Jays GM still pulling for the playoffs
Management will focus on ‘adding and winning’ before it hits the panic button
MILWAUKEE — The Toronto Blue Jays are still last in the American League East, still riddled with injuries and have undeniably suffered through one of the worst two-month stretches to open a season in franchise history — but that doesn’t mean the front office has any plans to tear the team apart.
General manager Ross Atkins rather emphatically said on Wednesday he’s committed to bolstering the lineup to challenge for a third consecutive playoff berth.
“We’re focused on adding and winning,” Atkins said before the Jays downed the Milwaukee Brewers 8-4 Wednesday at Miller Park. “We’re focused on what’s the best thing for us sustaining a championship organization and environment.”
Just how Atkins and team president Mark Shapiro can make that happen remains to be seen. With a 21-26 record, the Jays have some climbing to do if they are to challenge for the division or an AL wild card spot.
But Atkins pointed to a couple factors fuelling optimism, including some recent precedent for a team that has been notoriously slow out of the gates before morphing into a thundering force down the stretch.
For starters, no one in the AL East is running away with the division — the Jays began Wednesday 7.5 games behind the front-running Yankees and just five out of an AL wild card spot.
Then there’s the news that star infielders Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki will rejoin the lineup for a home series against the Texas Rangers this weekend after lengthy stays on the disabled list.
Add in the fact they can once again sniff a .500 record, and the gloom is lifting.
“Five days ago, roughly, we were 18 and 24, and a year ago we were 19 and 23 on the same day, so one game different,” Atkins said. “We need to go on a run, (but) the division fortunately hasn’t completely run away from us and we’re still very much in it. We absolutely need to go on a run sometime soon.”
It’s clear the Jays can’t afford another 2-11 slide like the one they began the season with, but consider the situation from two years ago. After 45 games, the team had an identical 19-26 record to the one they arrived with in Wisconsin. With some aggressive trades by then-general manager Alex Anthopoulos before the July 31 trade deadline, the Jays went on an epic run to capture the division.
With the age of the roster and the aim to build the team’s prospect pool, don’t expect Atkins and Shapiro to sell the farm like Anthopoulos did. But as he hinted Wednesday, the belief is the team can play its way into contention this season.
Atkins stressed management is nowhere near a point of deciding to be buyers or sellers, though the clear intention is to add rather than subtract, especially if the team can inch closer to the playoff hunt.
“There is no concrete timeline that we have to make a decision by because it all depends on the division and how we’re playing,” Atkins said. “We remain absolutely focused on adding and winning.”
The return of Donaldson and Tulowitzki will certainly be a welcome boost, especially for big home crowds expected for upcoming games against the Rangers, Reds and Yankees.
It’s not just Tulowitzki and Donaldson, either. With three of the five starting pitchers still on the DL, as well as utility fielder Steve Pearce, the Jays have been holding it together. Considering manager John Gibbons hasn’t had his anticipated lineup all season, excitement is building at the prospect of that changing soon.
“I hate to even talk about things that could come, but we have guys that are coming back into the fold here,” Atkins said. “We could be adding a full team very soon — certainly within weeks.
“There’s certainly been a lot of injuries, but most of them have been short-term. Hopefully we can add some of these players who have been rehabbing and go on a run.”