Three best things to happen to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022

2.) Charlie Montoyo out, John Schneider in

Things just never seemed to fully work out for Montoyo as the skipper of the Jays. The upper management of the Jays did all they could to fill in roster holes and give him all of the tools he needed to succeed.

Four years into his tenure, his record was right at .500 and he had next to nothing to show for all of the talent he was given. All along he seemed to have troubles adjusting to leading a club in the thick of contention rather than one that needs to be built from the ground up into a winner.

After a few players-only meetings during the 2022 season, the writing seemed to be on the wall. After Montoyo was let go, Bo Bichette came out and openly said that he "does not disagree" with Montoyo's being fired.

Enter John Schneider, who had been the club's bench coach for the first half of the season and then became the club's interim manager.

Schneider, 42, has already been in the Jays' organization for decades as a player, minor league coach, major league coach and now, major league manager. In the last 74 games of the 2022 season, he led the club to a 46-28 record, a mark that impressed upper management enough to name him the full-time manager and sign him to a three-year contract extension.

Ross Atkins said the organization trusts Schneider and former Jays pitcher Ross Stripling said that he's a good leader but also is capable of "just being one of the guys", while also having what it takes to hold his team accountable. Schneider himself said that he had to learn what it was to lead people, not just players and became a more versatile communicator and mentor in the process.