Blue Jays: 3 long-term Charlie Montoyo replacements at manager
By Tim Boyle
The Toronto Blue Jays have fired Charlie Motoyo and these three should be consider long-term candidates to replace him.
The Toronto Blue Jays are very much alive in the postseason race but some recent struggles were apparently enough for the team to move on from manager Charlie Montoyo. He was fired on Wednesday July 13 with a lifetime managerial record of 190-194 with the ball club dating back to 2019 when he first took over the gig.
Firing a manager midseason can sometimes spark a team into succeeding. The Philadelphia Phillies fired Joe Girardi earlier this year and under Rob Thomson they took off. The exact opposite happened when the Los Angeles got rid of Joe Maddon in the midst of their losing streak. They continued to lose under Phil Nevin.
The Blue Jays will eventually have to make a decision as to who the long-term replacement will be. With candidates all over the place, who should they pick?
1) Blue Jays manager replacement for Charlie Montoyo: John Schneider
John Schneider is the 42-year-old from Princeton, New Jersey taking over for Montoyo. Although he didn’t actually attend the famed Ivy League college by the time he was old enough, he appears to have the right kind of baseball smarts to manage the Blue Jays.
Schneider has risen fast through the Blue Jays system much more quickly than he did as a playing in their farm system in the early 2000s. Concussions ended his goal of making it to the major leagues. Fortunately, he has a new career as a coach. Right now, it’s his job to both win and lose.
As a catcher during his playing days, Schneider already has a viewpoint not all future managers have. Somehow, it’s always catchers who tend to be some of the best managers.
Just look at the former Blue Jays farmhand they let slip away—Kevin Cash. Although a lot of his success as skipper of the Tampa Bay Rays is due to the organization’s philosophy, he is considered one of the smarter ones in the league. Maybe Schneider can follow the same path. After all, both were members of the 2003 Syracuse SkyChiefs in Triple-A.