoats: 1 to fire, 1 to put on the hot seat, 1 to be patient with

For much of the 2023 season when the Toronto Blue Jays have been struggling, much news has been made with regards to players that have been underperforming, as well as failing to come through in the clutch in key situations, whether hitting or pitching. However, how much has coaching been a key to the Jays’ success, as well as their failures so far this year?

Here, we take a look at the Jays’ key coaching staff members, and their possible effect so far this year on the team’s competence and performance.

We should be patient with Pete Walker (Blue Jays pitching coach)

After retiring from professional baseball after 2007, which included a four-year stint with the Jays between 2002-2006, Pete Walker joined the Jays’ coaching staff in 2011 as a bullpen coach. From there, he was promoted to become the Jays’ full-time pitching coach in 2012 and has maintained the position ever since. Over the years, he had done some  great work with the team’s pitching staff, helping many to effective pitchers and achieve success in their tenure with the Jays, leading to many people attributing it to “Pete Walker’s Magic”.

In particular, the ones that have really stood out recently included Robbie Ray, Steven Matz, and Ross Stripling. For Ray, after struggling in his latter years with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he was able to turn his career around with the Jays with the help of Walker to post elite numbers en route to his first ever Cy Young award in 2021. For both Matz and Stripling, under the same watch of Walker, both had career years with the Jays prior to their departure in free agency, netting them big multi-year contracts with their new clubs. Lo and behold, it’s been no coincidence that all three have struggled ever since leaving town.

For the 2023 season, many have voiced their displeasure that the Jays’ pitching have been so-so at best, as they currently rank 11th in ERA, 15th in WHIP, 26th in home runs given up and 14th in opponents batting average in all of MLB. But taking a deeper look at the stats, the Jays actually have been doing quite well, as they lead the league in shutouts (10) as well as for save conversion % (77.1%), along with being in the top five in strikeouts (807) and K/BB ratio (3.14). A few blowout games may have skewed some of it a bit, but in general, they have held their own, even when they have been forced into using a four-man rotation recently, along with a somewhat taxed bullpen as a result.

Most importantly, both Yusei Kikuchi and José Berríos appeared to have finally figured things out and have had huge bounce back seasons so far this year, with Walker most likely playing a hand in it. So by eye, their pitching may appear to be in shambles, but in reality, they have done a decent job in keeping the Jays afloat and in the running for the most part of the year. As a result, we should be patient with Walker to let him continue to mould the pitching staff to be that much better as the year goes on.

John Schneider (Blue Jays manager) should be careful, as he may have one foot out the door already

John Schneider took over managerial duties for the Jays ever since the firing of Charlie Montoyo back in July last year. Schneider did a great job filling in for Montoyo, leading the Jays to a 46-28 record for the remainder of the 2022 season to finish second in the AL East and making the playoffs. It was deemed a success, despite losing in the first round Wild Card series to the Seattle Mariners in two games.

However, at times, many have questioned and have become frustrated with Schneider’s decision making that had ultimately affected the outcome of various games during his tenure. Just taking into account moves that he has made this year, examples included: using George Springer for pinch-hitting duties even though he was clearly too ill to even play, substituting out Daulton Varsho from the game in separate occasions (even though he had been doing well in the game) in favour of a pinch-hitter just to get the righty/lefty matchup, bringing in relievers such as Yimi García and Adam Cimber into high leverage situations even though they had been struggling all season, and even forcing his starting pitcher to come out of a game because of a mental blunder in which he forgot how many times a mound visit was used, just to name a few.

In addition, back in May when the Jays were playing their worst baseball of the season, the Jays’ players elected to have a players’ only meeting near the end of May with hopes to rectify their issues. Many took that gesture as Schneider having already lost the room, leading to the players trying to figure out the mess on their own. If that was indeed the case, it could be a huge issue as the year progresses, because how a player responds to a coach and how the coach can motivate a player can have huge consequences, good or bad, for the player’s performance, and ultimately the team’s performance.

With the Jays having shown some life in the recent couple of series against the lowly Athletics and the tough San Francisco Giants, it may have given Schneider a slightly longer leash for now. Had the Jays lost either one or both of the past two series during this critical stretch, it probably would have accelerated his ticket out the door. However, they quickly followed it up with an embarrassing sweep by the hands of the AL East bottom-feeding Boston Red Sox, once again pushing Schneider to the edge of the cliff.

As one could recall, Montoyo was let go last year around the same time, despite the Jays being in the thick of the playoff hunt holding down the third wildcard spot at the time. The Jays are currently also battling it out for a wildcard spot, so this upcoming important week should ultimately determine Schneider’s fate and whether he will survive beyond the All-Star break.