Blue Jays Have Fired Manager Charlie Montoyo

The Blue Jays have fired manager Charlie Montoyo after a middling first half of the 2022 season, the team confirmed Wednesday.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was the first to report the news. 

Toronto announced bench coach John Schneider will be the interim manager for the remainder of the season while Casey Candaele will be the interim bench coach. 

Toronto is 46–42 and fourth in the American League East heading into next week’s All-Star break. Although the Blue Jays are still in possession of one of the three AL Wild Card spots, the team’s performance has widely been regarded as underwhelming in a season where the club expected to compete for a division title. 

Montoyo will be dismissed amid a particularly disappointing stretch for the organization. The Blue Jays have lost nine of their last 11 games, which has plummeted them below the Rays and the Red Sox in the division standings. 

Montoyo will depart Toronto with a 236–236 record over the last three and a half seasons. The Blue Jays never finished above third in the AL East during his tenure and made the playoffs just one time, during the shortened 2020 season. 

Although success has been hard to come by, Montoyo had posted winning records in each of the past three years following a 67–95 performance during his first season at the helm. That includes winning 91 games during the 2021 season, but narrowly missing out on a spot in the playoffs to a pair of division rivals–the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Montoyo, 56, spent almost two decades within Tampa Bay’s organization and farm system before taking over the top job in Toronto, serving in a number of roles including as the Rays bench coach. He’ll now be on the search for a new gig heading into next year.