GM Ross Atkins of the Blue Jays lacks solutions for the team’s underperforming offense.
TORONTO: There are no simple answers when a baseball team has underachieved, underperformed, and underwhelmed as much as the Toronto Blue Jays have this season—starting the season with a 19–25 record, sitting five games out of a postseason place, and ranked 29th in runs scored—intolerated.
However, before to Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, general manager Ross Atkins didn’t seem to have any satisfactory responses for an increasingly irate fan base on the team’s early-season problems.
Although he reiterated his faith in the talent on the team and the 118 games left in the season to turn things around and get the team to start scoring runs more consistently, Atkins acknowledged that the team isn’t where they would like to be. However, he insisted that that needs to start pretty soon.
The sense of urgency that permeates our clubhouse, from one to twenty-six on our player roster to the entire staff, is what, in general, gives us the most confidence, according to Atkins.
However, the question of why this talented lineup is in last place in the American League East and in the lowest third of MLB in important offensive measures remains unanswered.
Why, as Atkins noted, are positive indicators like entering really excellent counts not translating into more runs? And why haven’t offensive coordinator Don Mattingly’s revised offensive methodology and approach produced observably different offensive outcomes from the previous campaign?
We have adjusted our procedure. We’ve made some personnel changes, and that’s what we’re currently addressing. According to Atkins, it must begin as it takes time and hasn’t happened yet.
The Blue Jays adopted a different strategy in the summer, focusing mostly on strengthening their core while making complimentary additions, after losing out on highly sought-after free agent Shohei Ohtani.
The hope was that last year’s middling offensive results were a blip and internal improvement would rebound in a meaningful way. That hasn’t happened yet, and a quarter of the way through Is it reasonable to question whether the Blue Jays don’t have the talent necessary to be a championship club this season?
That’s not us, Atkins declared. Over the past few weeks, Vladdy (Guerrero Jr.) has shown some pretty positive signals. I’ve noticed some extremely positive changes in Bo (Bichette) during the past week, and I’ve seen Bo go through similar phases previously.
Perhaps this one lasts a little longer than the others he’s experienced. However, I know he will come out on fire. Bo, Vladdy, and George (Springer) are guys I have so much faith in to be reliable contributors who will help us score more runs.
