It will get worse before it gets better for Jays fans

No plans to open vault for free agents at winter meetings, writes Rob Longley.

LAS VEGAS As if it wasn’t already painfully obvious (and just plain painful), Toronto Blue Jays fans best be hunkering down for some serious short-term suffering in the seasons ahead. The team’s general manager Ross Atkins acknowledged as much on Monday after a day of kicking tires and listening to half-hearted offers at baseball’s annual winter meetings at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Just two seasons removed from a playoff berth and now in full rebuild mode, Atkins suggested that any immediate moves to improve the current 25-man roster will be done with caution and likely a minimum of financial outlay. Instead, the priority for a team with a combined record of 149-175 over the past two seasons is to fill holes with temporary additions while waiting for the much-hyped prospect pool to develop into major league players. “That’s not how we’re looking to make the organization better,” Atkins said when asked about significant additions for the bigleague roster in 2019. “There are so many different ways to make the organization better. “What needs to happen is, we need to continue building on our depth overall in any possible way. And that’s not just from our 25-man roster, subtracting or adding. That’s through minor league free agency, the Rule 5 (draft) opportunities and any potential trades that could occur. We will constantly work to make the organization more complete.” If that makes the short-term product as unsightly as it was at times over the past two campaigns, so be it, because Atkins and his boss, team president Mark Shapiro, seem determined to stick to the blueprint that’s firmly in place. Atkins is well aware of how such talk sounds to a coast-tocoast fan base that’s become accustomed to at least being competitive. But he promised that, ultimately, the current plan is for the greater good. “As we have said over and over how exciting (the future) feels, I know it can feel not quite as exciting in an off-season for a fan that we’re not acquiring free agents as we have as frequently as the last few years,” Atkins said. “We’re not as aggressive on the trade front potentially as some fans would like us to be, but we’re also in a unique opportunity to make sure that we create the best possible environment and opportunity for our young players that will be transitioning (to the big team.) “We could not be more excited about building around that. We want to make sure we’re not overly aggressive and thinking through what that looks like two and three years (down the road.)” Even more damning for the product the team will send out at the Rogers Communications Cashbox (once known as the SkyDome) this summer is that it could get worse before it gets better. Atkins acknowledged on Monday that there is “significant interest” in starting pitchers Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, the two young, controllable pitchers who have battled injury troubles over the past two seasons. “A lot of teams for a long time have talked about both of those individuals,” Atkins said in a meeting with the Toronto media from the team’s war room suite. “When we write out our rotation it has them in it, but we know who is interested and now it’s just determining how interested.” The Jays aren’t going to give either player away, especially with the dire need to fill out something resembling a starting five. But Atkins said opposing teams aren’t trying to lowball his team with offers because of the off seasons both Stroman and Sanchez had in 2018. He may not have the old-school flair of former Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, but that doesn’t mean the new boss won’t be a hit with his players, as well. In fact, according to the man who was recently his boss in Tampa, Charlie Montoyo will be a good fit with the young, rebuilding Jays team that fired Gibbons at the end of the 2018 season. “Through the last four years, every time we would go to an opposing city, a former player of his would come by,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said here on Monday at the baseball winter meetings as he described the appeal of his former assistant. “They embrace Charlie. It’s impressive how he was a favourite of players. I know that will transition over at the big league level.” Cash, a former Jays player, is considered one of the more progressive young managers in the game. He said that, even though Montoyo was a minor-league manager for most of his career, he’s well in tune with the modern trends in baseball. And Cash saw Montoyo’s savvy up close as his most trusted assistant last season. “Experience,” Cash said when we asked him the biggest strength Montoyo brings to his new club. “When you have managed as many games as he has — I don’t care if you’re doing it in A ball, Double-A, triple-A ... he was managing right alongside (me). We were doing it together last year. “Charlie’s in-game knowledge is second to none.”