ATKINS FORGOES ALL-OUT RENO FOR PATCH JOB
General manager has lots of work ahead in revamping old and slow Jays roster
Ross Atkins is a lot like the foreman on a construction site in disarray — somebody has messed up the foundation and all he is left with is a pencil, an eraser, some draft paper and a whole lot of ideas.
It’s not going to be easy. He knows what he needs to do to make the Toronto Blue Jays better. He thinks they can contend next season. Knowing it is nice. Believing it, if only for the edification of his fan base, is nice. Doing it is something else entirely.
“It’s been painful in many ways,” the Blue Jays general manager said Tuesday in his year-end press gathering. Painful for him. Painful for the paying customer. A team got old and slow and ineffective and injured all at the same time — and Atkins seems to figure with the addition of one starting pitcher and starting position player, all will be wonderful again. Which is a like the role Kevin Bacon played in the comedy classic Animal House. He stood there with his arms up and declared that all is well. He then got trampled by the marching band.
No one is trampling Atkins here. Not yet anyhow. He is actually growing into himself, if not the job as Blue Jays general manager. It has taken some time for him not to sound robotic — as though Mark Shapiro has written his lines and he was just repeating them. He’s graduated to offering his own opinions.
He is one of two things right now: he is either truly optimistic because he believes in this old Blue Jays team, assuming health is on his side. Or he is saying that because it’s his way of calming the fan base, which buys most of its tickets in the off-season and he doesn’t want to dull the market.
Atkins did say that the Blue Jays “objectively” had the fourth-best pitching in the American League. Exactly where those numbers came from is a matter of conjecture.
The Jays were seventh in the AL in earned-run average for starting pitching and 13th in innings pitched by their starters. The staff WHIP was 12th best. The 27 blown saves from the bullpen — 10 from Roberto Osuna — were last in the AL. The bullpen was eighth in earned run average.
You could actually live with their semi-deep bullpen heading into next season. They need the modern Mr. Blister, Aaron Sanchez, to be a factor in the rotation. If he isn’t, he’s impossible to replace. They’re likely to sign a middle-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. That helps depth. With Sanchez, that’s possibly a playofflike rotation. Without Sanchez, not a chance.
The real problem for Atkins is his everyday lineup, where old and slow or simply slow or simply old factor almost everywhere. He has Troy Tulowitzki back at shortstop, someone who played badly as shortstop when healthy this season and didn’t contribute much offensively and can’t run at all on the bases. Barring a miracle trade, he’s back next season.
He has base-clogger Kendrys Morales at designated hitter next year and, barring a trade, he’ll be in a lineup that already will have Justin Smoak, Russell Martin, Tulowitzki and maybe Steve Pearce involved. A 4x100 team that isn’t.
And this from a Blue Jays offence that was last in the American League in runs scored and had just one player in the top 65 in the AL in on-base percentage. So what Atkins has to fix is an everyday lineup that is his own personal Rubik’s Cube. They can’t get a hit, can’t get on base, can’t run when they do, hit into too many double-plays, can’t hit with runners in scoring position — this is where Atkins probably knows he needs to blow this up and can’t.
He figures better health and better performance will bring the offence back to respectability. He may be dreaming on this one.
Devon Travis has proven to be productive when he’s healthy, which he hasn’t been. Tulowitzki is a below-average offensive player. Morales doesn’t get on base enough and when he does, he can’t run at all. Josh Donaldson told the GM the Jays lack in so many areas of fundamentals, which he already knew. But at least Donaldson performs as did Smoak and let’s see if he can do that for a second season.
The parts all connect — they just don’t connect well. Oh, and about the fundamentals that Donaldson talked about, Atkins thinks John Gibbons is a remarkable manager.
He said that while outlining the many areas the team failed at, including their lack of fundamentals. It’s part of the strange disconnect here: Atkins blames himself for the team’s issues with fundamentals. Which is the opposite of the way this usually works. If a team can’t play the right way, normally it’s the manager who gets fingered. This time, the general manager is pointing the finger directly at himself.
This is his team. The Jays won 93 games before he arrived on the scene. They won 76 games this sorry season.
There is need for major renovation. Atkins is probably aware of that. He just won’t say so. Maybe he can’t.