I love the complete revisionist history regarding AA on this board. He gets discussed way too much as is but I'd like to point out how much bitching you all did when he was here.
The DAILY posts about the RA Dickey trade make the Atkins complaints look like small fries. It was a constant thing, and when Josh Thole came along for the ride the complaints doubled.
Further, that 2015 team was damn good but it was older than dirt and had some major holes that AA did/could not address. One of the most important games in franchise history and Ben Revere and his noodle bat is hitting leadoff, Chris Colabello is batting 5th and Ryan Goins is in the lineup too. It's no wonder we lost to that s***** Royals team.
Now before someone says, "But Terminator, Ross Atkins is literally ruining my life right now!!" just take a chill pill and realize that I'm not saying I hate AA and love Atkins. Their tenures in TO seem pretty damn similar to me and I think both are probably pretty decent but not great GMs. AA seems to be better now than he used to be but I'm scared shitless of what he does in trying to keep that old core around. Very well could have given in to extensions on Donaldson and Bautista who s*** the bed shortly after that year.