TORONTO — Transitioning to manager of the Toronto Blue Jays after 22 consecutive years in the Tampa Bay Rays organization means there are a lot of things that Charlie Montoyo must suddenly get used to.
A week ago he was arriving at Rogers Centre for an unexpected interview with general manager Ross Atkins and Tuesday he reported for work and began the process of getting to know his new colleagues.
Change can come at you fast in baseball, as in life.
“It wasn’t easy knowing that I was going to leave the Rays because I was there 22 years, my whole coaching career,” Montoyo said in an afternoon conference call organized by the Rays for Tampa Bay media. “But just meeting the people here already with the Blue Jays, they’re outstanding people and one thing Kevin Cash told me when I was interviewing for the job was they are just like we are with Erik (Neander, the GM), Chaim (Bloom, senior vice-president of baseball operations) and with Mark (Shapiro, the president and CEO) and Ross, and so far they’re the same way. They’re great people and I’m feeling very comfortable here.
“That’s a credit to them that they’re making me feel that way, but of course I’m going to miss my friends with the Rays.”
The Rays are going to miss Montoyo, most recently their bench coach after managing at each level of their farm system before reaching the majors as third base coach in 2015, although the lines of separation have already been drawn.
Montoyo said his understanding was that he can’t bring along any coaches from the Rays system with him to Toronto, and that any proprietary data that makes its way to the Blue Jays’ offices will be those stored in his head.
“They already erased everything out of my phone so I don’t have any (secrets),” he said.
One former Rays coach not off-limits is Neil Allen, Montoyo’s pitching coach at triple-A Durham who most recently served in the same role for the Minnesota Twins. Filling out the Blue Jays’ coaching staff is one of his top priorities and Montoyo said he’s “fighting hard for him.”
The Blue Jays already have a capable pitching coach in Pete Walker, who the club is expected to bring back, while bullpen coach Dane Johnson is a longtime member of the organization and deserving of a return, as well.
At season’s end, Atkins said the Blue Jays coaches were free to speak with other clubs and the composition of the staff would be done in consultation with the new manager.
Montoyo will surely want a bench coach that he can develop the kind of relationship he had with Cash last season with the Rays, who lost not only him but Rocco Baldelli to the Minnesota Twins, as well.
Given Montoyo’s extensive managing experience, the Blue Jays can get creative in who takes over as bench coach. Cash, “valued that (experience) and he used it,” explained Montoyo. “Rocco, me and him were talking the whole game — Kevin did a great job asking everyone’s opinions.”
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Montoyo’s relationship with the highly respected Cash worked so well because of “that blend of me being old school and then learning the analytics part, and our friendship,” said Montoyo.
“He valued my opinion, we became really good friends. I was loyal to him, he knew that. I was loyal to the Rays because I was there the whole time,” he added. “It became such a good friendship. Even here at the end when I was interviewing with the Blue Jays, (Cash) was pulling for me and you have no idea how much I appreciate that. It almost got to the point that I was, ‘What, you don’t want me anymore?’ So he was great, it was a great relationship.”
So, too, was Montoyo’s relationship with the Rays, one that came to an end last week when the Blue Jays came calling. It was an opportunity he didn’t expect to get, and one he intends to make the most of now that he has it.
“I loved it with the Rays so I wasn’t looking to leave,” said Montoyo. “Yeah, I was surprised that a phone call came that Sunday afternoon and from there it went pretty quick. That’s how it happened, it went pretty quick. I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was really happy for Rocco and then this happened.”