Blue Jays’ super team ready for showtime
DUNEDIN, Fla. – Though Matt Chapman had just 24 hours to gather his belongings, hop on a cross-country flight and report to his new workplace, he made sure to carve out time for three phone calls from old friends.
Chris Bassitt weighed in from New York Mets camp in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Matt Olson, a day removed from getting shipped to the Atlanta Braves and signing an eight-year, $168 million contract extension, called from down the Gulf Coast. And Marcus Semien, who in 2021 paved this path from uncertainty in Oakland to riches and glory in Toronto, gave Chapman the lowdown on life and baseball in Canada and the bright, new reality he was about to experience.
“He told me I’m going to love it,” Chapman said of Semien, now a Texas Ranger, “and I’m going to love the guys. And I can tell that he’s already right.”
In just five days, the Oakland Athletics shipped three All-Stars to the East Coast, upending lives and again stripping their franchise down to its foundation. The A’s fortified the Mets rotation with Bassitt. In Olson, they provided the Braves a cheaper All-Star alternative to Freddie Freeman.
And in gifting Chapman to the Blue Jays, Toronto might have put the finishing touches on something resembling a super team.
A retooling process timed to the development of second-year superstars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette has gone into overdrive, a process kick-started with the signing of All-Star lefty Hyun Jin Ryu ($80 million) and outfielder George Springer ($150 million) to massive deals each of the past two seasons, and the acquisition of right-hander Jose Berríos, who signed a seven-year, $131 million extension.
Behind Guerrero’s MVP runner-up campaign, the Blue Jays won 91 games and fell one win shy of getting into a three-team playoff, prompting Vladito to loiter in his Toronto condo for three days after the season, watching TV and soaking in the misery before returning to the Dominican Republic.
His front office would soon soothe much of what ailed him.
Strikeout machine Kevin Gausman was signed to a $110 million contract before the December lockout, joining Ryu and burly second-year pitcher Alek Manoah in the rotation. Lefty Yusei Kikuchi was added on a $36 million deal a week ago. The perhaps most impactful piece of general manager Ross Atkins and club president Mark Shapiro’s handiwork arrived when they shipped four prospects to Oakland for Chapman.
Little wonder, then, that the typically cautious Guerrero could not be contained when asked about 2022 in Toronto. “What we did last year was the trailer,” Guerrero said. “Now, you guys are going to see the movie.”
Chapman is ready for showtime.
‘Who are we getting today?’
The parallels are too overwhelming for Chapman to ignore. In June 2014, the A’s drafted him 25th overall out of Cal State Fullerton as third baseman Josh Donaldson was piecing together a dominant season that culminated in a wild-card loss to the Kansas City Royals.
Oakland’s never-ending quest for a new ballpark – their aging yet charming Oakland Coliseum serves as both albatross and a cover to keep expenditures down – inspired club president Billy
Beane to ship Donaldson to Toronto, for second baseman Brett Lawrie and three prospects, with only pitcher Kendall Graveman becoming a big-league factor.
Donaldson won the 2015 AL MVP award. The Blue Jays won the AL East, made consecutive playoff appearances, and Rogers Centre roared like it hadn’t since Joe Carter touched ’em all on an October night in 1993.
With the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees loaded for bear in the AL East, it’s premature to presume that scenario unfolds this year. And yet.
“This organization is ready to go,” says Springer, healthy after oblique, quad and knee injuries stunted his first season in Toronto. “Ross and Mark believe in us as a ballclub and obviously expect us to do great things and us as players expect that as well.
“It’s a good time to be a Blue Jay.” Chapman’s acquisition just might be the most impactful. A two-time Platinum Glove winner with Oakland, Chapman will uplift Toronto at two spots – third base, where Chapman’s legendary arm strength enables him to play deeper than any of his other peers, and shortstop, where the athletic but not terribly rangy Bichette will benefit from his new running mate on the left side.
“Hopefully,” says Chapman, “he doesn’t have to take too many backhand plays. I want to help him out as much as I can.”
Manager Charlie Montoyo notes Blue Jays pitchers induced more ground balls to third than any other staff in 2021, a rate that should increase with Gausman, who leans heavily on a split-finger fastball, in tow. Gausman struck out 227 batters in 192 innings for the Giants and also ranked 26th among all pitchers in ground ball outs.
The smoldering Chapman trade rumors, combined with Toronto’s obvious aggression, has made for an exciting week of camp after the lockout.
“It gives us so much confidence as a team,” says starter Ross Stripling. “It’s almost like, ‘Who are we getting today? What’s happening today?’ It’s that kind of feeling.”
Chapman won’t proclaim the Blue Jays’ infield – Bichette at short, likely Cavan Biggio at second and Guerrero at first – the best in baseball, but says they should be in the conversation. It’s also striking how their best players are still on the come-up.
Chapman, who turns 28 in April and has two seasons remaining before free agency, may be closer to his peak but expects to be a different player in 2022. Hip tendinitis slowed him in 2020 and he had surgery that September, preventing him from lower body weight work that winter. His OPS fell from .856 in 2018-19 to .716 in 2021 but he says he can stay back on the ball again after resuming a typical offseason routine.
There’s no measuring peace of mind. “I think when you get there, it’s something you know happens,” he says of the talent churn. “I came in on the cycle where I was one of the young players, and then we became successful and made it to the playoffs and had success there. You don’t think about it until it happens.
“At the end there in Oakland, a lot of guys were starting to question what kind of direction it was going. Coming here, the direction is clear – you want to win a World Series and do whatever they can to make it happen. It feels great to come to an organization where they’re excited to win and want to give the players whatever they need to be successful.”