SIMMONS SAYS: The last Toronto GM who failed to prepare for a changing financial landscape paid dearly for it

The Leafs were not ready for the salary cap era.

Published Aug 09, 2026  •  Last updated 24 minutes ago  •  9 minute read

Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk /Toronto Sun

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Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins is proceeding as though Major League Baseball will be played in full next season.

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He has been rather clear about that.

To be clear, we should provide him with some Toronto sporting history, though.

The Maple Leafs general manager at the time of the 2004 NHL lockout was John Ferguson Jr.

He, too, proceeded rather blindly that hockey would be played the following season and the rather teflon Maple Leafs could not possibly be affected by any kind of economic shutdown.

That was the thinking back then.

Before the eventual lockout, the Leafs had made the playoffs in 10 of the previous 12 seasons. They were among the highest-spending teams in the game pre-salary cap and among the most successful.

After the lockout, the Leafs never made the playoffs again under Ferguson, and the Leafs wound up missing out on the post-season 10 of the next 11 years — the largest modern slump in the history of the franchise.

The Blue Jays currently have the second-highest team salary in the American League. They have done rather well in spite of this wonky season with an unlimited budget over the years. This year, they are spending in the $280 million US range in a sport where half the teams are spending less than $165 million.

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Ferguson got caught with bad contracts and a plan that missed the boat as to where hockey was heading post-lockout.

Baseball is heading to a salary cap of some kind. It isn’t all about finding a way to catch the Los Angeles Dodgers. Like the NHL did, it’s more about finding a way to operate your business in a more reasonable and responsible way.

The players will foolishly object — but as has been proven in hockey, basketball and the National Football League, that if teams operate successfully, players are paid well accordingly.

Ferguson lost his GM reputation and eventually his job over the failings of the Maple Leafs in the salary cap era. He has not been a GM anywhere else since.

Atkins would be wise to have a plan that is something beyond throwing large money after large free agents. His reputation, long-term, may depend on it.

Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches against the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the first inning at Oracle Park on July 8, 2026 in San Francisco. Photo by Thearon W. Henderson /Getty Images

THIS AND THAT

Along with team president Mark Shapiro, Atkins has made some fine buys using the giant payrolls that Edward Rogers and Tony Staffieri have supplied. Among them: George Springer, Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease. Kazuma Okamoto … Hard to pick an American League Cy Young winner between Cease and the Yankees kid, Cam Schlittler. Both are having sensational years. Their numbers are almost identical through 72% of the season. Cease has a 2.28 earned run average, Schlittler is at 2.26. Schlittler has pitched more innings, Cease has struck out more batters. Both guys have been almost impossible to hit … Other Blue Jay Cy Young winners in the past: Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens (twice), Pat Hentgen and Robbie Ray. Dave Stieb should have won but never finished higher than fourth in Cy Young voting … Imagine if someone had told Cease the following when he signed with the Jays. 1. You’re going to challenge for the Cy Young; 2. Your team will be finishing last in the American League East … There are 49 days left in the Major League season and this is how it has become so complicated for the Jays. On 22 of those 49 dates, teams currently above them in the wild card race will be playing each other. Which means, on those 22 nights the Jays can’t pick up any real ground on the teams ahead of them because someone ahead of them will be winning. There are 29 days on the schedule where none of the wild card contenders play each other. That’s where the Jays need to do some business. That’s 12 days of September, when the Jays have their easiest part of their schedule … The Jays couldn’t hit before the trade deadline and can’t hit after it. It’s hard to do this statistically but consider this: The Jays are last in the American League in runs scored, last in home runs hit, last in walks, last in OPS, and on-base percentage. Collectively, they never have been this weak before. In 2025, their World Series losing season, the Jays amazed baseball by finishing second in the league in runs, sixth in home runs, third in walks, second in OPS, second in runs scored, and first in on-base percentage.

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Gavin McKenna poses for a portrait after being selected first overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs during day one of the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo, New York, on June 26, 2026. Photo by Joe Hrycych /Getty Images

HEAR AND THERE

What are reasonable expectations for NHL first overall draft pick Gavin McKenna in his rookie season as a Maple Leaf? In recent years, first overall picks Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard scored 63 points and 61 points, respectively. Auston Matthews, a decade ago, had 69 points as a rookie. And before him, Nathan MacKinnon had 63. Mitch Marner, who was a rookie alongside Matthews in Toronto, before he was treated so unfairly, had 61 points in his first season. A likely place for McKenna, somewhere in the 50-point range might be the total to hope for if you’re the Leafs. Seven rookies have scored 100 points in their opening seasons, most of them coming in years when points were easier to come by than now: The top seven rookie scorers: Teemu Selanne, Peter Stastny, Alex Ovechkin, Dale Hawerchuk, Sidney Crosby, Joe Juneau and Mario Lemieux … The former Olympian and actual rocket scientist, Juneau, was 24 years old in his first full NHL season … The semi-bust, Alexis Lafrenière, has had 21-31-and-39 points in his first three NHL seasons in New York. He never has had more than 57 points in any season … If strength and conditioning coaches can make a difference over the course of a season, then the Maple Leafs picked up a good one in hiring Crosby’s longtime trainer, Andy O’Brien. Apparently, the Leafs also paid a small fortune to bring in O’Brien and his staff. Said an NHL coach who knows O’Brien well: “I’m a huge fan. He’s incredibly knowledgeable and articulate. He will be great there.” … And I do have this in my head; Mark Shapiro telling all of us and how advanced the Blue Jays were when it came to training and medical outcomes – and here we are watching Jose Berrios, Anthony Santander, and Yimi Garcia – $42 million with of salary, no games played this season … Department of more than sad; The seven home runs Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has hit this season are one more than Santander hit for the Jays last season. Vladdy hit eight in the playoffs for the Blue Jays in 18 games. That seems like a lifetime ago now … Gausman is on my very short list of favourite Blue Jays I’ve ever dealt with over the years. In his time with the Jays he was smart, mature, interesting, available, competitive, professional, and sound in his five years in Toronto. My list of favourite Jays to deal with: Gausman, Tom Henke, Paul Molitor, Edwin Encarnacion, Ernie Whitt, Buck Martinez, John Gibbons, Hentgen, Rickey Henderson, David Cone, Jordan Romano. My list of most challenging Jays to deal with: 1. George Bell. 2. George Bell. 3. George Bell.

