Shapiro to speak on Blue Jays' season at 11am ET on TSN.ca
Published
Toronto Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro will meet with reporters Thursday morning to discuss his team's 2023 season just over one week after being swept by the Minnesota Twins in the Wild Card round.
You can stream it LIVE on TSN.ca and the TSN App at 11:00am ET/8:00am PT.
Shapiro's news conference comes five days after Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins held court over the weekend. Atkins delved into a number of topics, including confirming the return of manager John Schneider for the 2024 season and saying the decision to remove Jose Berrios in the fourth inning in last Wednesday's season-ending loss was made by his manager.
"I found out about it when you did," Atkins told reporters. "When [Kikuchi] was getting warm in the first inning, it was very clear that we had a strategy to potentially deploy. John Schneider made the decision to deploy that.
"There was not an influence from the office that factored into that, other than maybe it was an organizational strategy communicated to players. When I say organization, I'm including players, many players over the course of the days prior to that strategy."
Kikuchi allowed two runs to cross that inning -- with one being charged to Berrios after a leadoff walk -- as the Jays fell 2-0 for their seventh consecutive playoff loss and third straight Wild Card-round sweep. The team finished 89-73 during the regular season, placing third in the American League East.
Atkins says offence will be off-season focus
Atkins mentioned last Saturday that improving the team's lineup will be a focus heading into 2024 as the club plans to enhance production from hitters already under contract as well as adding through free agency.
The Blue Jays managed just one run over their two-game sweep at Target Field and had trouble hitting with runners in scoring position during the regular season. Toronto ranked 14th in total run scored (746) but stranded the second-most runners on base (1,170) behind the St. Louis Cardinals, leading to a streaky lineup that fell well short of expectations.
The lack of timely production has led to speculation about the future of hitting coach Guillermo Martinez, who Atkins did not mention during his availability over the weekend despite praising a number of other coaches. He said the 2024 coaching staff will be examined in meetings during the week.