Moderator: JaysRule15
Los_29 wrote:Randle McMurphy wrote:Atkins has constructed only one great team, the 2021 Jays, and that team's playoff hopes were destroyed by his hand-picked manager.
I’m not sure how much damage they would’ve done with that defense.
Raps in 4 wrote:Press conference is scheduled for tomorrow at 11. Get ready for Atkins to say nothing.
I don’t know who to blame for the debacle that was the last Blue Jays game of 2023. But I do know who must wear the sackcloth and ashes: Mark Shapiro.
Nothing happens on this club — from the roster composition to the analytics fanaticism, from the macro culture to the granular details — without the approval, the imprimatur, of the president, CEO and de facto general manager.
Which is why he needs to both give a forensic accounting of what transpired in Game 2 of the wild-card series and own it. Come out of the shadows, take it on the chin.
Buffeted in his boardroom, Shapiro rarely grants press conferences, unless he’s bragging about the $300-million, bells-and-whistles renovation of the Rogers Centre or the splashy player development complex in Dunedin. Typically his conversations with reporters are on the sly, planted leaks to acolytes on the Rogers payroll, literally. Eight days after the Jays came a cropper, dumped by Minnesota in the most cringe-inducing fashion — a new low in backfiring strategic engineering — Shapiro will address baseball hacks on Thursday.
But pushed out first to feed the rabid media horde is Shapiro’s sock puppet, general manager Ross Atkins. Let Atkins take the brunt of the blows while the outrage is still fresh. That’s what patsies are for.
On the Saturday morning of a long weekend, Atkins will assume the position, doubtless yet again to issue a tortuous spate of blather signifying nothing, elucidating nothing, illuminating nothing. And maybe Atkins ultimately hangs the horns on manager John Schneider for the uninspired series sweep by Minnesota — next sap up. Though, don’t get me a wrong, a skipper without a shred of baseball integrity doesn’t deserve the job. He’s expendable, as was Charlie Montoyo before him.
But this time it’s different. This time, the organization has broken faith with its fan base, perhaps irreparably. Even more crucially, this time the organization has broken faith with its players. In their own way, cautiously, many of them indicated as much in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s elimination, admitted their confusion over the jaw-dropping removal of starter José Berríos in the fourth inning of a scoreless game he’d been pitching masterfully. Although only one, far as I can tell, didn’t hedge his words. “I hated it, frankly,” Whit Merrifield told Mitch Bannon from SI.com. “It’s not what cost us the game, but it’s the kind of baseball decisions that are taking away from managers and baseball, at this stage of the game.”
Of course, it’s easier to speak truth to power when you’re not coming back.
Watch LIVE as Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins speaks to the media following the team's elimination from the postseason.
galacticos2 wrote:MLB needs to introduce an Amnesty clause. Bautista would be my first victim.
Randle McMurphy wrote:Haven't watched the press conference yet, but I can see from those quotes that Ross Atkins is as desperate as we've ever seen him. That can only be a good thing. Perhaps there's actually a chance Shapiro might get rid of him this week? We can hope I guess.
The fact that he expects anyone to believe his garbage about John Schneider of all people directing the Berrios decision is also hilarious. It tells you the level of respect this clown has for the fans. Apart from Schneider implying it was a front office decision on Wednesday night (which no doubt angered Ross and led to this), the players calling it a front office decision, and Rogers-based media calling it a front office decision, I can also literally pull quotes from when Montoyo explained how the Shoemaker/Ray decision was front office led three years ago. But sure, please go on about how management doesn't pre-game these decisions and how "courageous" of a move it was. At least JP Ricciardi was actually good at this lying stuff.
Raps in 4 wrote:Randle McMurphy wrote:Haven't watched the press conference yet, but I can see from those quotes that Ross Atkins is as desperate as we've ever seen him. That can only be a good thing. Perhaps there's actually a chance Shapiro might get rid of him this week? We can hope I guess.
The fact that he expects anyone to believe his garbage about John Schneider of all people directing the Berrios decision is also hilarious. It tells you the level of respect this clown has for the fans. Apart from Schneider implying it was a front office decision on Wednesday night (which no doubt angered Ross and led to this), the players calling it a front office decision, and Rogers-based media calling it a front office decision, I can also literally pull quotes from when Montoyo explained how the Shoemaker/Ray decision was front office led three years ago. But sure, please go on about how management doesn't pre-game these decisions and how "courageous" of a move it was. At least JP Ricciardi was actually good at this lying stuff.
He was squirming during the interview and visibly frustrated by the questions. He obviously avoided all accountability, but I've never seen him so rattled before. If nothing else, I got enjoyment out of that.
Raps in 4 wrote:The Jays subreddit is declaring Atkins the executive of the year after that presser. The casual sports fans in this city are the worst, and are a big reason why mediocrity is accepted by the owners. If the fans are fine with medicrity, Rogers is more than fine with it.
It's refreshing (and surprising) to see Twitter going off on him.
Ranger One wrote:So Atkins said it was 100% Schneider's decision to pull Berrios...and then says hes coming back next year. Yeah...im done with this trash franchise. So either one of them is lying, or they're both morons. In any case, i have zero confidence going forward with this clown show running this organization. Absolutely disgusted right now.
Mehar wrote:Ranger One wrote:So Atkins said it was 100% Schneider's decision to pull Berrios...and then says hes coming back next year. Yeah...im done with this trash franchise. So either one of them is lying, or they're both morons. In any case, i have zero confidence going forward with this clown show running this organization. Absolutely disgusted right now.
Atkins is lying through his teeth. Schneider basically said it was an organizational decision, since he cannot directly come out and say that Atkins and his Analytics Clowns had mapped the game out that way. What a disgrace for Atkins to throw his Manager under the bus, and then say Schneider will come back next year. After that disgusting news conference, I hope Ed Rogers does the right thing and fire Atkins. Promote James Click to run Baseball Operations. Have Shapiro strictly focus on the stadium renovations, or get rid of him too. This organization is a laughingstock with MLB writers all over North America, and MLB players looking at Ross Atkins and this organization as a joke right now.
