Unlike 2022, there is a freedom that should come with the way the Toronto Blue Jays were tossed aside in the American League wild-card series. Jeff Blair tells us why and what might happen next.
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Under the guidance of Shapiro, the Blue Jays have become a robust revenue machine. Shapiro has masterfully managed the pressures that come with running a team owned by a publicly traded corporation. He has overseen a $300-million to $400-million refurbishing of the seventh-oldest facility in baseball while convincing ownership to foot a payroll that is the ninth-highest in the majors — and managed to do so after a pair of home seasons lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I know, I know — there are people who will roll their eyes and say they’d gladly trade “social areas” and hot-dog teeter-totters and cornhole games for a cleanup hitter, but the two aren’t the same.
When it comes to owning and running an entertainment venue, Shapiro and his folks have breathed new life into the place.
On the field, the Blue Jays still have two more years of Bo and Vladdy, and that superb rotation is locked down for 2024 and beyond. Ricky Tiedemann and Brandon Barriera should factor in at some point in the next two years. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kevin Kiermaier, Belt, Chapman and Whit Merrifield – whose $19-million option can’t be picked up – ate up $57 million in salary in 2023. That’s 20 per cent of the payroll, and none of them will be back.
So, there is wiggle room, even though this isn’t a spectacular free-agent market beyond Shohei Ohtani —
and, yes, the Blue Jays are prepared to have a discussion about Ohtani even though conventional wisdom says he’ll stay on the West Coast. There is a currency in having payroll flexibility, and it will be vital if the the Blue Jays choose to go the trade route this off-season, because their relative lack of high-impact prospects could mean they have to swallow someone else’s unsatisfactory contract in a deal to bring in, say, that impactful middle-of-the-order bat.
There is a lot of heavy lifting that needs to be done here. Is Jordan Romano the closer and, if so, what really explained that change in order with Jordan Hicks late in the season and whose idea was it? Who’s at third base? Who’s the cleanup hitter?
Wither Alek Manoah? And it’s about time to really sit down and see where the organization is with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., because absent a long-term contract, we’re 12 months away from talking about whether you let him walk as a free agent or make a trade. That, and figuring out what to do with the dying embers of Bo Bichette’s contract.
Yep. That’s how fast this stuff has happened.
Shapiro and Atkins have been here together since 2016. They’re on their third manager, haven’t won a playoff series and have basically become the Toronto Maple Leafs: Big budget but shocking deficiencies in key on-field areas. Oodles of financial and intellectual heft. Possessed of generational players, and an engaged but increasingly frustrated — and, maybe worse, confused — fanbase that is looking for someone to blame before checking out how much tickets will cost in 2024.
Shapiro and Atkins are now in consumer-confidence territory with one of Canada’s few true national sports brands. Uncomfortable place, that.
