Page 49 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 137

www.sportsenergynews.com Issue #137 June 2024 49

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Stories And More About The People In Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry
The Blue Jays are investing four-hundred million dollars in a 2-year refurbishment of
their home, the Rogers Center. After forty games this season, they’re in last place in the

East division and playing very poorly. What’s the next step for ownership to refurbish

this underperforming team?

Jake Lapierre - Conditioning Coach - When I first read this question, my first thought was, hold it; flag on the field. Who is
dishing out the four hundred million for renovations on a privately owned facility; originally constructed with hundreds of
millions in public funds and sold to Rogers for 4 percent of the $570-million cost. Surely not Joe Taxpayer.
Well according to an article in the Globe and Mail by SIMON HOUP, PUBLISHED APRIL 12, 2024 (https://www.
theglobeandmail.com/sports/article-as-sports-teams-grab-billions-in-taxpayer-funding-for-stadiums-blue/)
Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro stipulated “this undertaking was completely privately financed,” praising Rogers
Communications Inc., the club’s owner (and his bosses), for their support.
Considering Rogers Communications 2023 financial results report showing revenues of 19.3 billion, it’s good to see the government didn’t
go digging into taxpayers’ pockets on this one. That’s my rant. What’s the next step for ownership to refurbish this underperforming team?
The team has the talent; they just have to find the heart!
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Jim Riddell - Seaway Karate Club - The Toronto Blue Jays are currently sitting in last place in the American League East,
with a 20-25 record and the season is slowly slipping away. They have a talented lineup but are not getting the job done. Bo
Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero, and George Springer, who were expected to provide offence, have not been getting hits. The Blue
Jays bull pen has currently given up more home runs and has fewer strikeouts than any other team in the division. It may
be a bit early to make any major trades, but changes will come. A few of the Jays top prospects will likely be called up in the
hope of improving offence. Seasons can be quickly turned around; in mid-November, the Edmonton Oilers had only won two
games and were at the bottom of the NHL standings. The team got going and they are now about to meet the Dallas Stars in the
Western Conference finals. The Blue Jays are presently in a very similar situation to where the Oilers were in November. Let’s
see how the rest of their season plays out.

Peter Collins - Sports Enthusiast - As patient as Toronto fans are, there is a sense that the Blue Jay faithful are becoming fed
up with the team’s lack of success. They are spending big money on players, as their ninth highest payroll in the MLB, suggests.
The top baseball executives in the organization, Mark Shapiro, and Ross Atkins, have not found the right mix of players to field
a consistently competitive team. They have young stars in Bichette and Guerrero, high priced free agents in Springer, Bassitt,
and Gausman, but something is missing. In close games, when there are runners in scoring position, the Blue Jays, often,

don’t perform. They didn’t do much this off season to change the team’s profile, thinking that last year’s lack of clutch performance was an
aberration. As it turns out, this year they’re worse! They’ve tried the “change the manager” approach, and that didn’t work, so what’s left? I
think that a big shake up is long overdue, a start over, with a change in leadership (Shapiro and Atkins). Blue Jay fans, as loyal as they are, are
deserving of a better team and better results. It may include parting ways with players such as Springer and Guerrero to get them on the right
track. The statistics tell it all, ninth in payroll, twenty-fourth in team hitting, twenty-first in team pitching. Time for some changes!