BLUE JAYS’ BRASS VOWS TO IMPROVE INNER DEFENCE
Montoyo has a pedigree of working well with young players, writes Rob Longley.
Next week in Dunedin, new Toronto Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo and his rebuilt coaching staff will get together to hammer out a blueprint for spring training. The three-day summit will no doubt cover a number of areas, including a revamped strategy for the first Grapefruit League season under the new staff. But high among the priorities of Montoyo’s mandate is to improve the at-times horrid defence of 2018. “Charlie has solid experience in helping young infielders and he’s extremely passionate about it,” Jays general manager Ross Atkins said in a conference call with Jays beat writers this week. “He’s creative in how he thinks about it from a drill and mental standpoint. I’m absolutely confident he can have an impact. “But it won’t solely fall on his shoulders if our infield defence doesn’t improve.” If that comment sounds like a mild threat to the incumbents expected back with the Jays’ infield, that is Atkins’ intention. The GM made it clear if the current group doesn’t improve noticeably, the team will look at bringing in new bodies who can get the job done. As it stands six weeks before pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to spring training, the Jays infield consists of Brandon Drury at third, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. at shortstop, Devon Travis at second and Justin Smoak at first. For all but the latter, you might want to use a pencil to mark the lineup card for now. Looming by the end of April is super prospect Vlad Guerrero Jr. who’s expected to walk into a starting job at third base once he’s promoted from AAA. “We’d still consider adding ( bodies)” Atkins said. “If we can improve our defence in any possible way, we’ll do that. The most obvious area is in the middle infield.” It’s clear, however, that Atkins believes that in Montoyo, he has a coach ’em up manager. As an accomplished minor-league manager in the Tampa Bay Rays’ system, Montoyo’s reputation was built on stressing fundamentals and getting young prospects ready to play big-league defence. “I think the impact that leadership can have on a culture and an environment can absolutely make players better in every way,” Atkins said. “And that’s not a knock on John Gibbons and his staff. This is a new opportunity and one that we’re excited about.” With his first major-league gig and pitching coach Pete Walker and third-base coach Luis Rivera as the only returnees from Gibbons’ staff, next week’s meeting in Florida will be an important one. There is a sense among management that the team could be better prepared for the regular season and Montoyo is already on record saying that it will be a point of emphasis to developing a winning culture from the start, even in meaningless exhibition games. “We’re going to talk about how we can maximize this transition (from Gibbons to Montoyo) and get the most out of preparing Charlie and his staff for an exciting transition,” Atkins said. Meanwhile, Atkins expects a busy stretch over the next few weeks, whether it be acquiring pitching depth from the bargain basement or by trading some of the few remaining veterans. Though nothing is imminent and without being specific, Atkins said there’s been significant tire-kicking on several of the Jays’ roster players. “It’s not something we are proactively looking to do, but we do have a great number of players that other teams are interested in,” Atkins said. “It keeps getting busier. I can’t imagine it getting any busier. “We have had a number of discussions about a number of our players and the guys that are on shorter team deals or have less control.” It’s been widely reported that starting pitcher Marcus Stroman is among those roster players the Jays have talked about with other teams. With two potential starters acquired last week — Clayton Richard and Matt Shoemaker — at least the team is stockpiling arms, though each of those would be slated toward the back end of the rotation. “We’re in a really good situation from a flexibility standpoint, having some financial power,” Atkins said. “We have assets we can trade away. There’s a lot of off season left for us and a lot of opportunities that we’ll continue to flush out.” He added: “We’re absolutely not going to ignore where we failed and where we need to improve and where things need to get better.”