Toronto Blue Jays: The Worst Managed Franchise in MLB
With attendance down across the league, the Toronto Blue Jays are smack dab in the middle of a rebuild. With the next few years being critical to how the organization will move forward, the Jays organization are really not set up for success with the moves they are making.
Let’s just start off by saying that I truly am a huge Toronto Blue Jays fan. I have been too many games both in Toronto and on the road, and I will bleed blue for many more years.
I will probably be buried with my signed Blue Jays jersey and my Lourdes Gurriel Jr. bobblehead.
But I am also man enough to admit that the Toronto Blue Jays are one of the worst run organizations in the MLB, and it stems from the ownership company in Rogers and funnels down all the way to the Blue Jays front office.
With a team in the midst of a rebuild, the Blue Jays are in an awkward mind set because they are just a few years removed from a playoff contending team, where the organizations top prospect talent was traded away to win it all (even though they didn’t).
In 2015, the front office was maneuvered and flipped around when long time general manager Alex Anthopolous left for the L.A. Dodgers and president Paul Beeston formally retired.
Ownership decided they really liked how the Cleveland Indians were run and decided to bring in everyone in their organization up North by making Mark Shaprio president and Ross Atkins general manager.
Now I know I am being a negative bunny, but it is just because the team is having a rough and tumble 2019 and I am a bit paranoid that the Blue Jays front office will somehow find a way to screw up the next few years, throwing the team into a permanent rebuild.
Even though I currently sound like an old man ranting under a bridge, I feel like I have some good points and think we should explore them some more. Here are my top three.
Attendance is in the Toilet
Even though they are not the worst attended team in the MLB (sorry Miami), the Blue Jays are still seeing a massive dip in attendance compared to the past few years.
Let us put this into perspective. The Blue Jays currently have a promotion on for $5 dollar beers every game and a ton of other concession deals and they still can’t pull in more than 20,000 fans on a weekend game.
Need more evidence? Alright.
Monday, May 20, 2019 is a holiday in Canada called Victoria Day (because we love the queen). The Blue Jays are playing a home game against the Boston Red Sox with David Price on the mound of the Sox.
You would think the fans would come out in droves to see Canada’s only baseball team take on the defending World Series Champions.
It was then announced prior to the game that the Blue Jays will be giving prospect phenom Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a scheduled day off for the Monday game.
THE ONLY PLAYER FANS WANT TO SEE IN A BLUE JAYS UNIFORM AND HE IS SITTING ON A HOLIDAY GAME DAY.
ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!?
Everybody in Toronto is talking about Vladdy and the one game where fans have potential to show up and you sit him for a day off?
I get time and player management, but you were just on the road for the past week and you didn’t think it would be a good idea to sit him on one of those games?
I don’t care about the Chicago White Sox attendance, sit him during one of those games.
He is also 20 years old, it’s not like he has been through the ringer for the past 10-15 years.
You still not satisfied? Here we go.
The Toronto Blue Jays are really the only ones to blame for the lack of attendance because coming into a rebuilding year, they raised their ticket prices and I can tell you I have my own personal research on this one.
Last year I attended a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on a weekend date and I paid a total of $18 CDN for an upper bowl ticket within the first 5 rows.
This year I attended a game with the same team, date, and section, and I paid over $24 CDN.
The same goes for when the Jays play Tampa in Toronto on July 27.
Currently there are no real promotions like a bobblehead or jersey, and tickets are currently at $33.50 CDN for the upper bowl, further back than the first 5 rows.
Toronto fans are a real fickle bunch, and will really only show up when the team is winning.
With that being said, the team is obvious not slated to contend this year and fan attendance was most likely going to drop.
But when the organization keeps star players sitting on key dates and has no plan bringing down ticket prices, I am going to keep watching games at home.
My beer only cost $2 and I got it yesterday.
Players are not Getting what they Deserve
For the Blue Jays, the team is currently flooded with young players like Vladdy, Rowdy Tellez and Danny Jansen.
With key prospects like Bo Bichette and Nate Pearson lingering in the minor leagues, this team is going to be fierce if these prospects pan out like they have the potential to do.
The Jays also possess some players who are going to be free agents soon in Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez.
While both players have had some injury issues throughout their first few years, both players could and in my opinion should be extended to long term contracts.
