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As of this writing, the Blue Jays are 19-24, and occupy last place in the AL East. Both the front office and the players are "wholly upset with their up-and-down start." While the team was expected to contend, Jon Heyman is reporting that manager John Gibbon appears safe for now; although that can change rapidly. Mike Redmond was declared safe by Marlins owner Jeffery Loria, but soon after was fired.
While the team has yet to make a trade, and likely hasn't decided on how to best approach the deadline this year, Toronto has checked in on Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels. The Blue Jays must have had mouth watering potential, as they're loaded with "young pitching talent (Aaron Sanchez, Daniel Norris, etc.)". But that idea was quickly thrown away as Toronto's front office was told that Hamels would invoke his 20-team no trade clause, and block any potential deal.
That was likely unfortunate news for Ruben Amaro to hear, but was even worse for the Blue Jays. With a collective ERA of 5.20, and FIP of 5.19, they arguably have MLB's worst starting rotation and need help. If GM Alex Anthopolous is going to try to fix this team, he must start with pitching. Getting Hamels would have been a huge addition, but the problem is larger than just one starter. Anthopolous has to retool an entire pitching staff on the fly, or else the Blue Jays have no chance at playoff baseball.
Tensions have started to boil over, and is clearly affecting the players. Mark Buehrle said he was stating the obvious when he told reporters that "we stink" and talked about how the team wasn't in sync. "When we're pitching good, we're not hitting. When we hit and score, we're not doing a good job pitching, we're not holding them." Buehrle suggested that a fire sale may be imminent, while Josh Donaldson shared his frustration.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Josh Donaldson: "This isn't the try league. This is the get-it-done league." <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLB?src=hash">#MLB</a></p>— Scott MacArthur (@TSNScottyMac) <a href="https://twitter.com/TSNScottyMac/status/599772584956264449">May 17, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Anthopolous is in the final year of his contract, and if the Blue Jays don't show some life this year, might not be brought back. Paul Beeston, the team's President, is also in the final year of his contract, and isn't likely to return. The writing may be on the wall for this current front office group, as the owner may choose to restart and go with new leadership. The Blue Jays have been expecting to contend for years now, and need to a dramatic turnaround.