They're not a good team. They're not a fun watch. And they're a very small run of wins away from being back in the conversation. This is simply baseball in a just-win-54% world. This is the whole-summers-of-”contending”-ball expanding the playoffs was designed for.
Is this the first time I've seen you stump for new management? Or did I just miss it before. Feels like you are firmly on the other side of the fence now.
Would you boot Atkins, Shapiro, or both? And in what order?
Personally, while I dislike Shapiro, I think he has "technically" done a good job at his role, the reno's were badly needed. I just think he oversteps his role.
Atkins needs to go. I've been in that camp since the Berrios debacle.
Great story, you pull out some gems man. Lots in here that is so valid and there's a lot to unpack. Granted I put almost all of my baseball focus on the Jays and last year was not fun to watch (and we won 89 games!) and this year has been so much less so. In days gone by, if your team was crap you could get at least get excited about individual player performances and...dare I say it...old fashioned stats like reaching 100 rbi's and 20 wins. But those stats have long lost their lustre and what individual performances on the Jays can we get excited about this year? Varsho? Vlad's recent resurgence? IKF? Horror-witz? Clement? Seriously - it's clutching at straws. It's just not a fun season.
I also agree that let's actually give Atkins a bit of a break (a small one). The free agent market last year was pretty dire and perhaps the better available players just didn't want to come here. I would argue that Atkins has done pretty well over the years getting free agents. Even the IKF signing looks okay at the moment. And most of his trades have been okay to be honest. To me, the greatest failing has been scouting and player development. For all the emphasis since Day 1 of this regime on high performance, player development and state of the art facilities, we seem to produce a lot of young players who can't really play a position well.
> The National League has just six teams over .500, for example.
That's about what you'd expect if all the teams were equally and every game a coin-toss, though, no? Theoretically 7-8 teams, but I'd say 6 is within the margin for error. Four is bad, though, for sure.
> There likely isn't just a single reason for that, but one that I can't possibly imagine it was is that Ross Atkins and company thought what they had was good enough and decided to put their feet up.
I don't necessarily disagree, but there is the fact that that's more or less exactly what he said - this team is good enough, internal improvements will get us there. He may not be accurately describing their approach, but that's at least publicly the story the team chose to disseminate.
Is this the first time I've seen you stump for new management? Or did I just miss it before. Feels like you are firmly on the other side of the fence now.
Would you boot Atkins, Shapiro, or both? And in what order?
Personally, while I dislike Shapiro, I think he has "technically" done a good job at his role, the reno's were badly needed. I just think he oversteps his role.
Atkins needs to go. I've been in that camp since the Berrios debacle.
Great story, you pull out some gems man. Lots in here that is so valid and there's a lot to unpack. Granted I put almost all of my baseball focus on the Jays and last year was not fun to watch (and we won 89 games!) and this year has been so much less so. In days gone by, if your team was crap you could get at least get excited about individual player performances and...dare I say it...old fashioned stats like reaching 100 rbi's and 20 wins. But those stats have long lost their lustre and what individual performances on the Jays can we get excited about this year? Varsho? Vlad's recent resurgence? IKF? Horror-witz? Clement? Seriously - it's clutching at straws. It's just not a fun season.
I also agree that let's actually give Atkins a bit of a break (a small one). The free agent market last year was pretty dire and perhaps the better available players just didn't want to come here. I would argue that Atkins has done pretty well over the years getting free agents. Even the IKF signing looks okay at the moment. And most of his trades have been okay to be honest. To me, the greatest failing has been scouting and player development. For all the emphasis since Day 1 of this regime on high performance, player development and state of the art facilities, we seem to produce a lot of young players who can't really play a position well.
Ha...and now we've scored 9 runs in consecutive games and Springer is the hottest hitter in baseball as of now. That's fun.
It's never been harder to hit and teams are incentived into mediocrity...
Are you not entertained???
> The National League has just six teams over .500, for example.
That's about what you'd expect if all the teams were equally and every game a coin-toss, though, no? Theoretically 7-8 teams, but I'd say 6 is within the margin for error. Four is bad, though, for sure.
> There likely isn't just a single reason for that, but one that I can't possibly imagine it was is that Ross Atkins and company thought what they had was good enough and decided to put their feet up.
I don't necessarily disagree, but there is the fact that that's more or less exactly what he said - this team is good enough, internal improvements will get us there. He may not be accurately describing their approach, but that's at least publicly the story the team chose to disseminate.
1. It is, but like I said a week ago it was just four. Mediocrity everywhere.
2. Yeah… what other thing could he say? We all know those words are hollow.