The Toronto Blue Jays have made a midseason change in the dugout.
The team confirmed Wednesday afternoon that it had fired manager Charlie Montoyo. The news was first reported by The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1547252722063245313
The Jays then put out a statement confirming that bench coach John Schneider will assume skipper duties, and Casey Candaele, who manages Toronto's top minor league club in Buffalo, will move to the big leagues as the interim bench coach.
https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1547258312156221442
A reason was not immediately given for the midseason firing but the Blue Jays, who were expected to contend in the loaded American League East Division, are currently in fourth place with a 46-42 record, 16 games behind the leading New York Yankees. The team is 3-9 so far in July.
Montoyo had been signed to a contract extension before this season, which would have kept him filling out the lineup cards through at least 2023. There were options for the 2024 and 2025 seasons as well.
The manager had a 236-236 record for the Blue Jays. He led Toronto to the 2020 playoffs but lost to Tampa Bay in the AL Wild Card series. His efforts earned him a nomination for AL Manager of the Year.
John Schneider, 42, is a former catcher in the Blue Jays minor-league system. Upon retirement as a player in 2008, he managed the Jays' Gulf Coast rookie affiliate for one season, then through 2017, managed that team, along with short-season Class A Vancouver, and the Class A Lansing Lugnuts. In 2018, Schneider managed Class-AA New Hampshire to an Eastern Division title, then joined the big-league club in 2019.