If the Blue Jays sell at the deadline, James Click needs full autonomy over baseball operations

An appeal to Ed Rogers and the Blue Jays ownership

So here is an open appeal to Ed Rogers and the Blue Jays ownership: please, for the sake of the future of this franchise and the quality of the product on the field, do not let Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins lead your baseball operations team as they retool the roster at the trade deadline this year.

Those decisions should be handled by GM-in-waiting and current Vice President of Baseball Strategy James Click, who was general manager of the 2022 World Series champion Houston Astros. Give him full autonomy over baseball-related decisions, and limit Shapiro’s influence to the marketing and business side only.

Click was the GM who promoted 2022 World Series MVP Jeremy Peña as a rookie to replace shortstop Carlos Correa. He re-signed 2022 AL Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander, who was coming off another Tommy John surgery ahead of that season, and added Trey Mancini and Christian Vázquez, as well as reliever Will Smith in trade deadline deals that year.

That team went 106-56 under manager Dusty Baker, and won the World Series 4-2 over the Phillies. The Astros went 230-154 (.599) with Click as their GM from 2020-2022 after Jeff Luhnow was suspended and then fired for his role in the Astros’ electronic sign stealing scandal.