Boss plays coy on Mets talk
Shapiro shoots down notion of rift over direction of franchise and Donaldson dealing
It was an unusual press briefing Friday afternoon in a board room in the Blue Jays offices at the Rogers Centre. Club president Mark Shapiro met with the media for just under an hour to discuss the evolving state of the Jays and stomp out some minor brush fires before they sparked out of control.
He also took the opportunity to put a spin on the future of a team that has transitioned from self-proclaimed wild-card hopeful to a full-fledged rebuild.
The first issue he wanted to address was a rumour that had the former Indians general manager and president on a shortlist to assume the same duties with the New York Mets as reported in the New York Post. Shapiro has been with the Jays three years, taking over as president in October of 2015.
His departure would leave the franchise somewhat in turmoil with unfinished business surrounding improvements to the stadium and a major rebuild of the spring training facility, plus the team.
“I’m not going to comment on that specifically except to say I can comment on how I feel about being here,” Shapiro skated around his reported inclusion as a Mets candidate. “I can comment on where my thoughts and focus are. I feel as, if not more, excited to be here (as) the day that I chose to come here over three years ago.
“At the top of the list, the city and the country and what that’s meant to me personally and to my family being here. It’s been an exceptional place to be. Then for the potential of the franchise, if anything, living here the past 2 1⁄ 2 years I feel even more bullish on what an incredible opportunity there is here to build something over multiple years. That captures an entire nation and achieves levels that you dream about when you think about these jobs.”
There had been speculation that, with the team trading away Josh Donaldson and headed south through the standings, there was trouble brewing and a butting of heads between Rogers ownership and their hand-picked president.
“I don’t know where those reports come from,” Shapiro said. “I’ve received nothing but strong support.
“I probably have a level of operational day-to-day trust and empowerment that, if not unparalleled, is among the best in all of baseball. I feel a strong sense of support and alignment with the people I report to.”
The fact of the matter is, Rogers understands what’s happening right now. Shapiro was brought in specifically to take this team in the direction in which it is now headed. The 51-year-old executive had been with the Indians since 1992, and when he was hired by the Jays the idea was to oversee stadium upgrades, cut payroll and rebuild through the farm system.
But fate and GM Alex Anthopoulos interfered, and behind some farm-system stripping deals, at least in terms of the number of prospects, the Jays made a 2015 second-half run to win the division with a repeat appearance in 2016. With those two years of pesky interference out of the way, the Shapiro plan can resume — three years late.
“I would never, ever say playoffs get in the way of anything,” Shapiro said. “I think what has transpired was well within what I’d expected. Understanding that we had a really talented but aging majorleague core. Understanding that we probably didn’t have the internal alternatives at the upper levels of young talent to say: OK, let’s try to turn this around on the fly. So we’ve got to play that veteran core out.
“There really wasn’t a choice. It was grudgingly. You don’t do it happily. With understanding the pain and understanding the disappointment that it causes fans. But it’s with resolve that you’re going to get back (to being good) as quick as humanly possible. You don’t ever enter into pulling back from contending, from competing, lightly. You do that when it’s clear that it’s the path you have to take. Then once you do it, you do it with resolve and you do it with clarity, and we are moving in that direction. Now there is no longer any grey about where we are.”
After defining the fact of a rebuild, Shapiro attempted to explain the length of the rebuild, which he pinpointed as 2021 with encouraging signs in 2020. But for the final month of the 2018 season, the basic theme for manager John Gib- bons 37-man roster is that The Future is Now — except for Vlad Guerrero Jr.
Jays fans can learn to appreciate the rebuild, but will they pay to see it happening? Not if this week’s attendance is any gauge of what is to come.
“When you enter into these junctures, usually your payroll comes down because you have younger players anyway,” Shapiro said. “What’s more important — and this is the commitment from ownership — is that when you start to get good, when it starts to be clear that contention is on the horizon, when you start to look up two years from now and (people) are saying, ‘They might only be .500 but, damn, there’s some good players there. These guys are getting good.’ ”
It’s clear that the Jays’ payroll will drop significantly in 2019. However, Shapiro spoke from past experience about the need in two years when homegrown talent is in place, but attendance is lagging to spend some money to fill in the gaps with free agents and more expensive trade pieces. He has run this by ownership already.
“At that point (in two years) it’s important that you outpace revenues,” he said. “At some point there needs to be an investment that says we’re willing to fund a payroll ahead of those revenues coming in. It’s not a concern for next year. It might not be a concern for ’20, but in ’21 you could ask me that question between the off-season of ’20 and ’21. Hey, are we going to start to fund a payroll that puts these guys back in contention, and that’s the most important thing.”
In the meantime, there are plenty of good seats available.