The Toronto Blue Jays’ patience with manager Charlie Montoyo ran out on Wednesday.
Through a statement published in their social networks, the Canadian organization announced the dismissal of the Puerto Rican manager after a very complicated season for the team in the Major Leagues.
Although the Blue Jays snapped a streak of four consecutive losses on Tuesday, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 11-9, the team fell in nine of their last eleven games and are now 3-9 in July.
Those poor results dropped them to fourth place in the AL East, with a 46-42 record and 15.5 games behind the New York Yankees, and jeopardize their place in the three wild cards of the junior circuit.
The Toronto Blue Jays relieved Charlie Montoyo of his managerial duties today. Bench coach John Schneider has been named interim coach through the end of the 2022 season, while Casey Candaele has been named interim bench coach.
Toronto Blue Jays Press Release
Meanwhile, the team’s general manager, Ross Atkins, admitted to Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy that he also felt guilty about the team’s performance while discussing the Montoyo decision.
I just want to start by saying how difficult this decision has been. I truly wanted this to work with Charlie. I’m extremely disappointed in where we are… This is a collective setback and I’m the one that needs to be accountable for that.
Ross Atkins on the Blue Jays’ situation
While Charlie Montoyo is the third major league manager to be fired this season after Joe Girardi and Joe Maddon, it will be Schneider’s first major league experience after a long career as a minor league manager.
Charlie Montoyo and his time with the Blue Jays
After four very difficult seasons, Charlie Montoyo was fired from the Blue Jays with a 236-236 record.
During his tenure, the manager had to deal with the difficult task of playing the entire 2020 season at the Triple-A branch stadium in Buffalo, due to COVID-19 restrictions in Canada, while in 2021 the Blue Jays played their games in three different cities.
In the short 2020 season they managed to reach the postseason via wild card, while last year they were one game away from reaching the playoffs also as a wild card.
After a very busy preseason, the Blue Jays aimed to be one of the favorites to fight for the East division of the junior circuit in 2022, but that goal has been far from being achieved thanks to a very poor performance both offensively and from their pitchers.