Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro says Ross Atkins will return as GM in 2024

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This article was published 12/10/2023 (756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO (AP) — Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro announced Ross Atkins will return as general manager next season but acknowledged the team needs to perform better in the playoffs.

Shapiro also called for “a higher level of transparency and communication” with players around game planning. The Blue Jays finished 89-73 and claimed an AL wild card berth, their third in four seasons. Toronto was swept out of the playoffs for the third straight appearance, scoring one run in two losses at Minnesota.

“We need to get better,” Shapiro said at a season-ending news conference. “I’m not satisfied with where we are, Ross isn’t satisfied with where we are. We need to get better.”

Toronto has made four wild card appearances since Atkins became GM before the 2016 season. The Blue Jays lost to Cleveland in five games in the 2016 ALCS but haven’t won a postseason game since.

Toronto fell one win short of a wild card berth in 2021.

“In Ross’s case the body of work, to me, is undeniable,” Shapiro said.

The Blue Jays lost 95 games in 2019, their first 90-loss campaign since 2004, but went 32-28 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to claim a wild card spot. The Blue Jays were swept by Tampa Bay.

Toronto won 91 games in 2021 and 92 games last season, when Seattle swept a two-game wild card series north of the border. The Blue Jays fell below the 90-win plateau this season as the offense struggled with power and consistency.

“The goal is to play deeper into October,” Shapiro said. “I think at one point playing meaningful games in September was probably enough. That’s not enough anymore. We need to get deeper into October, for sure.”

The Blue Jays ranked seventh in baseball with 1,423 hits but tied for 14th with 746 runs and finished 16th in home runs with 188.

“We hit but didn’t score runs,” Shapiro said. “We need to do a better job of scoring runs. We need to be even better on the base paths, and there needs to be a higher level of transparency and communication with our players in our game-planning process.”

Shapiro said he understood fan frustration with Toronto’s latest early playoff exit and acknowledged the year had been difficult.

“This season was a grind,” he said. “It was not ever easy. It was extremely frustrating and it was challenging. I’m not sure why. We still won 89 games. But, you know, I’ve been in the game 32 years and I can’t remember a season that felt like it was more of an effort.”

Toronto’s payroll of $210 million ranked seventh in baseball this season, and Shapiro said the Blue Jays are likely to continue to spend.

“I don’t expect a dramatic philosophical shift in payroll next year,” he said. “I expect us to stay in the same area. We can support that for now.”

Thanks in part to offseason renovations to outfield seating areas at Rogers Centre, Toronto drew 3,021,904 fans in 2023, topping 3,000,000 for the eighth time overall and the first time since 2017. Work is already underway on a second round of renovations this offseason, with a focus on the infield seating area.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb