Ross Atkins Will Return As Blue Jays General Manager In 202

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11:00am:  Atkins revealed during his own media availability that bench coach and offensive coordinator Don Mattingly will no longer oversee the teams offense; hell fill a more traditional bench coach role. Between the change in Mattinglys role and the of hitting coach Guillermo Martinez  which Atkins confirmed  the team will conduct an external search to bring in new voice to oversee the teams offense.  10:15am:  Blue Jays team president Mark Shapiro is currently meeting with the media on the heels of a season he described as a bitter disappointment and announced that Ro s Atkins will return as the teams general manager for the 2025 season. There wont be a change with Ro s, said Shapiro. ( .) The 2024 season was Atkins ninth season as Torontos general manager after spending 14 seasons as an integral part of Clevelands player development department. He signed a five-year contract extension covering the 2022-26 seasons back in April of 2021.  This past season was indeed a disaster for the Jays, who finished out the season at 74-88  last place in the American League East. The Blue Jays made a spirited run at  in free agency last offseason but added primarily complementary pieces after he signed a ten-year deal with the Dodgers. The Toronto front office inked  and  to multi-year contracts, also adding veterans  and  on one-year deals (Kiermaiers second one-year pact with the Jays).  Depth proved to be an Achilles heel for the Jays as injuries mounted.  endured multiple IL stints and was limited to half a seasons worth of uncharacteristically feeble production at the plate.  underwent UCL surgery. Closer  pitched just 13 2/3 rough innings before undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery. Top prospects  (PED suspension) and  (Tommy John surgery) had lost seasons. Meanwhile, key veterans like Kiermaier,  ,  ,  ,  and others turned in performances that were not commensurate with their prior standards. The Jays turned to a host of in-house stopgaps but, particularly in the bullpen, were unable to piece together a serviceable performance.  The end result saw Jansen, Kiner-Falefa,  ,  and  all traded away in deadline swaps for younger talent. The Jays were universally praised for a strong return on Kikuchi, an impending free agent. However, thats at best a silver lining when considering the team entered the 2024 campaign looking to build on last years Wild Card berth into the playoffs and was viewed as a legitimate contender in a deep Brayan Bello Jersey  AL East division.  Heading into the 2025 season, itll be incumbent upon Shapiro and Atkins to engineer an immediate turnaround, lest the calls for changes in leadership grow even louder. Asked about the clubs payroll outlook for the 25 campaign, Shapiro demurred, calling it early to ask such a question and suggesting that next months GM Meetings or even Decembers Winter Meetings would be a time at which he could offer a clearer answer. For now, the clubs president merely suggested he didnt anticipate player payroll rising or decreasing in a significant manner.  If thats indeed the case, Atkins will have his work cut out for him. The Jays entered the 2024 season with a club-record $225MM Opening Day payroll. currently pegs them for just shy of $125MM in 2025 commitments, not including an arbitration cla s to cost more than $61MM in total. Add in a slate of league-minimum players to round out the roster, and the Jays are at just over $194MM. There are some likely non-tenders in this offseasons cla s of arbitration-eligible players, but the group is headlined by  and his projected $29.6MM salary, with notable paydays projected for Romano ($7.75MM),  ($7.7MM) and  ($4.1MM) as well.  Asked multiple times about Guerreros future, Shapiro generally sidestepped the question. The slugger is entering his final season of club control before potentially becoming one of the most coveted free agents in recent memory. Manager John Schneider recently touted Guerrero as a generational talent. Asked today whether he agreed with that a se sment, Shapiro questioned the definition of what constitutes a generational player and suggested that its tough to say right now, noting that Guerrero has the potential to become such a player but implying that such a label cant be placed on him this early in his career.  Atkins spoke more directly on the matter of Guerreros future, suggesting that ownership will provide the support to make long-term commitments to both Guerrero and Bichette. That doesnt guarantee an extension for either player will happen, of course, and Atkins noted that its difficult to construct a contract of such magnitude for even one player  let alone two players. Still, he voiced confidence that the Jays can support long-term deals for both and still have the resources needed to build a competitive roster around what would presumably be a pair of substantial contracts.  With regard to the forthcoming offseason, Atkins spoke generally about the need to be more aggre sive with external additions to the roster than the Blue Jays were this past offseason, specifically in the bullpen. He also called adding a power bat low-hanging fruit but also noted that its not as simple as adding a pure slugger, citing a need to look at contact ability, on-base skills, and strengths against specific pitch types.  Asked whether the aforementioned Rodriguez and  have pitched well enough to solidify their spots in the rotation next season, Atkins praised both pitchers for the job they did in the seasons second half. The Jays will be in the market for both depth and impact starting pitching, per Atkins, but with  ,  ,  , Rodriguez and Francis all in the fold, the GM said he feels fortunate to not feel a dire need to be in the market for a top free-agent starter.  The manner in which the Jays will pursue upgrades was left fairly open-ended. Both Atkins and Shapiro spoke favorably of the 13 young players Toronto acquired at this seasons trade deadline. Atkins acknowledged that while many of those players are viewed as potential near-term contributors, that influx of talent into the system also opens the door for potential trades involving some of those same prospects. The Blue Jays will explore both the free agent and trade markets as they look to revamp the roster, but its clear from both mens comments today that the club does not plan to take any kind of step back and will endeavor to put a playoff contender on the field next year. That much has been reported at various points since the deadline, but todays on-record commitment to such an approach from the teams top two decision-makers is neverthele s notable.  Wade Boggs Jersey
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