Jays believe they can surprise in unique format
Toronto plans to take aggressive approach with their young hitters and veteran pitching
Don’t expect much talk of the long, measured grind of a major-league baseball regular season in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse.
From the time the team hits the ground running at the Rogers Centre on Monday, through the two and a half weeks to prepare for July 24 opening day and on to the 60-game season itself, the young Jays believe they are ready for a sprint.
Not only that, Jays management believes that the team’s opportunity to be a contender has taken a leap forward because of the unique circumstances of the 2020 campaign.
“Our objective chances have improved,” Jays general manager Ross Atkins said during a conference call. “The fact that it is a shorter season, we are talking about how to maximize that. And with a younger team there will be different opportunities.”
Whether that means the aggressive mindset of players such as Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio and others being a factor or the opportunity of employing innovative strategy from manager Charlie Montoyo, the Jays see opportunity in the pandemic-abbreviated campaign.
After weekend workouts in Dunedin, Fla., the team intends to fly to Toronto some time Sunday evening with the first Rogers Centre workout slated for Monday. It will be a fast-track blitz to prepare from the opener and a season where every game has meaning.
“We’ve thought about the roster construction, the number of games that we’ll be playing and the creative ways to maximize what we feel is a very versatile group, a dynamic group with a lot of upside,” Atkins said. “The way we’re thinking about it is that we’ll be in a position to potentially not overexpose some guys while capitalizing upon some of the strengths, the diversity and the extremely athletic skill sets that we feel we have.”
Beginning the season with a 30-man roster will create opportunities for different approaches, something Atkins says “is in Charlie’s wheelhouse.” The emphasis will be aggression and forgoing the “tomorrow’s another day” luxury of a 162-game season.
With even a modest-winning streak having the potential to rapidly thrust a team into contention, the mix of a no-fear group of young position players and a veteran starting rotation led by off-season ace acquisition Hyun-Jin Ryu certainly makes the Jays an interesting entry.
“I think teams are going to be thinking of the urgency of each win, the significance of each win in a shortened season,” Atkins said. “There’s always the pull and tug of guys finding that rhythm and their timing, especially for hitters. Charlie’s always passionate about how to maximize the roster and keeping guys as primed as you possibly can.
“I think that could be a difference maker — how you maximize a 30-man roster.”
That the Jays are operating under different circumstances than their competitors is another area that Atkins thinks could work in his team’s favour. In order to satisfy Canadian health authorities, the Jays intend to adhere to a health and safety protocol far stricter than the extensive MLB recommendations.
And if the players stick to it, there could lie another edge — a working camp in a safer environment than most teams in the league.
“That has been very comforting to me, how seriously our players are talking about the virus,” Atkins said. “In some cases, it comes from the sheer competitive desire to win ... in just talking about what it means to them for their potential to impact this team and the competitive advantage and the clear opportunity that we have.
“If we stay healthy, we are increasing our chances to be more competitive. To hear that (mindset) from very young players to me is really encouraging.”
Though the Toronto portion of camp has been delayed due to the wait for clearance from the federal government, the Jays got a jump in Dunedin with close to full-team workouts on the weekend.
Under the training camp plan, the Jays will stay at the Marriott hotel attached to the Rogers Centre and will not leave the building during the training camp period. The team is still lobbying for clearance to play regular-season games in Toronto, a decision Jays president Mark Shapiro hopes will be decided in the next week or so.
At the Rogers Centre, Atkins said the roof will be open for workouts, another comfort given their quarantine restrictions.
“We’ll be able to open it up, control a lot of things other teams can’t while we’re still getting sunlight and fresh air and keeping people in a very, very large building,” Atkins said. “We’ll still be able to get outside. Just that alone has created a massive opportunity for us.”