Jays face off-season hurdles
To hear some of the natter now that baseball’s free agency season is open for business, you would think the Blue Jays are suddenly going to be the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers and win the off-season going away.
The Jays are going to be a big player this winter, we keep hearing, with management poised to take bundles of Rogers Communications cash and make a “splash” by doling out big-money contracts to some of the brightest names on the market.
Who knows, some of it may even end up coming to pass. But just one thing before we get carried away about major acquisitions coming to Toronto (or Buffalo, or Pittsburgh or wherever the Jays end up next season.) Or make that two things.
Off the top, let’s talk about that Rogers money, a resource that historically has been tight enough in the past though was loosened last winter, most notably in the form of a four-year, $80-million U.S. contract issued to left-handed starter Hyun-Jin Ryu.
In recent weeks, general manager Ross Atkins and team president Mark Shapiro have both shared their confidence in having the means to be significant players in free agency. But that optimism was couched with the caveat that the official pitch for spending money had yet to be endorsed by the Rogers board.
Atkins said more than once that the best business model is enhanced by winning, which is all well and good if it translates into ticket sales. The obvious problem with that plan is who knows when a baseball fan will sit in a Rogers Centre seat again and even if that does happen at some point next season, what would the capacity be?
So do the Jays have an opportunity to “flex financial muscle” this off-season, as one headline put it? Shapiro and Atkins certainly hope so.
“Every indication has been that they expect us to continue to pursue where we need to add to our core this off-season,” Shapiro said in a season-ending conference call.
“I think the resources are going to be there to add in a meaningful way and we will conduct this off-season much like we did off-season.”
Both Shapiro and Atkins cautioned that it will take two parties to consummate such an arrangement, which brings us to the second challenge the Jays face this off-season and possibly the most critical one.
Even if the Jays do get the green light to spend for a high-profile addition to the rotation, or the bullpen, or a bat — all needed areas of upgrade — will free agents even be interested? Players around the league were well aware of the Jays woes in 2020, including the bid to play in Toronto was rejected by the Canadian federal government and how potential arrangements to play in Pittsburgh and then Baltimore fell through.
Opponents didn’t exactly relish playing at Sahlen Field in Buffalo where the visiting clubhouse was a tent and the lighting was sub-standard. Despite the outstanding job the Jays did in upgrading the Buffalo facility— and it did create a measurable homefield advantage for the Jays — it certainly lacked some of the luxuries big leaguers have become accustomed to.
To their credit, Jays players didn’t gripe publicly about their lot and, in fact, did pretty much the opposite. To say they enjoyed their summer in Buffalo would be a huge stretch, however. Instead, they sucked it up and made the best of their situation living the quiet life in a downtown hotel a short stroll from Sahlen Field.
Ultimately, money will talk when Shapiro and Atkins get down to business with agents, but so too will the uncertainty facing the Jays situation relative to the Canadian border.