The Toronto Blue Jays have started their offseason with a coaching move nobody really had circled.
GM Ross Atkins said Tuesday that the club has let go of mental skills coach John Lannan, and for now, that’s the only change to the coaching staff. Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reported the news.
Lannan had been with the organization since 2020, when he came aboard as the mental performance coach for Toronto’s minor league system. He later moved up to the big league staff before the 2024 MLB season and stayed in that role through 2026.
The decision stands out because plenty of other names seemed likelier to be on the chopping block after Toronto’s disappointing 2026 season. The Blue Jays fell short of the playoffs after a year that didn’t come close to matching the success of 2025, when the club reached the World Series. Manager John Schneider was one of the most obvious candidates to face scrutiny, while hitting coach David Popkins and assistant hitting coaches Cody Atkinson and Lou Iannotti also looked vulnerable.
That’s especially true given how rough the offense was. Toronto finished dead last in runs scored with 648, ranked last in home runs with 152, and came in second last in OPS at .691.
Instead, the first move landed on Lannan. In that job, he was tasked with helping players stay in the right mental space every day, a role that matters in building a consistent winning team. The implication is clear enough: Atkins and the Blue Jays may have felt that part of the operation wasn’t getting it done.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was another part of the picture. Toronto’s biggest star never looked quite right during 2026, and the source of the club’s frustration may have included the idea that he didn’t get the help he needed while putting up some of the worst numbers of his MLB career.
Atkins said this is the only coaching staff change at the moment, though that leaves room for more decisions later. For now, the Blue Jays have made their first offseason move, and it’s a strange one.
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