Blue Jays' readiness to stay the course is defensible, but won't ease frustrations

When Toronto Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro held his end-of-season press conference on Thursday, he took great care to acknowledge the fans' frustration with his team — but said nothing to soothe it.

Shapiro made it clear that general manager Ross Atkins would stay in his role and praised his track record. He expressed confidence in manager John Schneider's abilities. He didn't announce any changes to the coaching staff on the hitting side after a down season offensively. He warned against expecting 'a dramatic philosophical shift' in payroll.

The team president even said that he didn't feel like the much-maligned decision to pull José Berríos early in Game 2 of Toronto's playoff series was a mistake — and paraphrased the Atkins explanation that the strategy was fundamentally a success because the team gave up only two runs in the game.

None of that is going to go over well, but to be fair, it's not Shapiro's job to get fans to like him.

He acknowledged as much at one point saying 'I'm not interested in winning over anyone to me or to Ross.' Instead, he sees the route to satisfying the fans to be putting a product on the field that brings home a World Series.

That's not necessarily the wrong approach. Very little Shapiro said on Thursday was irrational. It was all characteristically measured and reasonable. But at a time when the team's fans are nothing short of irate, it didn't bring anyone who'd lost faith in the Blue Jays back around.

Shapiro's interpretation of the team's direction is 100% defensible. The Blue Jays have made the playoffs in three of the last four years, and in 2020 they exceeded expectations just getting there. The 2021 team was a little bad luck from being one of MLB's best and a true title threat.

There is plenty of disappointment about the Blue Jays' failure to win a playoff game in 2022 and 2023, but that's a total of four games. In 2023 alone excellent clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays failed to earn a postseason win. The Rays have lost their last four postseason games over the past two years and that isn't perceived to be a franchise in crisis.

In these playoffs, an Arizona Diamondbacks squad that went 84-78 is on a run while the ALCS will be played between two teams — the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros — who performed at a similar level as the Blue Jays in 2023. An Atlanta Braves squad that was a juggernaut throughout the regular season is on the brink of elimination.

There's a chance that Atlanta will fall in the NLDS in two straight seasons after 100-plus win campaigns following a World Series title where the team went 88-74.

If Shapiro doesn't want to panic due to small-sample postseason results, you can understand that point of view. You may not agree with it, but there is a good-faith argument to be made for seeing the Blue Jays of recent years as a relative success, and not rejecting what this front office has accomplished outright.

The issue for the Blue Jays is this team hardly feels like a successful one right now, particularly in the wake of a tough 2023 campaign.

"This season was a grind. It was not ever easy," Shapiro said. "It was extremely frustrating and it was challenging. I'm not sure why. We still won 89 games. I've been in the game 32 years and I can't remember a season that felt like it was more of an effort."

The Blue Jays front office seems to feel like its role is to rise above the tide of emotion around the team and avoid becoming prisoners of the moment. Shapiro hinted at that idea when talking about the hitting systems and staff in place.

"There will be an in-depth analysis of the work and the process — as well as the outcomes and the results along with recommendations for an offseason plan. Then I'll give them my input and Ross can comment on it," he said. "I'm very careful to not react to my own emotional reactions when watching."

For someone in Shapiro's position, letting logic rather than emotion guide him is probably the right thing to do.

That has led him to the conclusion that Atkins has had more hits than misses in his team-building in recent years and Schneider's .572 winning percentage as an MLB manager is solid. Shapiro also saw inherent value in not rocking the boat, saying 'stability and continuity are a competitive advantage.'

Those decisions are up for debate, but they aren't nearly as ludicrous as many of the angriest fans and most antagonistic media members believe them to be.

Insisting there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the way this team is operating is not necessarily dishonest, or even inaccurate. It does contrast the way the Blue Jays fanbase is feeling in a profound way, though.

Fairly or unfairly, a lack of postseason success has caused this front office to lose the benefit of the doubt. Short of an unprecedentedly big splash in the offseason — think a Shohei Ohtani signing — the Blue Jays will engender plenty of skepticism until they make a deep run in October.

Shapiro's belief is that the best way to make the fans happy is to win big, regardless of what they think of him and his GM. Now it looks like the only way.