TORONTO — The Blue Jays' bench boss won't change next season.
Manager John Schneider will be back at the helm of the club for the 2024 campaign, GM Ross Atkins announced on Saturday. The decision comes after consecutive sweeps in the opening round of MLB's postseason and controversial managerial decisions in both year's playoffs.
Despite Schneider leading the Blue Jays to back-to-back playoff appearances and a .572 win rate as manager, questions remained if he would return in 2024 after a Wild Card round sweep at the hands of the Twins. Schneider found himself in the spotlight amid a controversy over how early starting pitcher José Berríos was removed in Toronto's Game 2 loss in Minnesota.
While the plan to use Kikuchi at some point in the game — flipping around Minnesota's lefty bats in the middle of the order to set up late-game success — was not Schneider's alone, it was ultimately the manager's call on if and when to use the strategy, Atkins said on Saturday.
"John Schneider made the decision to deploy that [strategy]," Atkins said.
In terms of the rest of the 2024 Blue Jays staff, things aren't quite as concrete. Long-time third base coach Luis Rivera has already announced his retirement, and Atkins and Schneider have "just started to work through" any other potential staff changes, the GM said on Saturday.
"John and I spent some time talking about it yesterday," Atkins said. "And I'll have more for you the next time we meet."
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