Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider believes the moves the club has made this off-season address one of the team's biggest issues -- consistency.
There was a point from July 2 to July 12 before the All-Star break in which the team was unable to score more than five runs. Periods like this weren't uncommon. On the other hand, there were stretches like the one from June 4 to June 15 where they dipped below the five-run mark only twice in 11 games.
"We labelled ourselves as being streaky. When we were hot, we were hot and if we weren't, we weren't," Schneider said on Friday when he joined Sportsnet's Ben Ennis and Shi Davidi on The Fan Drive Time. "If we weren’t pitching we were hitting and if we weren’t hitting we were pitching, or not playing defence maybe."
To turn the Jays into a more consistent outfit, sacrifices were made by the front office. Trading away the productive Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., as well as promising prospect Gabriel Moreno, was part of that shift in focus.
"Look at the way we've been constructed these last few years: we had no problem scoring runs. But some of it came in spurts," Schneider said. "So pivoting and thinking 'what are other areas we can continue to get better at?' -- defence and base-running jumped to the top of my mind."
In Daulton Varsho and Kevin Kiermaier, the Blue Jays upgraded their outfield deence. They also added a solid baserunner in Varsho, whose 16 stolen bases last year would rank first on the 2022 team.
"When you're talking about pitching and defence and how much that can change the momentum of a game or series, I think that's what jumps to everyone's forefront," Schneider said when asked about how these changes will improve run prevention.
Another important factor when it came to deciding the types of guys to bring in was their personality. Both of the new outfielders "go hard and fast, they've got one speed," according to Schneider.
Toronto also upgraded its pitching, signing former New York Mets right-hander Chris Bassitt to a three-year, $63 million contract and acquiring righty reliever Erik Swanson from the Seattle Mariners for Hernandez.
“It’s a stabilizing force. Bassitt has an amazing track record, especially recently," the second-year manager said about new his new starter. "Thrilled to have him ... He's going to be a bulldog every time he's on the mound, just like the rest of our starters.
"You can't say enough about having a reliable veteran starting pitcher that you know what you're going to get from every night."
The Blue Jays, with the acquisition of Bassitt, now boast one of the deeper starting rotations in the MLB. However, the fifth starter remains a question.
Though there are options to take that spot currently on the roster in guys like Mitch White or Yusei Kikuchi, neither saw much success last season, pitching to 7.74 and 5.19 ERAs, respectively, in their time with Toronto..
“In a perfect world, you’re envisioning one of those guys having the fifth spot and the other one being in the bullpen," Schneider said. "However that shakes out to affect the rest of the pitching staff is kinda to be determined. But I love where they’re both at in terms of their off-seasons."
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