I didn’t know when it would happen.”

Toronto Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro was no different from General Manager Ross Atkins. President Shapiro spoke as above at the season conclusion press conference on the 13th (Korean time) regarding the replacement of starting pitcher Jose Berrios in the second game of the American League wild card decision against the 2023 Major League Minnesota Twins on the 5th.스포츠토토

Berrios held the Minnesota batting line tight until the third inning that day without giving up a single run. He had three hits but did not give up a single walk. Since it is the postseason, a quick replacement of the starting pitcher is quite possible, but the overwhelming majority of responses said that they did not understand the replacement of Berrios that day.

When leadoff hitter Luis Royce walked in the top of the 4th inning when the score was 0-0, left-hander Yusei Kikuchi was suddenly put at the plate by left-handed hitter Max Kepler. Although Kikuchi was on standby as a long relief pitcher in this series, the results were the worst. As soon as Kikuchi came up, he gave up a hit and a walk, resulting in Toronto’s loss and the end of the season.

So it was natural that the local media was outraged. Based on Coach John Schneider’s comments, The Athletic stated that the replacement was a front office decision, not Coach Schneider’s decision. “Toronto management said, ‘Heaven forbid Coach Schneider acts alone.’

As the controversy arose, general manager Ross Atkins immediately denied at the season-ending press conference on the 8th that it was not a replacement of the front office. Rather, he explained that there is a group of experts who communicate with Director Schneider on a regular basis, and that he does not attend those meetings.

Still, the controversy did not subside. On the 13th, five days later, President Shapiro also repeated Director Atkins’ remarks. President Shapiro told The Athletic, “I knew the game plan. He knew the goal was to bring in Kikuchi and get lefties out for better matchups in the second half. It actually worked, but I didn’t know when it would happen. “I found out the moment Coach Schneider walked to the mound.”

President Shapiro focused on resolving the situation. The Athletic said, “Atkins’ failure to make organizational decisions at least created a sense of awkwardness between the team’s two key decision-makers (Coach Schneider and General Manager Atkins), but President Shapiro does not believe there were any uncomfortable feelings between the two.” President Shapiro said, “We had enough competitions with them over the past few days, so there was no awkwardness.”

President Shapiro trusted Director Atkins on this day. The 2024 season will also continue under the leadership of General Manager Atkins and Manager Schneider. “We need to be more clear and transparent with players and better communicate what the process is,” Shapiro said. “The important thing is that the decision lies with our staff and Schneider.”

In the end, the background to Berrios’ replacement and Kikuchi’s introduction remained a kind of mystery. There is also a reasonable suspicion that one party lied. It’s a tragedy that this happened in the last game of the season. At this point, there is no separate bean powder club.