Blue Jays Fire Charlie Montoyo

   Currently mired in a 2-8 skid in their last 10 games, the Toronto Blue Jays announced Wednesday they would be parting ways with manager Charlie Montoyo.

   Toronto (46-42) currently sit 15.5 games back of the division leading Yankees, and entered the season with high expectations. However, their once prolific offense has struggled out of the gates, as the club sits only 2 games clear of Baltimore for last place in the ultra competitive AL East.

   The 56 year old was the 13th manager in Blue Jays history, and amassed a 236-236 record during his time with the club. Toronto qualified for the playoffs during the COVID shortened season in 2020, and fell one game shy of earning the final wildcard spot in 2021.

   However a 4 game sweep at the hands of the Mariners, and a 1-2 road trip against the lowly Oakland Athletics kicked off July on a sour note for the lone Canadian franchise. Toronto, which as recently as April 10th were the favourites in the AL to win the World Series at various sports books at +850, are now fighting to stay in the American League playoff picture as they head into the All-Star break.

   With Montoyo out of the picture, the club announced that they would be promoting bench coach John Schneider to interim manager for the remainder of the season. Replacing Schneider on the bench will be Triple-A manager Casey Candaele.

   The Jays are next in action Wednesday vs. the Philadelphia Phillies.

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