Ross Atkins on whereabouts: 'Everybody has me in like four different places'

Where in the world was Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins on Monday?

"Everybody has me in like four different places, it's so funny," Atkins said Tuesday at the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tenn. during an interview on The Leadoff Spot with Steve Phillips and Eduardo Perez on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.

"The best was the text messages I was getting from other GMs. Everybody's speculating, guessing."

Atkins was in Nashville on Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours after he talked to reporters on Monday via Zoom, due to a "scheduling conflict," according to the team.

Atkins would not reveal his whereabouts during that Zoom call.

Late Monday night, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that prized free agent Shohei Ohtani is believed to have met with the Blue Jays at the club’s Player Development Complex in Dunedin, Fla.

Atkins did not specify where he was Monday during his MLB Network Radio interview, but expanded on how tough it is to make big deals.

"Any deal -- acquiring George Springer, trading for Jose Berrios, signing Kevin Gausman -- any deal to pull off that is of some significance is exceptionally complex, exceptionally competitive, and exceptionally difficult to execute," he said. " There's so many stakeholders, in the cases of the players I'm mentioning that you're having to balance and respect and just doing the best possible job you can to make your team better."

So what are the odds of the Blue Jays landing a top player this off-season?

"I feel so good about our position to present incredible opportunities, to compete for incredible opportunities, but what I feel strongest about is the organization in place, the people in place and most importantly the team in place that we will make better. there will be ways to make it better," Atkins said.

"To the level of excitement and to the magnitude that impact is just too difficult to say."