Rumour has Jays chasing Cain
ORLANDO, Fla. — The hot rumour inside the swanky Waldorf Astoria Orlando hotel ( home of the $ 27 club sandwich) this week has been the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets pursuing Kansas City Royals free agent outfielder Lorenzo Cain.
“I don’t know where these rumours come from,” said Jays’ GM Ross Atkins, when asked about the situation on Wednesday. “I mean no, I can’t answer ( to the rumours).”
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick was the first to report about the Jays and Mets showing interest in the Kansas City Royals outfielder.
Still, Atkins didn’t deny anything, and Cain would fit in nicely in the Jays’ outfield with Jose Bautista no longer with the team. Atkins has said numerous times since the 2017 season ended that, while he is comfortable with what the Jays have in the outfield as of now ( Kevin Pillar, Steve Pearce, Ezequiel Carrera and Teoscar Hernandez), they would ideally like to “complement” the position with another Major League outfielder, someone who can hit and with some speed in the field and on the base paths. Cain fits that description nicely.
Cain, 31, is coming off a season in which he batted .300 with a .363 on- base percentage and 86 runs scored, cementing his status as perhaps the top freeagent outfielder on the market. He led all eligible free agents in wins above replacement across the last two seasons. He is primarily a centre fielder.
The Royals extended a oneyear, $ 17.4- million qualifying offer to Cain earlier this month but he is expected to turn down the offer before this week’s deadline and seek a multi- year deal. Atkins joked that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred gave the GMs at these GM meetings “some pretty stern presentations” about all the trade and free- agent rumours swirling about. Atkins didn’t give any names, but virtually every team in MLB has expressed interest in pursuing Japanese two- way phenom Shohei Ohtani, including the Jays. The media response to the Ohtani talk here has been huge.
Typical of these meetings, there were few if any major announcements concerning deals or signings, though Atkins did say that foundations are laid for possible future trades and free- agent signings. Expect more news at next month’s MLB Winter Meetings.
“We feel great about the time spent and the work done internally ( here),” said Atkins. “One of the great things about GMs meetings and Winter Meetings is you don’t have one second where you’re not thinking about how do we make our team better.
“We sit in a hotel suite together, meeting with agents and teams and spending time thinking about every potential opportunity,” Atkins added. “So there’s a lot of hard work we certainly enjoy and feel better about understanding our alternatives.”