TORONTO – There was little time for introspection amid the hectic, intense and high-stakes run the Toronto Blue Jays went on after the firing of Charlie Montoyo.
Sure, big questions loomed, starting with if John Schneider, promoted to manager on an interim basis, was the long-term guy, but all were deferred to prevent the season from slipping into the abyss.
And though their shotgun wedding worked, it wasn’t until the Blue Jays hit a brick wall in the playoffs that GM Ross Atkins and the front office could fully consider whether a future together was one they actually wanted.
“To be able to pull back and think about things from a bigger-lens perspective was very helpful for us and felt productive for John as well,” said Atkins.
Hence, the nearly two weeks of soul-searching that followed resulted not only in the three-year contract with a 2026 club option for Schneider announced Friday, but also in something akin to a roadmap for their relationship. Though it seemed obvious they were destined to be together, they first did the work to make sure they could make things work for years, not just 2½ months.
“You get so locked in trying to win every night in a pretty unique circumstance, taking over middle of the season,” said Schneider. “We had brief discussions about things we think we can get better at, and those really shifted when the season was over to, OK, how are we really going to tackle this? And looking back and seeing areas that we did improve at from a preparation standpoint, performance standpoint, but also areas where we can tighten it up.
“Having open conversations with Ross and hearing his feedback and input and him hearing mine from sometimes a different vantage point and then arriving at a place where we think is best for the team and for the organization. That’s where it shifted from trying to win tonight to trying to win for the future for a lot of years in a row.”
Those discussions were far more significant than meets the eye.
Schneider was the manager at double-A New Hampshire the last time the Blue Jays conducted a manager search and while he was considered, he was never formally interviewed before Montoyo was hired.
This time around, when Atkins was looking to make a change at mid-season, he had a short list of possibilities he compared against Schneider before promoting him to interim manager from bench coach.
In between that span, there was never an in-depth interview for either side to discuss things like what types of things should a bench coach do, how do disparate parts of the organization best communicate with one another, which tools best aid decision-making?
The days after the season offered that chance.
Their deliberations gave Atkins an opportunity to push Schneider and for Schneider to push back against Atkins. They had to make sure tough conversations were fair game, because marshalling talented players into a single-minded group that consistently plays winning baseball is difficult and stressful no matter how robust the roster looks.
“The actual process was powerful, having the exchange to talk about where the opportunities are, where the alignment is or potentially isn’t,” said Atkins.
“We had the opportunity to have that without much downside, thinking about the rigours of trying to win on a daily basis, the stress that creates, the emotion that’s involved. We spent very, very little time, if any time at all, thinking about after the season (during the season).”
The Blue Jays had what they’d seen from Schneider during the season to frame their discussions against.
They were impressed with how he took charge of the club in the wake of Montoyo’s dismissal, bringing a strong voice to the club’s pre-game planning, in-game decision-making and post-game breakdowns.
They appreciated the calm and measured way he handled tense situations and friction, be it dropping Bo Bichette down to seventh in the batting order or publicly calling out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for not running hard out of the box.
And they liked that when games were on the line, he kept his composure and fell back on preparation and processes, with an ability to explain his decisions, no matter the outcome.
That he was already thinking about ways to get better for 2023 only further helped confirm why he was the only person the Blue Jays spoke to about the job.
“You’re always trying to evolve and tweak things, whether it’s the way you get prepared for a game, the way you communicate with players, the way you communicate with staff,” said Schneider.
“It’s been really fun over the last week or so to talk with Ross and the front office group about how we’re going to try to approach that and the things we’re going to put in place to try to make our whole process better.
“So there are a lot of different things. It’s a talented group. You have to recognize that. But it’s just being aware of what our strengths are and what our areas of opportunities are in the off-season and hit the ground running in spring.”
And so the Blue Jays and Schneider are casting forward together for the long haul, in the midst of a promising window of opportunity, with no doubts and, if all goes to plan, no regrets.
