After 5 Years Is Ross Atkins the 2nd Best GM in Blue Jays History?

[R. Johnson#3]

-First GM in Blue Jays history to get the team to the post season in 5 years
-Top 10 farm for 3 years running
-Broke the Boras boycott
-Signed an ace for less than ace money
-Paved the way for increasing minor league salaries

He also had the 19th highest team payroll (54.5 mil) which included 14 million being paid to Tulo. He was technically the 2nd highest paid player on the team this season. The team is still on the rise with TONS of money to spend and loads of young talent in the farm system. I think it's very easy to say that Atkins is 2nd only to Gillick...for now.

[pebloemer]

I like Atkins. He has taken the long view. Maybe we should too before we make proclamations like this. Lot of work to do to turn this into perennial contender.

[ChongInc.]

He’s still below Riccardi for me. So he’s 4th if I’m being generous.
Maybe one day.

[mike_noodles]

-First GM in Blue Jays history to get the team to the post season in 5 years
-Top 10 farm for 3 years running
-Broke the Boras boycott
-Signed an ace for less than ace money
-Paved the way for increasing minor league salaries

He also had the 19th highest team payroll (54.5 mil) which included 14 million being paid to Tulo. He was technically the 2nd highest paid player on the team this season. The team is still on the rise with TONS of money to spend and loads of young talent in the farm system. I think it's very easy to say that Atkins is 2nd only to Gillick...for now.

Your top point doesn’t really stand up since Ricardo would have had 6 post season appearances in today’s world.

Points 2, 3 and 4 mean nothing without results.

Number 5 is awesome.

But, how many GMs have we had? 5-6? With only one two having some real success? The bar isn’t really that high. Hard to put him in the top based off of this season. He’s on the cusp of moving ahead of AA, but just not yet.

[R. Johnson#3]

I like Atkins. He has taken the long view. Maybe we should too before we make proclamations like this. Lot of work to do to turn this into perennial contender.

Oh for sure but when is the last time the Jays have been positioned this well moving forward? AA gutted the farm twice while taking on massive contracts (Reyes, Beuhrle and Tulo) while JP just dished out a ridiculous amount of money in one off-season (Burnett, Ryan, Glaus, Molina). Atkins is the polar opposite and the only big money contract he has so far is our ace. He does have a lot of work to do moving forward but this teams window hasn't even opened yet. Plenty to be excited about.

[R. Johnson#3]

Your top point doesn’t really stand up since Ricardo would have had 6 post season appearances in today’s world.

Points 2, 3 and 4 mean nothing without results.

Number 5 is awesome.

But, how many GMs have we had? 5-6? With only one two having some real success? The bar isn’t really that high. Hard to put him in the top based off of this season. He’s on the cusp of moving ahead of AA, but just not yet.

The bar isn't high at all. He's already passed AA in my books. AA bought playoff baseball but did it with a team that had no longevity. Imagine if he stuck around and signed Price like he said he wanted to. He probably would've paid Bautista too. This team isn't even fully built yet and it's already full of promise.

Breaking the Boras boycott has already been huge. If he didn't do that then there'd be no Ryu or Martin. In order to get top level talent you need to work with Boras and in 1 year of doing so he already got an ace and a top draft pick.

[pebloemer]

Oh for sure but when is the last time the Jays have been positioned this well moving forward? AA gutted the farm twice while taking on massive contracts (Reyes, Beuhrle and Tulo) while JP just dished out a ridiculous amount of money in one off-season (Burnett, Ryan, Glaus, Molina). Atkins is the polar opposite and the only big money contract he has so far is our ace. He does have a lot of work to do moving forward but this teams window hasn't even opened yet. Plenty to be excited about.

There is definitely plenty to be excited for. I agree with that. Evaluating the body of work by a GM is best done when he has completed what he came to do, or parts ways with the organization. I don't think he is close to either yet. But I love the current direction.

[Raps18-19 Champ]

Probably Ricardi if you talking first 5 years.

[wamco]

He has money and assets this off-season. Let’s see what happens

[Sasky05]

-First GM in Blue Jays history to get the team to the post season in 5 years
-Top 10 farm for 3 years running
-Broke the Boras boycott
-Signed an ace for less than ace money
-Paved the way for increasing minor league salaries

He also had the 19th highest team payroll (54.5 mil) which included 14 million being paid to Tulo. He was technically the 2nd highest paid player on the team this season. The team is still on the rise with TONS of money to spend and loads of young talent in the farm system. I think it's very easy to say that Atkins is 2nd only to Gillick...for now.

I think we can easily say that Atkins is the second best GM in Jays history. Outside of Gillick, none of our other GM's ever had the club positioned the way we are today. Ricciradi, Ash, and all except AA never got us to the playoffs, and AA only once. Atkins has done it twice and has a great core going forward.

[Raps18-19 Champ]

^
That's very circumstantial though. Ricardi woulda made the playoffs 6 out of 8 times I think if he had 8 team playoffs. And that was when Yankees and Red Sox were dominating.

[LechWalesa]

Atkins has the opportunity to move into the second spot if we win the division next year.

I think it goes without saying that Gillick is pretty much untouchable.

[R. Johnson#3]

I think we can easily say that Atkins is the second best GM in Jays history. Outside of Gillick, none of our other GM's ever had the club positioned the way we are today. Ricciradi, Ash, and all except AA never got us to the playoffs, and AA only once. Atkins has done it twice and has a great core going forward.

Sasky knows what’s up.

[Chaotic98]

Can't evaluate him properly until her leaves or wins a WS, or at the least an AL Championship.

If I were going to rate him now he might be in 2nd, but if he were to trade our team for crap or sign horrible deals that sinks us for years to come, he'd drop to 3, 4, 5 or Ash level.

My list as of now, Gilick, (2.1)Atkins, (2.2)Anthopolous, (2.3)Ricciardi, (5)Ash, (6)Bavasi and (7)LaCava.

Again, I can't finalize his spot because it can be interchanged between AA and JP, until he leaves.

[hanton]

Atkins has a .483 winning PCT. Yea.