Better luck next season
GM open for business with eye on 2018 and trade deadline just a week away
After preparing to be buyers or sellers with their season in limbo, the Blue Jays know which way they’re going a week before baseball’s trade deadline.
The 3-7 road trip through Detroit, Boston and Cleveland that wrapped up Sunday made the decision clear, general manager Ross Atkins said before Monday night’s 4-2 win over the Oakland A’s to open a four-game series at the Rogers Centre. Improving next year’s team is the focus. “A month ago we were talking about the need for our team to play well and to get hot . . . we haven’t gotten hot,” Atkins told reporters the Blue Jays dugout. “We haven’t gotten on a streak, and now we’re in a position where it’s a lot more difficult to add to a team like this (for a run at the playoffs) … The scale of deciding whether we add or subtract has definitely changed.”
They’re looking to deal, if the return is young players who can help next year and beyond.
“Any way you can do that, we’ll look to do that,” said Atkins, who added he fields up to 15 calls a day about potential moves at this time of year. “We feel like we have underperformed and underachieved offensively and defensively. Our relief pitching’s been pretty strong. Our starting pitching’s been OK until the last couple of weeks. It’s not position specific right now. It’s more about controllable young talent.”
Atkins says the club doesn’t have to go into full-blown rebuild mode, with a solid core plus young talent such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Anthony Alford already on the fast track to the majors.
“Our ideal is (adding a controllable player who can) slide right into the ’18 team, but that’s a hard thing for another team to give up,” he said. “. . . We have a very good feel for what’s available to us.”
Questions about the future started when the Jays opened the season 2-11. After a strong May, though, hopes for a post-season return resurfaced. Now, with the club nine games below .500, it’s all about next year.
Who’s available off the current roster? Atkins wouldn’t go there, but players in the final year of their contracts — such as Monday night’s starter Francisco Liriano — have been mentioned often in reports.
Struggling right-hander Marco Estrada is also in the final year of his deal. Reliever Joe Smith is working on a one-year contract and could attract interest.
If the Jays want a bigger return, they could entertain offers for top starters Marcus Stroman and J.A. Happ, closer Roberto Osuna, or star regulars such as third baseman Josh Donaldson.
Atkins says teams tend to look beyond a player’s short-term struggles when assessing trade options.
“I think more and more teams are focused on the bulk of information and not outing to outing or five innings of work or two innings of work,” he says. “(Recent poor performance) doesn’t impact things in a big way, but it can change emotions for sure, so we’ll see. We’ll see as this week progresses.” In the meantime? “The odds of (contending for the wild card) decreased dramatically, but we still feel confident that we can put a quality team on the field,” he says.