SIMMONS SAYS: Heads should roll for miserable Toronto Blue Jays season

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This is Ross Atkins’ ninth season as general manager of the Blue Jays. This should be his last.

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When he fires manager John Schneider — which seems inevitable now for the last-place Jays — the appointment of the next manager, most likely Don Mattingly, will be Atkins’ fourth skipper in less than nine years on the job.

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The problem, though, goes deeper than Atkins with the Jays. Atkins is a Mark Shapiro acolyte and, in some people’s minds, Shapiro is the general manager without portfolio. Firing Atkins would essentially be the same thing as firing Shapiro himself — which has protected Atkins for his entire stay in Toronto as this management teams looks to win its first playoff game since inheriting what Alex Anthopoulos left behind in 2015. But thinking playoffs this season — heading into last night, the Jays were tied for the 23rd-best record in Major League Baseball, with the eighth-highest payroll — seems far-fetched.

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But it is early May and a baseball season lasts forever. A GM in a market that had the Hall of Famer, Pat Gillick, for so long, that had the future Hall of Famer, Anthopoulos, knows what sound baseball management looks like, feels like and sounds like.

“Stand Pat” Gillick was criticized in his pre-World Series years. Anthopoulos was criticized in his pre-Russell Martin-Josh Donaldson years — but he’s never missed the playoffs since. Disapproval is part of the GM job and the business of sport.

How Atkins has lasted this long is a tribute to the stubborn ego of Shapiro, who won’t accept condemnation for anything wrong with his struggling team or his own decision-making.

THIS AND THAT

The uncertainty around the Maple Leafs will be loud at season’s end. Will Brendan Shanahan return as club president? That’s a decision new MLSE CEO Keith Pelley must make. And I don’t suspect that will happen quickly. Will Sheldon Keefe return as coach? That’s a decision upper management must make. And if the roster needs reshuffling, which it does, that won’t mean Auston Matthews or William Nylander are going anywhere. It means trying to find a way to convince Mitch Marner to accept a trade elsewhere. One decision doesn’t necessarily connect to the other, and if Shanahan is gone as president, what does that mean for first-year general manager Brad Treliving? Lots of stuff to try to understand in the coming days … Those decisions will be paramount, whether the Leafs win or lose in Boston on Saturday … A voice whispering on Marner’s future in Toronto: The Leafs may inform Marner this summer that they have no interest in paying him $10.9 million, his current salary, on his next contract. That kind of talk could force Marner into accepting a move elsewhere, which would require him to waive his no-movement clause … It’s not that the Leafs have singled out Marner as a problem. It’s that the roster, overall, needs work. They have Matthews and Nylander, their two best players, signed for the long term. They don’t have Marner and captain John Tavares signed beyond the end of next season … What the Leafs don’t have at the top of their roster: Anyone with a mean bone in their body … Marner is paid almost $2.5 million more per year than Edmonton pays Leon Draisaitl. Marner is a 91-point scorer for his career. Draisaitl is a 96-point scorer. But where it really changes is at playoff time, when Marner evolves into a 73-point playoff scorer and Draisaitl raises his game exponentially to a 132-point player … Before the mystery injury, Matthews was a 55-goal scorer on average in his career, regular season. His playoff average is just a 36-goal pace.

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HERE AND THERE

When Joseph Woll played on the USA under-18 and under-17 teams in the USHL, he split the goaltending with Jake Oettinger, the current Dallas Stars goalie. Oettinger will tell you how much he learned from Woll in the two years they were together. Among those Woll played with on the U.S. development team: Adam Fox, Clayton Keller, Trent Frederic, Ryan Lindgren and Casey Mittelstadt … I don’t understand NHL playoff scheduling. They stretch out the first round with too many off-days between games and then rush the second round. The winner in Boston on Saturday night has to travel to Florida on Sunday and play Game 1 Monday night against the Panthers. The teams should factor more into the scheduling rather than the league kowtowing to American television networks … Usually, the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is historically the best round to watch. Not this year. The series won by Vancouver, New York, Carolina and Florida were not particularly compelling. Colorado was fun to watch, but Winnipeg wasn’t competitive. Edmonton was fun to watch, but Los Angeles didn’t do much. Hopefully, the second round gets better … My second-round picks: Florida over whomever in five; Carolina over the Rangers in overtime in Game 7, Jake Guentzel with the winner; Edmonton over Vancouver in six; and Dallas or Vegas over Colorado, a pick I don’t feel very good about — why would anyone bet against Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon? — in seven … Every time a broadcaster mentions Canucks rookie goalie Arturs Silovs, which is pronounced She-lovs, I feel like singing, “Silovs you, yeah-yeah-yeah.” It’s a dad joke, I know. But this dad likes it … Wyatt Johnston is 20 years old. He’ll be 22 by the time the 2026 Winter Olympics come around. Which means GM Doug Armstrong is going to have to find a place for the Dallas forward on the Canadian Olympic team … Almost four million people tuned in for Game 6 of the Leafs-Bruins series on television in Canada. The number should be better for Game 7. And non-Leafs fans across the country too often wonder: Why is there so much Leafs content on national sports networks? … The PWHL Toronto team will play its playoff games at the Coca-Cola Coliseum on the grounds of the CNE. It’ll be interesting to see if the team without a name can sell out for playoffs.

