Is John Schneider on the hot seat?

Remember John Schneider?

Up until about three weeks ago, the view of John Schneider throughout the Blue Jays organization and across much of the fanbase was something like, well, is ‘prodigy’ too strong of a word?

On his meteoric rise, the guy won championships at three different levels of the minor leagues, and last year, led an underachieving team sitting at 46-42 when he took over as manager to a 46-28 record down the stretch. It was expected that Schneider would settle in comfortably behind the bench for the next decade – ‘The John Schneider Dynasty,’ people took to calling it.

Despite the team’s recent struggles, it is likely that the organization still views Schneider the same way today as it did last month.

That said, prodigy or not, there is one irrefutable weakness which Schneider has at this moment – inexperience. It reared its head in game two of the Wild Card Series last year, and has again appeared in moments early this season.

The thing about experience though is that the only way to get it … is to get it.

Right now, Schneider is experiencing his first extended slump as a major league manager. Here’s the good news though: that he would have this experience in his managerial career was a guarantee. Where we truly get to learn about John Schneider the manager is not when something that was guaranteed to happen, happens, but what happens now, how the team gets out of its slump, and where they go when they do.

Here is some more good news. It’s no secret that to this point in the season, the Jays’ schedule has been unusually difficult. No, this does not excuse their poor performance against division rivals thus far, but it does mean that their schedule is set to get much more manageable – easier stretches are coming, and the Jays will have an opportunity to get hot.

Of course, an opportunity to get hot won’t mean much if the players keep playing like they have been …