Shapiro sees ‘no grounds’ to fire Blue Jays GM after disappointing year

Despite the fact that the Toronto Blue Jays finished last in the American League East, team president Mark Shapiro said Wednesday that general manager Ross Atkins will remain in his role.

Speaking at a conference to put a bow on a season where the Blue Jays finished 74-88, Shapiro said that he and Atkins were not proud of the season.

“Ross needs to be better. I need to be better. Our entire baseball operations need to be better,” he told reporters before trumpeting the fact that the current regime has led the Blue Jays to the postseason during three of the past five seasons.

“We left spring training objectively with a chance to to be a contending team and playoff team. And to me, that’s not grounds to make a change. … If I felt there was a better alternative to run our baseball operation, I’d make that change.”

While it is true that Toronto did make playoff appearances, in each instance they were in the wild card round and failed to collect a win in any of the series.

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Blue Jays players put a bow of their own on a disappointing season by being swept by being outscored by the Miami Marlins  26-7 during a three-game sweep.

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Atkins was brought in by Shapiro in 2016 after former GM Alex Anthopoulos resigned from the club, citing the fact he believed Shapiro would not give him the autonomy he desired to run the club.

In his final season as GM, Anthopoulos’ Jays finished with a 93-69 record and reached the AL Championship series.

A year later with Atkins in charge, the Jays returned to the AL Championship series after finishing with an 89-73 record.

More to come.

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