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Is Montoyo the right person to guide Blue Jays to the promised land?

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The Blue Jays achieved an uncommon feat in 2021: They managed to each overachieve and underachieve.

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That they gained 91 video games is not any small feat. They’d gained that many in a season solely as soon as for the reason that World Sequence years, within the bonkers thrill experience of 2015. It’s numerous wins, in any season. On this explicit season, with house video games first at a single-A park in Florida, after which at a AAA-park in Buffalo, earlier than lastly coming again to Toronto, it’s a win whole that borders on the absurd.

Because the Jays had been chasing that playoff spot that wasn’t to be, the Toronto Raptors had been opening their coaching camp, they usually had dropped all pretence about how tough their nomadic 2020 season had been. Residing out of short-term houses, taking part in and coaching in makeshift amenities, by no means getting any sort of a home-crowd enhance and infrequently taking part in in entrance of hostile “house” audiences, all of it was awful, the Raptors stated. It wasn’t the one purpose their season fell aside, nevertheless it was an enormous issue.

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The Jays needed to cope with all of that and nonetheless got here inside one win of forcing a Recreation 163, with their second-highest win whole of the previous 28 seasons. It’s in all probability why, when supervisor Charlie Montoyo was requested on Sunday night time if there have been any moments he needed again on the season, he didn’t supply any. He stated he had held a crew assembly earlier than the ultimate sequence in opposition to Baltimore, with the Jays’ playoff destiny now not of their arms, and advised his gamers that he was happy with the season that they had delivered, particularly with all of the obstacles that had been put of their manner.

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And but, regardless of all that, Jays followers might be forgiven for surveying the Main League Baseball playoff subject and questioning how on the earth their crew didn’t handle to be part of it. Each Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Marcus Semien had MVP-type seasons. George Springer missed half the 12 months and nonetheless hit 22 house runs and had an OPS second solely to younger Vlad on the crew, which is one thing contemplating Teoscar Hernandez and Bo Bichette additionally had great offensive campaigns.

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That sort of firepower was anticipated of that lineup, though not essentially to that diploma, however coming into the season the beginning pitching an issue. There was Hyun-Jin Ryu and a pile of query marks. As an alternative, Robbie Ray was a Cy Younger candidate and Steven Matz was an above-average starter. Collectively, the 2 reclamation tasks carried out much better than the Toronto entrance workplace would have dared hope. Nate Pearson was, once more, unable to step into the beginning function that was anticipated of him, however Alek Manoah did a advantageous job as soon as known as up. Throw within the late addition of Jose Berrios and the Jays had each a terrifying offence and a deep beginning rotation.

That was solely adequate for fourth within the division. It’s no nice thriller how that occurred. The bullpen was a large number for a lot of the primary half of the season, and there have been too many video games wherein Montoyo relied on guys like Rafael Dolis and Tyler Chatwood, who finally pitched themselves off the crew. The Jays had been simply 15-15 in one-run video games, and 3-9 in additional innings, and it’s in these advantageous margins that the season died. Would a distinct supervisor have managed to eke out a pair extra victories in these close-fought video games? Tactically, most followers may level to 1 or six video games the place Montoyo’s late-game bullpen calls didn’t work. The query for his bosses is whether or not the affable 55-year-old from Puerto Rico exerted sufficient of a constructive affect on his crew in different methods. He got here to Toronto because the new-school supervisor to work with a younger roster of prospects, and a few of these gamers have changed into all-stars. Do his people-management expertise, in different phrases, offset some tactical deficiencies?

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The suspicion is that Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins will take into account that query and resolve: No. The entrance workplace spent huge on Ryu and spent larger on Springer in consecutive seasons. The younger core is particularly beneficial proper now, whereas it nonetheless stays underpaid. A playoff spot was there for the taking this season and the Blue Jays didn’t take it. They completed sturdy, with a 22-9 report over September and October that implies that, lastly completed with minor-league stadiums dotted with Yankees caps, this crew was a lot better than their eventual win whole. However it’s also the case that the Jays wanted that improbable ultimate month simply to provide themselves one thing to play for on the season’s ultimate day. They’d seemingly performed their manner out of competition, solely to make a livid late cost down the stretch. If nothing else, it can give the president and common supervisor one thing to have a severe take into consideration.

It is perhaps very a lot true that Montoyo would have simply guided this crew into the post-season had it not needed to cope with three totally different houses and what was basically a five-month highway journey. However does the entrance workplace actually wish to wait one other 12 months to search out out?

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