Insider: Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins Might Be Out of the GM Job, After All

After nine years of the Ross Atkins Plan, and not a single playoff victory, nor a single statement of accountability, a report this weekend indicates that the beleaguered Toronto Blue Jays general manager just might not be the GM next season after all.

According to insider Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

The Toronto Blue Jays could possibly shift GM Ross Atkins to a different role after failing to make the playoffs, but there’s no indication he will be dismissed.

This word comes several weeks after Jays president Mark Shapiro doubled down on his GM, to whom he has been attached at the hip for going on two decades, back to their time in Cleveland. Shapiro's usual word salad of a press conference seemed to indicate in no uncertain terms that Atkins won't be fired, due to Shapiro's fondness of "continuity."

Of course, the "continuity" of continually coming up short, and either missing the playoffs or scratching their way in only to be embarrassingly swept out in the Wild Card, is not exactly the kind of stability that should keep people in their jobs.

Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun wrote on Sunday, "Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins no longer deserve to be in charge of the Blue Jays." Now whatever you think of Simmons, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Jays fan that doesn't agree with that statement.

So will "shifting Atkins to a different role" appease the masses? Probably for some, as anything is better than the veritable disappointments that the Blue Jays have become over the last nine years under his (and Shapiro's) stewardship. And it also allows Shapiro to keep his word (salad) about Atkins still having a job.

The Jays are dead-last in the AL East, and 4th from the bottom of the entire American League. For a team that was supposed to be a solid contender this season, there's little else that needs to be said.