The Toronto Blue Jays have been making some changes to their coaching staff this off-season and will not have one more spot to fill as the Philadelphia Phillies have stolen away David Howell.
The Phillies steal away Blue Jays coach David Howell
At the end of the season, the Blue Jays mentioned that both Jeff Ware and David Howell would be re-assigned to new positions in the organization after serving as assistant pitching coaches in 2024.
According to MLB insider Ben Nicholson-Smith, Howell will not be returning to the Blue Jays in a different role next season as the Phillies have offered him an assistant coaching job that he will be taking.
"David Howell, the Blue Jays' assistant pitching coach for the past two seasons, is expected to land a job with the Phillies, according to an industry source"
- Ben Nicholson-Smith
This puts the Blue Jays in an interesting position since they already had many holes to fill in their coaching staff this off-season but will not have one more unexpected spot to fill.
The Blue Jays have an extremely busy off-season still ahead as they have yet to make a major league signing and still have a ton of issues in their lineup that need to be addressed.
Hopefully having to find new coaches will not get in the way of the Blue Jays acquiring talent this winter but it sure does complicate things.
Atkins needs to start making some big moves as time is slowly running out.