"After being felled in the ALCS again in 2016, Shapiro and Atkins made several unpopular decisions that sullied his reputation with the fans. He let Encarnación and Bautista walk in free agency, then traded Donaldson in 2018, and continued to let veteran players go over the coming years. These departures plunged the Blue Jays into several seasons of mediocrity before re-emerging with a talented new core led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette."
"This current era has not been without its hiccups: several head-scratching trades, forcing manager John Schneider to pull a dominant José Berríos early in Game 2 of the 2023 Wild Card series against the Minnesota Twins, and some big whiffs in free agency. However, as all Jays fans know, this core also came within an inch of winning the World Series in 2025."
Mark Shapiro received a five-year contract extension to continue as President and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays. Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins arrived in 2015 amid a strong roster and front-office turnover. Post-2016 decisions including allowing Edwin Encarnación and José Bautista to leave and trading Josh Donaldson produced several seasons of mediocrity. The team later rebounded with a young core led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. The recent era included questionable trades, a controversial early hook of José Berríos in the 2023 Wild Card series, and free-agent misses. The core nearly won the 2025 World Series, and Shapiro also oversaw renovations to the Rogers Centre.
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