Too bad about the natural grass
Since taking over as president of the Toronto Blue Jays, Mark Shapiro has avoided making the easy public relations move at nearly every opportunity. He did not offer general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who built the franchise’s first playoff team in 22 years, total control over the on-field product. He did not give Anthopoulos’s right-hand man, Tony LaCava, his boss’s old job, instead bringing in Ross Atkins from Cleveland. He did not even offer David Price, the ace imported at the trade deadline, a new contract when the free-agent signing period began. And he basically conceded that he would not concern himself with putting natural grass in the Rogers Centre.
The intelligence of these moves — basically the decision to retrench, rather than build on the first playoff games in two decades — will become clear only with time, but they indicate that Shapiro is confident in his decision-making, appearances be damned.
Players are one hurdle. Sluggers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, the backbone of the Blue Jays’ lineup for more than a half- decade, will become free agents after the 2016 season unless they sign contract extensions. Shapiro has frequently talked about the risk of committing to older players ( Bautista will be 36, Encarnacion 33). Minus Price, who signed with the rival Boston Red Sox, and any meaningful investment in the bullpen, the pitching staff also appears to have taken a step back from the end of last season.
With a good team, Shapiro will buy himself some time next year. With a step back, he will continue to lose the PR war. Either way, it seems as if he will not care a bit for your feelings as he reshapes the team.
the intelligence of (shapiro’s) moves — basically the decision to retrench, rather than build on the first playoff games in two decades — will become clear only with time — Eric Koreen