Toronto Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro joined the Jeff Blair Show on Sportsnet 590 The FAN Friday morning to discuss the team’s direction with just over one month remaining until pitchers and catchers report to Dunedin for spring training.
After addressing Jose Bautista, who may still be the best fit for the Blue Jays in right field, Shapiro touched on a number of other issues facing the Blue Jays:
On the Blue Jays’ ongoing relief search:
The Blue Jays quickly realized that the inflated off-season bullpen market would not offer the best possible value. Shapiro said he expects to add relievers before the off-season ends, but is also mindful of the high level of risk involved in that market.
“It’s the most unpredictable,” Shapiro said. “It’s the most year-to-year, erratic from a planning perspective. Every year there are guys that people count on to be contributors out of the bullpen who do not, and there are guys who impact in a major way, such as (Joe) Biagini, who nobody has even heard of or expects. I look at bullpen construction as something that is fluid.”
Last spring, the Blue Jays’ bullpen looked stable coming out of spring training, but a poor season from Drew Storen and an injury to Brett Cecil quickly changed the team’s outlook. Toronto bought low on veterans Jason Grilli and Joaquin Benoit, obtained stellar production from both players, and finished the season with a significantly different look.
At this point Biagini remains a variable, as Shapiro sees “no downside” to stretching him out in spring. As for top pitching prospects like Conner Greene and Sean Reid-Foley, though, Shapiro doesn’t expect to rush them.
“I don’t believe in absolutes, but that would be highly unlikely,” Shapiro said. “I think when you start to rush guys to that level, at some point you’re cheating the foundation that they need to develop. You’re either putting them at risk of injury or you’re putting them in a position where they are going to have some setback even if they have short-term success.”
The hit-or-miss endeavour of pushing top young arms to an MLB bullpen was evident for the Blue Jays in 2015. Both Roberto Osuna and Miguel Castro had topped out with short stints at high-A Dunedin the previous season, but a big spring in 2015 shot the pair of 20-year-olds onto Toronto’s opening day roster. The risk clearly paid off with Osuna, but Castro initially struggled and was sent to the minors before the Blue Jays traded him to Colorado in the Troy Tulowitzki deal.
On the Blue Jays’ big picture off-season goals:
The Blue Jays have been quiet since the the addition of Steve Pearce, and the resulting off-season has been slower than many fans expected.
“It’s unusual for an off-season to take this long to play out, but I would encourage you to not conclude the body of work as done,” said Shapiro, noting that five weeks remain before camp opens. “In that short period of time, there’s going to be a lot that is going to be done with the Toronto Blue Jays before we’re a finished team.”
One of the Blue Jays’ stated goals this winter was to get younger, more athletic, and add left-handed hitting, but that’s not something they will do unless the right fit emerges.
“You want to check boxes, but just signing left-handed hitters if they’re not the best hitter out there probably doesn’t make sense,” Shapiro said.
On Edwin Encarnacion, in hindsight:
Encarnacion was still expecting to far exceed the Blue Jays’ initial $80 million offer even a month after it was put on the table, Shapiro said. The Blue Jays might have proceeded differently if they’d known everything they do now, Shapiro said. At the same time, the vast majority of decisions would unfold differently with the benefit of hindsight.
“There’s not an expert, there’s not an agent, and there’s not a team that thought the market would go the way it did. Certainly not Edwin’s agent, and certainly not Edwin,” Shapiro said.
“As you negotiate it’s important to have walkaways and have alternatives, and if you don’t have those two things you’re not going to have a successful outcome.”
On John Gibbons’ future with the team:
John Gibbons and Ross Atkins have held conversations since the end of the season regarding the manager’s contract, which is set to expire after 2017.
Before last season, Gibbons and the Blue Jays restructured his agreement by removing the rollover clause that had previously existed. Atkins said in December that Gibbons is an ‘elite’ manager capable of leading the Blue Jays to a World Series.