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Former NBA player Robert Horry. Photo by Tommaso Boddi /Getty Images

SCENE AND HEARD

The Toronto Raptors remain hostage to the NBA and the Kawhi Leonard situation. It’s not a comfortable position to be in this close to the end of summer. What they don’t know or won’t know until there is any kind of conclusion to this murky matter is a) Will Leonard be a Raptor? b) What kind of suspension, if any, will he be facing? c) What happens if the Leonard deal doesn’t go through? … The Raptors remain bystanders in this train wreck when all they are trying to do is find a way to be competitive … Robert Horry was once traded away by the Houston Rockets, but the deal was negated because of health issues of one of the other players in the deal. Horry played a significant role in the Rockets’ championship win in 1994 … I’m curious about the Daulton Varsho trade with the Houston Astros. Why would the Astros trade away a starting pitcher, born in Houston, grew up in Houston, loves Houston and is signed for the next four more years in exchange for two months of Varsho? What do the Astros know about Spencer Arrighetti that the Blue Jays have yet to discover? … I was confused by all the baseball graders giving such high marks to Atkins for his active work on trade deadline. A lot of A’s and A+’s out there for Atkins, which is fine is all you’re grading is his acquisition of pitcher Jose Soriano. But how do you get that high a mark when offence is your No. 1 weakness and you don’t add anything offensive to your team? … Considering the little it took for the Dodgers to acquire ace pitcher Tarik Skubal, do you blame the Dodgers for apparently ruining baseball, or blame just about every other team for not making a more credible offer for Skubal?

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Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly throws during the first half of a CFL game against the Calgary Stampeders at BMO Field in Toronto, on August 6, 2026. Photo by Peter Power /Postmedia Network

AND ANOTHER THING

BMO Field was a fine stadium prior to the FIFA World Cup coming to Toronto. Now following the World Cup, it’s a great-looking football stadium. The atmosphere at the Argonauts’ season opener on Thursday night was terrific. My biggest complaint: Charging World Cup-like prices for concessions, bottles of Coke for $9.20. That’s beyond outrageous … Henry Burris has been talking a lot lately about the maturity process of a quarterback. The kid quarterback, Burris says, wants to throw nothing but touchdown passes. The developed quarterback wants to move the chains and control the football. The forever immature quarterback, Chad Kelly, who forces way too many passes with all his talent, could use some time listening to Smiling Hank … I was in line for my flight from Calgary to New York, heading to cover my first Stanley Cup Final in 1981, when a kid got in line behind me, carrying a huge Medicine Hat Tigers goalie bag and a couple of goalie sticks The kid’s name: Kelly Hrudey. He was being called up as a third goalie for the New York Islanders heading into the final. We flew together to New York, travelled in from the airport to Long Island together, and a professional friendship of sorts began. That was 45 years ago. Kelly Hrudey, who has had a great run as a player and as a national broadcaster, announced his own firing from Sportsnet the other day. There may be broadcasters better than him just as there were some goalies better along the way. But there’s probably not better people anywhere than him. Proud to have known him all these years. Proud to have worked in the same arenas as he has, and look forward to the next time we get to meet … I don’t like the way they’ve turned the Canadian Open tennis tournaments into a two-week affair. And I never have liked the fact the men’s tournament and women’s tournament are played at the same time. This has been a sensational week so far in Toronto for the women’s events. Not only is the Canadian Leylah Fernandez playing well, but the Filipino sensation Alex Eala has brought out her own fans in a way that’s never been seen before. And entering the round of 16 on Saturday, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Jessica Pegula, and Iga Swiatek were still alive in the tournament. Leylah is scheduled to face Osaka in the evening session on Sunday … Roberto Alomar may be persona non grata with the Blue Jays, but he’s not all that with local baseball fans. He holds his second annual golf tournament in Hamilton on Sunday afternoon … This isn’t just an eight-game losing streak for the Toronto Tempo. These are eight blowouts in a row, by an average of 17 points. This is an expansion team now playing like an expansion team, which they didn’t want to be like …. Happy birthday to Sidney Crosby (39), Rod Brind’Amour (56), Deion Sanders (59), Brett Hull (62), A’ja Wilson (30), Alvis Woods (73), Doug Williams (71), Ime Udoka (49), Yandy Diaz (35), Craig Breslow (46) and Bob Cousy (98) … And hey, whatever became of Jose Cruz Jr?

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