Toronto Blue Jays: Report Card for first half of 2020 season

Charlie Montoyo has room to grow

What makes a good baseball manager? That can be hard to answer. Managers rarely make or break games based on their decisions, although it certainly can happen.

Generally, if the talent is there, the team is going to win games. If the talent isn’t there well…not so much. Charlie Montoyo has faced his fair share of criticism this year, and it’s certainly been warranted. Decisions to pull starters too early, give players off-days when they don’t really need them, and odd batting order decisions are just a few of the questionable decisions he’s made.

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One example of this was batting Biggio eighth in the order last Friday in Toronto’s 6-5 extra-innings win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Biggio responded by reaching base four times, going 3 for 3 with a walk, 2 runs scored, and an RBI.

It’s little things like this that can drive fans and players nuts, especially when they start to pile up. Patience is important here, considering it’s only Montoyo’s second season as manager and he does have the team playing above .500.

For now, he deserves a low grade, but has a chance to improve depending on how the rest of the season goes.

Grade: D

Overall grade for team

In a normal year, the Blue Jays likely wouldn’t be competing for a spot in the post-season. This is still a team that’s taking steps in the right direction though, and an expanded format that could give this young core some post-season experience would be welcome.

I think that if you had told most Jays fans at the start of the season they’d have injuries to Pearson, Shoemaker, Thornton, Bichette, and Giles and still be 16-14 they’d take that. It’ll be exciting to see what this team can do in the second half; hopefully will still be playing games come October.

Overall Grade: B-

How do you feel about the team’s first-half? Would you have graded them any differently? Let us know in the comments below.