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SCENE AND HEARD

Remember when GM Atkins said: (1) He would fix the Blue Jays offence; and (2) there was nothing wrong with the Blue Jays offence? We give you this: Heading into Saturday, the Jays are 12th in the American League in hits, 12th in runs scored, 12th in home runs, 13th in total bases, 12th in batting average. From the pitching side, the Blue Jays are third in quality starts, but 11th in earned-run average, 14th in strikeouts, 13th in WHIP and 11th in wins … As Bill Parcells and Don Matthews would often say, you are what your record says you are … Bo Bichette hitting .198 won’t last. That I know. George Springer hitting .205? That, I’m not certain won’t last … Raptors aren’t in the playoffs, but a second-round playoff series has Pascal Siakam versus OG Anunoby … The complaint in Philadelphia after the 76ers lost to the Knicks: Nick Nurse overused his starters and didn’t trust his bench. Which would surprise no one around here … Surely, Sportsnet can find something better for Tim Micallef to do than work a late-night highlights show. Micallef should be hosting something, somewhere for somebody. He’s that good … We don’t appreciate Scott Oake enough. He’s the absolute best at what he does in Canada and has been for years … Why did the Blue Jays give up on Teoscar Hernandez? It’s less about him having fun and being silly than most people have assumed. The Jays came to the conclusion they didn’t view him as a $20-million ballplayer, which is how he viewed his own value. So one year after dealing for relief pitcher Erik Swanson, Hernandez signed with the Dodgers for $23 million on a one-year deal. Teoscar has seven home runs this season, the same number as Bichette, Springer and Guerrero, combined … When did every colourman and analyst in baseball become an analytics pitching coach? Time was, broadcasters told you about the people who played the game. They told you stories. They entertained. They laughed and made you laugh. Now all they tell you about is which pitch they would throw in which count to whom. Where are the types of game-callers like Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek when you need them most? … The next television deal the NBA signs with is expected to pay the league $6 billion a year. The NHL, meanwhile, is the little brother, with a TV deal signed for the next five years, paying the league $625 million US a year in America.

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AND ANOTHER THING

Every dad or mom who has ever driven their kid to a practice or a game had to be feeling something when Rod Black’s son, Tyler, got called up to the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this week. It was like all of our kids got called up at the same time. I’ve never met Tyler Black, nor have I ever seen him play, but I’ve known his broadcasting father, Rod, for about four decades. I felt a certain pride watching Tyler get his first big-league hit. I wonder if you did, also, seeing the highlights … It hasn’t exactly worked out the way Kawhi Leonard planned it. He played one year with the Raptors, won four playoff rounds, and bolted for Los Angeles. Since going home, he’s played five years with the Clippers and has won just three playoff rounds, and has yet to contend in any real way … The way Andrew Nembhard has played for Indiana in the playoffs should assure him a spot on Canada’s Olympic team in France. He’s the perfect guard to provide a breather for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray …The past three Olympics had two flag-bearers each for Canada: So, that said, I’m pushing Gilgeous-Alexander and Murray to carry the flag in Paris. Or if Andre DeGrasse is available — track and field doesn’t start until the second week of the Games — he would also be a terrific choice … Flag bearers of the past include Hayley Wickenheiser, Simon Whitfield, Adam van Koeverden, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Rosie MacLennan … Nathan Rourke is in a bad situation with the New England Patriots. The Pats drafted a quarterback in the first round and signed Jacoby Brissett as a free-agent backup. It doesn’t leave much wiggle room for the Canadian hopeful … Joel Edmundson has played in five Game 7s heading into the Leafs game in Boston Saturday night. He’s 5-0 career in those clinching games, the biggest one being a win in Boston over the Bruins that brought St. Louis the Stanley Cup in 2019 … One thing the Leafs need to find in the off-season is someone with a slap shot. A whole lot of playoff goals are being scored with tip-ins from the point and the Leafs don’t have a legitimate slap-shot defenceman … Caitlin Clark played her first WNBA exhibition game for Indiana and looked like the real deal, which will mean great things for women’s sports everywhere … I tend to pay little attention to the world hockey championship most years, but with Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli and Macklin Celebrini all playing for Team Canada, this one might be worth looking at, strictly to measure one kid against the other … I suspect Matthews will be nominated as a Selke Trophy finalist on Sunday after being nominated for the Lady Byng on Saturday and already taking home the Rocket Richard Trophy. It will likely come down to either Connor McDavid or Matthews as a Hart Trophy finalist, along with Nikita Kucherov and MacKinnon. That tells you a lot about the completeness of his game … Jon Cooper made a mistake in his use of words. We’ve all done that at one time or another. He quickly apologized for it and, more than that, explained his own personal circumstance. Cooper can coach my team any day and I would — if I was a player — run through a wall for that man … I saw this on a commercial, so it must be true: The Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy in sports to win. But nobody ever explains what that means …Thursday morning I asked Jim Montgomery what he thought of David Pastrnak’s play in the Toronto series. He said it was fine. I told him I disagreed. Thursday night, the Leafs beat the Bruins and Pastrnak did nothing. After the game, Montgomery called him out. He liked his play in the morning — or so he said. Didn’t like it after losing Game 6 … Bet you didn’t know that the largest crowd ever at Maple Leaf Gardens was for a wrestling main event that featured The Sheik (not the Iron Sheik, the real one who sold cars in Detroit) versus Tiger Jeet Singh … Happy birthday to Carlos Alcaraz (21), Mitch Marner (27), James van Riemsdyk (35), Larry Hisle (77), Dawn Staley (54), Matthew Barnaby (51), Andrew Raycroft (44), Jordan Kyrou (26), John Stevens (58), P.J. Tucker (39) and Aryna Sabalenka (26) … And hey, whatever became of Nathan Horton?

ssimmons@postmedia.com

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