Jays eye major-league stadiums
Looking for other venues after being turfed from Rogers Centre
Toronto — So is it shuffle off to Buffalo? Or dance the COVID-19 dance in Dunedin, Fla.?
While those two Blue Jays minor-league venues remain a possibility for the team now that its bid to return to Toronto has been denied, both have glaring weaknesses in the eyes of club management and the player-development department.
As a result, for weeks now the Jays front office has been exploring multiple options beyond those two. And as a source told the Toronto Sun during the weekend, the alternatives very much include other MLB stadiums, assuming schedules and logistical concerns can be worked out.
As they awaited the fateful federal government decision over the past couple of weeks, the Jays have been working in concert with MLB and commissioner Rob Manfred on contingencies. And it’s clear that the more creative of those alternatives involved are exploring locations other than minor-league parks.
“We’re looking at all options that provide the best circumstances for player safety and competitiveness,” a source familiar with the Jays’ contingency options said. “And major-league stadiums are certainly among the best fit for those variables.”
During a Zoom conference call on Saturday, Jays president Mark Shapiro was transparent about the issues related to the stadiums that have conventionally been assumed as the front-runners.
As the Jays spring training home, TD Ballpark is the stadium Shapiro called “the only one that’s 100 per cent seamless right now and ready to go but, from a player health standpoint, has its challenges.”
In other words: Good for baseball, bad for living. The Jays don’t want to go anywhere near Florida right now. An undisclosed number of players already caught the virus last month and the numbers in that state are exploding off the charts. Shapiro has maintained all along that player health and safety is paramount.
While a terrific fan-friendly stadium, Sahlen Field in downtown Buffalo is substandard from a baseball standpoint. The batting cages and weight rooms are far inferior to what big-league players are accustomed to, the clubhouses lack space and the stadium lighting is inferior.
Shapiro said the Jays have been working on logistics to make Buffalo a viable home, but work remains. And more than once in his 22-minute press conference, the Jays president expressed concern about surrendering a competitive disadvantage to the opposition in this truncated 60-game campaign.
“It’s obviously not a majorleague facility,” Shapiro said when asked specifically about Buffalo. “And the teams we are competing against are playing in major-league facilities as far as cages, weight room, training room, the sizes of those.
“We are weighing that against other alternatives, as well.”
At issue with sharing another big-league team’s venue is space. Clubhouses need to be spread out to ensure social distancing and not all stadiums have such room. That said, most have family rooms for wives and children of players and, since luxury suites won’t be used in empty stadiums, those could be options.
Shapiro said there is no drop-dead date to determine where the Jays will play their home dates — beginning with a July 29 game against the World Series champion Washington Nationals. Shapiro acknowledged there is an urgency to making the decision, however.
“We’re talking about alternatives with the commissioner’s office (and expect) clarity in the next couple of days,” Shapiro said. “I’m confident we’ll be in our best possible situation that satisfies player health and competitiveness when we start our season.
“We want to make sure we put the Blue Jays in the best position possible and we are all confident that can happen.”
The Jays fancy themselves among league leaders in highperformance developments and sports-science initiatives. With a young, developing team, the last thing the front office wants right now is to stunt that growth. And finding a shared, temporary home in a big-league arena is the best way to prevent it.
BLUE FOR RYU
In part because of the uncertainty with the team’s situation, for the most part Jays players have been careful not to say much about the nonRogers Centre alternatives. But as opening day starter Hyun-Jin Ryu acknowledged on Saturday, The Show is The Show.
“It’s not the same type of environment if we do end up playing in a minor-league stadium,” Ryu said via Zoom, after pitching five innings in a Saturday evening intrasquad game. “We just have to adjust to the environment.”
The big, South Korean lefthander, who was signed to a four-year, $80-million US contract in the off-season, was eagerly looking forward to his first season in Toronto before the pandemic hit.
“Obviously, you play half the season at home, so there is definitely some sort of comfort level you develop over time,” Ryu said. “But right now, the situation itself, you just have to deal with it as players. One of our challenges is to adapt to new situations.
“COVID-19 still exists and there are hard-working people on the front line trying to battle the virus. So you have to respect the Canadian government’s decision to keep the public safe.”
SPLIT ‘EM UP?
Is it possible that the Jays would consider playing home games at more than one venue? On one level anyway, it may make some sense.
Take the Pittsburgh Pirates for example and compare their home schedule with that of the Jays. With just a handful of overlapping dates, could Toronto play day games on the conflicting days in Buffalo while mostly being based in the Steel City, a short flight or even bus ride away?
While it may sound like a stretch and would be a long shot, the pandemic requires creative thinking. And if the Jays are committed to avoiding a minor-league facility, you can expect that such options are being explored.
Why not swing for the fences?