Blue Jays: New scoreboard is on the way, but new stadium will have to wait

There will be a new scoreboard at the Rogers Centre next season, but the future of the Blue Jays’ longtime home is still to be determined.

Mark Shapiro, the Jays’ president and CEO, announced at Monday’s year-end availability that short-term improvements would once again be made at the stadium this off-season, after recent upgrades to the sound system and turf. They are also looking at ways to improve the fan experience on the concourse.

But Shapiro also acknowledged the club has a bigger issue to address, one that has been put on hold in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The biggest capital project that’s left for the Blue Jays to consider is, how do we either address Rogers Centre through a significant renovation or a new stadium at some point,” Shapiro said. “That’s not immediate, but it’s one, when you think about the long-term horizon for the Blue Jays, we’re going to need to address at some point.”

The Jays’ last significant infrastructure project was the construction of a player development complex at their spring training home in Dunedin, Fla. It took two years to build at about $100 million (U.S.) and was unveiled in February. The Jays are in the midst of building a new hitting lab there — the final piece of the project “for now.”

Other topics discussed Monday include:

> The labour front: Major League Baseball’s collective agreement with the players expires on Dec. 1, but Shapiro says it’s business as usual for his front office heading into a “very important off-season.”

“Right now, I feel pretty good about the commissioner being so confident that a deal will get done by Dec. 1,” he said.

Shapiro doesn’t expect any new deal to have a major impact on free agency or trades. And talks toward long-term contract extensions with young stars such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette don’t necessarily need to wait until a new deal is brokered, he added, although any changes related to service time could be a factor.

> The bullpen: Shapiro pointed to the bullpen as one of the reasons why the Jays finished with a top-five run differential in the regular season, before missing the post-season.

“(I’m) not sure I’ve seen a better season of work from a collective baseball operations,” he said about the acquisition of bullpen help before and, in Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards, during the season.

> The playoffs: Watching the post-season play out has reinforced the notion that the Jays are right there with the contenders, Shapiro said: “I do feel like when I watch these teams play, that if we had found a way to get in then we were going to be a team that would have been very tough in the post-season.”

> The difference: A healthy George Springer could be worth the extra wins they need next season, the Jays boss said. The centre-fielder was limited to 78 games by injuries in his first season with Toronto.

“He’s clearly one of the best players in the game when he’s on the field; we saw that when he was healthy and playing,” Shapiro said.

He likened the 31-year-old Springer to Guerrero, nine years his junior, when it comes to their love of the game.