• Blue Jays had a lot of “heavy lifting” to do this off-season
• Marcus Stroman and Marco Estrada still have big upside
• Joe Biagini could end up a starter
With spring training just around the corner, Toronto Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins is feeling confident about his team’s outlook in 2017.
Atkins joined Bob McCown and Arash Madani on Prime Time Sports on Monday to share his thoughts on how the team is shaping up.
“We feel great about the team coming into 2017,” Atkins said, noting that the organization’s off-season involved a lot of “heavy lifting,” with 11 Blue Jays becoming free agents at the end of the 2016 season.
That “heavy lifting” involved a number of signings, including Steve Pearce, who inked a two-year, $12.5-million deal with the Blue Jays in December. The 33-year-old underwent elbow surgery in September, and Atkins addressed the question of just who will fill in at left field, saying we’re likely to see some combination of Pearce, Melvin Upton, Ezequiel Carrera and Dalton Pompey. The GM noted that the team is “open to making our team [better] in any way possible” by adding another player, but expressed confidence in the current mix on hand.
“If he gets 600 plate appearances, there is significant upside to what that means to our team,” Atkins said of Pearce. He was quick to add that Pearce wouldn’t need to reach that number to make a valuable contribution.
Speaking of upside, Atkins also addressed a number of familiar faces who he feels could provide additional value. Marcus Stroman, Atkins said, could provide a huge boost “if he gets back to the year he had two years ago.”
Marco Estrada, too, may have more to offer. “There’s still some upside to him,” Atkins said. “As good as he’s been, there’s reason to believe he could be ever better.”
“I can’t say enough about the season and off-season that Aaron Sanchez has had, because he has not looked back,” Atkins added. “He’s only looked forward and he’s only continued to make incredible progress from a physical standpoint, from a mental standpoint. The expectations that he has for himself are as high as they get, and he’s matching those expectations with his work in his routines.”
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While some Blue Jays fans were disappointed not to see the team land at least one of the bigger names in baseball this winter—Dexter Fowler, say—Atkins noted that a number of upcoming players in Toronto’s system are worth following. He name-checked Conner Greene and Sean Reid-Foley, though both prospects are a ways off.
Still, it’s possible there could be some excitement this year in the form of Joe Biagini making the transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation.
“I think there could be some potential hybrid scenario there with Joe,” Atkins said. “We’ll just see. Depends on the health of everyone, but what we’ll do is stretch him out so that we have the option to adjust. It’ll be easier to adjust if he’s pitching a slightly more significant workload in spring training, or just a different workload.”
For the Blue Jays to be truly great this year, Atkins said, the team will need contributions from unlikely sources.
“We’re gonna need stories like Daniel Barnes and Joe Biagini last year for us to be a World Series team,” he said. “Not for us to be a contending team, but for us to be a World Series team.”
