ROGERS BRASS READY TO OPEN VAULT
Blue Jays owners intend to hike payroll as young team shows signs of contending
As he toured the Toronto Blue Jays’ upgraded facilities late last week, Rogers Communications chairman Edward Rogers was no doubt impressed with what he saw.
It is spring training, after all, where positivity rules and optimism abounds.
But there’s hope for the Jays beyond the mirage of Grapefruit League giddiness and it has direct ties to the corporate rulers in charge of the Rogers purse strings.
When the Jays paid US$80 million to acquire free agent pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu in December, Canada’s only Major League Baseball team quickly dispelled the notion that they were in spending hibernation.
And the front office, led by team president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins, have assurances from the important decision makers that further financial resources are forthcoming.
While the Jays are projected to open the 2020 season with the 24th highest payroll in baseball, the signs seem to point to the Ryu acquisition as the beginning of an escalation in spending that could move the team closer to contending status.
Any GM can spend any owner’s money when given the green light, but in the case of one of the biggest free agent deals in Toronto sports history, the Ryu signing offers a revealing look into this front office’s mindset.
“That one move of signing Ryu is, in our minds, less significant than having gotten to the point where we have transitioned a core that gives us the confidence to start aggressively spending that financial capital,” Atkins said on Sunday.
“The starting point for us has been, how do we establish a strong young core that we feel good enough about that we can go from a team that’s winning to a more competitive team, and really starting to push that time frame as quickly as possible.”
What we’ve learned from the Shapiro-atkins regime is that they’re not about to spend Rogers money haphazardly, and they certainly weren’t willing to do so super aggressively until the move to contention was more in focus. From a fan’s perspective, it was just one of the reasons the 95-loss 2019 season was so excruciating.
But with the young core of
Vlad Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. establishing themselves as potential stars, the time to accelerate spending has arrived.
“It’s a big part of the equation, transitioning to the brightest stage,” Atkins said. “It was very exciting for us to see that. We expected it. And we continue to expect that, but that’s a very big piece of the equation.”
Now that those four and others have demonstrated tremendous upside, the timeline has quickened. It won’t come all at once, but all indications are that Rogers has endorsed a Shapiro-atkins blueprint that will soon see the Jays among MLB’S top five payrolls.
“There’s nothing we want more than winning,” Atkins said. “It’s always at the core of everything we’re doing. But we want to ensure that we’re doing it in a way that’s sustainable.”
The steps to get there have been clearly articulated even if the reboot/rebuild became agonizingly frustrating for a fan base giddy with the successes of 2015 and 2016.
Shapiro and Atkins always articulated their method.
Essentially it was to draft and develop, and once that translates into success, become more aggressive (but not reckless) in payroll increases.
Atkins is confident the Jays front office’s relationship with chairman Edward Rogers and the company board is strong enough that they can become aggressive when contention is just around the corner.
The company has spent big money in the past, as recently as 2017, when the Jays boasted the fifth highest payroll in MLB. But they purged many of the big ticket players from those teams in a hasty teardown that dipped the payroll to 22nd in MLB at the start of the 2019 season.
Though the Jays are currently slotted 24th in payroll, that could change rapidly based on trades, acquisitions and variations in roster construction.
Overshadowing everything they do fiscally, Shapiro and Atkins have some unique realities that not all GMS have to deal with. One is the Canadian loonie vs. U.S. greenback; the other is battling big-spending clubs in their division.
Those constraints are why the front office insisted on getting pillars in place before spending piles of cash.
In off-season shopping, Atkins says he detected a different level of interest from free agents and their representatives. Almost to a man, they wanted to know about “the kids” — and how the Toronto front office was going to take best advantage of those assets.
If the team takes a noticeable leap forward from that dismal 95-loss 2019 season, Atkins expects an even more attentive audience.
“The next big piece of the equation will be this team moving from competitive to contending, and that’s when you’ll see a very big shift in those conversations with free agents,” Atkins said.
“The competitive cycle and coming off of a tough year isn’t nearly as exciting as when we’re
There’s nothing we want more than winning. It’s always at the core of everything we’re doing. But we want to ensure that we’re doing it in a way that’s sustainable.
coming off a winning season for free agents.”
The more the Jays want some of those elite future free agents, in theory, the more they’ll want to come to Toronto, especially if the reputation around the young core continues to grow.
“Toronto is such an incredible market and an incredible opportunity, knowing that we have the financial room to grow and the belief that our team is going to be a very good one for an extended period of time,” Atkins said.
“The possibility of that extended window is what’s so powerful in our view.”