Paul Beeston denies that the Toronto Blue Jays are being held back by financial restraints from ownership.
During a guest appearance Friday on Brady & Walker on Sportsnet 590 The Fan, the Blue Jays president and CEO said Rogers Communications has been more than accommodating when they’ve needed to add salary, adding that the club’s payroll is going to increase for 2015.
“I’ll set the record straight. We’ve never gotten to Rogers and asked them for money for anything we haven’t got,” Beeston said. “They’ve been very, very generous with us when we took our salaries up from $90-million to $125-million. I think we’ll be up next year. There’s no question about that. They’ve been very supportive.”
Beeston also took issue with recent criticism directed at the Blue Jays’ inactivity at the trade deadline. Many, including right fielder Jose Bautista, expressed their disappointment that the Blue Jays didn’t add a player while the division rival New York Yankees added Brandon McCarthy, Chase Headley and Martin Prado.
But Beeston said the club’s lack of movement had nothing to do with money.
“When I hear last week that we didn’t make decisions because we didn’t have the money or there was a hockey contract, it’s just flat out wrong,” he explained. “It’s patently false. We’ve got what we need to do. If there wasn’t a trade that was made, it was because Alex (Anthopoulos) and the baseball people didn’t think they wanted to part with the players for what they’d get back.”
It has been a tough week for the Blue Jays, who have lost five of their past six games and saw third base Brett Lawrie return to the disabled list after just three innings of play Tuesday with an oblique injury.
“When we lose, all of a sudden it’s because of finances. It’s because we don’t have the money. That’s really not fair to Rogers,” said Beeston. “That’s because of decisions we made or because of injuries or the way we play. It’s nothing to do with the financial part of it.”
The Blue Jays enter play Friday with a 61-55 record. They are 5.0 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East and 0.5 games behind the Kansas City Royals in the wild card standings.