In typical Blue Jays fashion, not only has both players not received any form of extension, there has also been no reported conversations between both parties.
Even a grizzled veteran like Justin Smoak has had no contact with the club in terms of an extension, which means he will most likely be traded at some point this year.
The only player who really has a long term contract on the team is Randal Grichuk, the team’s centre fielder.
In my opinion, the first two people the Jays need to sign to long term deals are Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Stroman.
Vladimir has already had the rough treatment with the delayed start to his MLB career and a long term contract like Ronald Acuna Jr’s could actually save the team money in the long run when Junior reaches arbitration years.
Stroman has been an impressive player and has been known for his hard work ethic with the Blue Jays. He too should receive a long term deal as well.
He is also playing very well at the moment, and if he continues to throw well into the end of the year and next year, his price will go up (which makes sense). He could price himself out of Toronto.
The Toronto Blue Jays cannot field a team without their players and with the way management has been lacking on their engagement with their young core and paying players to play for other teams, I do not have hope for keeping these premier players North of the border.
Rogers Communications Does Not Care about Winning
You know what the problem is with a corporation or a business owning a professional sports team? They usually do not care about winning, and the Blue Jays are a prime example.
Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that a Canadian run and born company owns the Blue Jays over a foreign corporation. The Canadian aspect is strong with this franchise.
But when a company owns a sports team, they usually only care about the bottom line and the financials. The team is an investment for the company and the Jays need to make the company money, otherwise the brand and the image is not going to do anything for Rogers.
If it were up to me, I would hope that a Canadian billionaire or investment team would come together and own the Blue Jays. I would even take an American investor who would keep the team in Toronto.
I just want an individual or a group of people with the biggest egos and who hate losing, and will do anything to make sure the team is winning.
Need to sign a player but will go over the luxury tax? Hell ya go for it.
We’re only just at .500 ball? Who do we need to sign or trade for to win the pennant?
When you have an individual like a wealthy business person owning a professional sports team, that team can either be a source of pride or a source of embarrassment, and any successful person will tell you they will not take a blemish on their record. They will fix that blemish.
Another reason I prefer the individual owning the Blue Jays is that they can hold management and front office accountable when there is failure in the organization.
Going back to the earlier argument, influential people are usually where they are because of hard work and doing whatever it takes to be successful.
If the people working for or under you are not abiding by this rule, then they are gone, case closed.
It keeps the franchise moving towards a championship status and good management will stay longer if they keep making the right moves.
Anybody want to start a Go Fund Me?
To be completely honest, I could probably add another ten slides to this article given with how the Blue Jays organization has been run.
The Rogers Centre needs some updating and construction and there has been no word on any of that happening soon.
The team said they would start to implement some natural grass to the stadium years ago and that has been put on the back burner.
I could go on and on.
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To conclude this article, I am just frustrated to see teams extending their top talent and signing big name free agents and the Blue Jays are just having no part of it.
I understand there could be arguments on why we should or should not sign this player or that, but the Blue Jays haven’t even been engaging with their core players.
It’s almost like Ross Atkins has this perpetual fear of talking to the players.
I also get angry because I do really enjoy seeing the Jays play at the Rogers Centre, but I can’t reason spending more money for a team that is:
- Not winning and not planning on winning anytime soon
- Sitting key players on big game days or against top teams in the division/league
- Raising ticket prices when they are not even winning
If the team had a record greater than .600 or .700 then I totally justify raising the prices because fans will still come out to see a team that is winning, rather than just the die hard fans who go because they bleed blue.
In the end, I just do not have faith in the Blue Jays front office staff and ownership to bring a winning team to the Rogers Centre.
As much as I want the Blue Jays to win, I just don’t see a winning organization when key players seem poised to leave in the next few years and management cannot lock down players fans want to come and see.
Combine that with stadium issues being ignored and fan attendance being abysmal, the Blue Jays do not look to be in a winning position right now or in the foreseeable future.
Next. Toronto Blue Jays: Aaron Sanchez and the Return of the Blister Issues. dark
With that being said, I am going to return to my rocking chair and keep yelling at the tv when another random veteran pitchers gives up 5+ home runs for the Blue Jays.
And with my $2 beer.