Olney: Schneider's job should be safe for time being
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Following a promising start to the 2025 season, the Toronto Blue Jays have dropped seven of their last eight contests to fall two games under the .500 mark on the year and fourth place in the AL East.
The bats have once again struggled to produce runs this season, ranking bottom-five in the league in a handful of important offensive categories such as home runs (13), runs batted in (90), slugging percentage (.344), and total bases (308).
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., after signing a 14-year, $500 million contract earlier this season, has hit just two home runs on the year, while prized free agent signing Anthony Santander enters Tuesday with a slash line of .179/.261/.302 in 106 at-bats.
Bo Bichette is also still searching for his power stroke, posting a slugging percentage of .358 to open the year. He is also the only player in Major League Baseball who has logged at least 200 plate appearance since May 28, 2024 without hitting a home run during that span.
While the 2025 regular season is still young, the Blue Jays are off to a rough start in an important year with Mark Shapiro’s contract set to expire at the end of the season, and Ross Atkins’s deal ending just 12 months after that.
John Schneider is also in the final year of his contract, with the team holding an option for 2026.
This management group has already fired one manager during the season, spurring the team to the playoffs in 2022 after relieving Charlie Montoyo of his duties before the All-Star break. Could they potentially be considering another change in what has shaped up to be a make-or-break season for the Blue Jays’ executives?
ESPN’s Buster Olney joined First Up on TSN 1050 Tuesday morning to discuss Schneider’s job security at this point in the year, as well as what could prompt a team to begin considering an in-season move.
“It does feel like the whole group is, sort of -- this year is a pivotal year for them, right? Mark Shapiro is being evaluated, Ross Atkins might be under contract going forward. If Mark is not retained, then it’s going to be tough for Ross to keep his job and John Schneider to keep his job. It feels like they’re all sort of tied together.
“You couldn’t just say, ‘Well, this is all John Schneider’s fault’. The only question is whether or not, and this is the stance for all front offices in evaluating their managers: have the players turned him off? Have they said, ‘Look, we can’t play for this guy’. Are you hearing stories about players just being fed up with the same voice over and over and over again?”
Schneider, 45, has managed at multiple levels within the organization over the course of a decade, winning championships at three different levels before being promoted to the big-league club’s staff in 2019.
He was hired as the team’s manager in October 2022, signing a three-year contract with the Blue Jays after leading Toronto for 78 games on an interim basis earlier that year.
“They essentially hired Schneider, in part, because he has this great relationship with the most important player in the franchise, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., so unless you guys know something I don’t, I don’t get the sense that’s necessarily the case where John has an irreparable relationship with the clubhouse. I just don’t think that’s the way it is.
“I think you ride it out, you see what happens, at the end of the year you make your evaluations.”
The Blue Jays (13-15) begin a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday with Bowden Francis taking the hill opposite of Garrett Crochet.