For some time rumors had been swirling about Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, as colleague Rodger Brulotte would say. The brutal trip out west, where the Jays played uninspired baseball and went 1-6, was probably the knockout blow.
It is important to say that Charlie Montoyo is a very high quality person, whom all the players and the media loved to be around. A good gentleman as you would say. But on the management side of a baseball team, it was more difficult. Montoyo has often been criticized for his lack of leadership but also his inaction during slow times. Almost always the same line-up, very little stealing and running and hitting and a management of the pitching staff that has often left us perplexed.
Obviously, many decisions are made as a group, but it is the manager who always has the last word. And in the last few weeks, it felt like Montoyo was always a batter or two behind when making a decision. It’s true that injuries haven’t helped the Jays’ cause, and general manager Russ Atkins hasn’t given his manager many new weapons when important players have fallen in action. But with such an explosive offense and talent to spare, there’s no doubt the Jays should have gone much better than 46-42 after 88 games.
The tragedy experienced by first base coach Mark Budzinski, as his oldest daughter tragically lost her life, likely delayed Montoyo’s departure. On Monday, the funeral of Julia Budzinski was celebrated in Virginia and several members of the organization were on site. The next day, the Jays beat the Phillies but Montoyo was fired anyway, which leads us to believe that the decision was made during the long trip west and that it was too late to right the boat.
Success for John Schneider?
John Schneider will take the place on an interim basis for the rest of the season. An understandable decision, especially since Schneider managed most of the young players in the organization when he was a manager in the Jays’ subsidiary system. He is recognized for being a good baseball head, but also for having a much hotter character than his predecessor. Will the atmosphere change in the shelter? Will the Jays be less festive and much more in work mode? It’s hard to say, but Schneider is here to win now and get the full-time manager job next year. Schneider is only 42 years old, but he has had a lot of success and even voted manager of the year in 2018 at the AA level and won the championship that same year with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
This year, the Phillies fired Joe Girardi to replace him with interim Rob Tompson, when he was previously an on-bench coach for the team. And the response was very good and the team started winning on a regular basis, even in the absence of Bryce Harper. On the other hand, the Angels tried the same trick with Phil Nevin to replace Joe
Maddon and the result was catastrophic. It’s hard to say whether John Schneider will be successful or not, but I think he has the qualities required for the job, but his managing director will have to find him an extra arm or two by the beginning of August.
Could the Jays have won with Charlie Montoyo? Perhaps, especially since the team was still in a position to make the playoffs, despite the failures of recent weeks. But Montoyo will have been the victim of his inaction and of being too passive a manager. And while he’s a fantastic person and a great family man, I’m not sure we’ll see him again as a manager in major league baseball. Unless it’s for a rebuilding team, as was the case in 2019 when he arrived in Toronto. Because he was very good at helping to grow his team, but he was no longer the man for the job when it came time to win.
