Toronto Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro has described the 2024 season as the team’s “biggest disappointment” after high expectations led to their current last-place standing in the American League East. With the team already looking toward next year, Shapiro emphasized the need for improvement rather than focusing on terms like “rebuild” or “retool.”
“This season has been the biggest disconnect from our expectations in the nine years I’ve been here,” Shapiro told reporters on Wednesday. “We’ve faced tough endings and challenging seasons before, but this is by far the most significant gap between our goals and reality. We need to learn from this and improve.”
The Blue Jays are currently 52-62, trailing 15½ games behind the division lead and 11 games out of a wild-card spot. Despite their struggles, the team retained key players Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette instead of trading them at the deadline. The club is also working to reduce its payroll from $244 million to under the $237 million tax threshold.
Shapiro acknowledged the team’s issues, including the bullpen’s struggles after the loss of closer Jordan Romano, who was sidelined by elbow pain. He noted that while individual talent identification has been strong, the challenge has been assembling that talent into a successful roster.
“We’ve identified talent well, but integrating it into a winning roster has been problematic,” Shapiro said. “We need to understand what went wrong and how to build a better team next year. It’s a bitter disappointment, but we believe there’s enough talent to contend for a championship next season.”
Shapiro refrained from commenting directly on general manager Ross Atkins’ status but affirmed his belief in stability and continuity as key competitive advantages. “I rarely make unequivocal statements, especially about job statuses during the season,” he said. “Stability and continuity are crucial, and reacting with drastic changes doesn’t always lead to improvement.”
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