Solarte deal done on tarmac

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Or in Ross Atkins’ case, you make a deal to bring versatile infielder Yangervis Solarte to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Atkins laughs thinking back on how he wrapped up the Solarte trade, which saw the Jays give up two minor league prospects, outfielder Edward Olivares and righthanded pitcher Jared Carkuff, to get Solarte, whom the Jays hope will solidify the infield this season.

Atkins said the Solarte deal gained momentum just before Christmas and started coming together when he and his family were travelling back from Vancouver on Friday night after visiting his wife’s family in Washington state. They landed at Pearson just after a Sunwing aircraft collided on the ground with a WestJet plane, causing chaos and panic and sending a firefighter to hospital.

“We sat on the tarmac for three hours and that’s where I did the deal,” said Atkins.

“And we were not in first class,” added the Toronto GM, who said he finished the swap via text and old-fashioned phone conversation. Anybody sitting near Atkins would have got the scoop on the Solarte deal.

“And then my phone died,” Atkins said with a laugh. “The plane didn’t have internet, so I switched over to my wife’s phone and that was a bit confusing, and I’m also communicating with guys in my office at the time.”

Because of the collision, everyone’s luggage was late getting off the aircraft and Atkins finalized the deal — after medicals were processed, the players involved were informed, etc. — on Saturday on zero sleep. The Jays then held a conference call with the Toronto media on Saturday night and Atkins sounded completely wiped.

“I was,” he said. “But all good.”

There has been a lot of talk in the baseball world that Solarte is a much underrated player and the Jays might have got a gem in the deal. The problem, however, could be that Jays manager John Gibbons might find himself performing a juggling act to keep all the infielders happy if shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and second baseman Devon Travis come out of spring training healthy. (Atkins reiterated on Monday that both are doing very well in their recovery from injuries last season). it’s