Toronto Blue Jays: 5 most important individuals in 2019

4) Ross Atkins

Ross Atkins was on a hiding to nothing from the day he took over as general manager in December 2015, effectively replacing the popular Alex Anthopoulos. The perception was — fair or not — that president and CEO Mark Shapiro had forced Anthopoulos out and replaced him with one of his “buddies” from his time with the Cleveland Indians.

Even when the Blue Jays returned to the postseason for a second consecutive season in 2016, Atkins got little credit. As far as the masses were concerned, he was riding on the coattails of the team which Anthopoulos put together.

Here’s the thing though – Anthopoulos made a lot of big moves ahead of and during the 2015 season; almost as if he knew he was leaving one way or another. These moves included forking out significant money and giving up top prospects from the farm system.

Of course, the fan base benefited from seeing the team end a 21-year postseason drought — which at the time was the longest active streak in the Majors and indeed all four main professional sports leagues in North America — but the after-effect has left Atkins with a lot of work to do. Effectively, he’s been left with cleaning up the mess from Anthopoulos’ “win now” approach.

This means rebuilding the farm system and getting rid of aging, less productive players with big contracts. And in fairness the 45-year-old is doing just this — albeit at some cost with the like of Troy Tulowitzki — with a view to making the team contenders again within the next few years, while still helping them field a competitive roster in the interim.

Atkins may never be popular in Southern Ontario, and the shame is it’s not really of his doing or even a particularly logical viewpoint. Regardless, it doesn’t diminish how important he is to the franchise, both this season and beyond.