BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Toronto Blue Jays are fully cognizant of the opportunity before them in 2016, understand there’s no being half-pregnant with a roster in win-now mode, and are looking to move decisively to make next year count.
So ignore the background noise about a looming payroll rollback, and forget the silly notions of dealing one of Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion, both entering walk years, or trying to flip the just-acquired Troy Tulowitzki, even if their no-trade clauses didn’t render the idea moot anyway.
What the competitive window looks like in 2017 and beyond is in some ways to be determined, but the Blue Jays are focused on taking steps to get the pitching help needed for a return run at the post-season during baseball’s annual GM meetings at Boca Raton Resort and Club.
"We have obvious needs in the rotation and we have a real strong offensive club," interim GM Tony LaCava, who’s getting a contract extension that at minimum positions him to be an integral part of the club’s leadership group, said Tuesday. "It’s hard to hurt your major-league club and try to win, so to take from your offence to put in your defence, it’s like plugging one hole and opening up another. We’re going to try to do that without touching or harming our major-league club.
"That being said, we have to look at all possibilities."
Sure, it’s imperative that teams examine every opportunity they have, and now is the time when a wide variety of options start getting pared down to the more realistic possibilities.
The Blue Jays need at least two starters for a rotation populated right now by Marcus Stroman, R.A. Dickey and Drew Hutchison, and while there are suggestions of progress in re-signing free agent Marco Estrada, who has until Friday to accept or decline a $15.8 million qualifying offer, bringing him back only solves half the problem.
To their benefit, the free agent market is ripe with options, headlined by big-ticket names like the Blue Jays’ own David Price, Zack Greinke, Jordan Zimmermann and Johnny Cueto. The Blue Jays have kicked around making a run at the first three on that list, and they’re also weighing whether to spread their money around middle-tier free agents like Jeff Samardzija, Mike Leake and Hisashi Iwakuma, each of whom they’ve previously targeted through trade.
Surrendering a draft pick to sign a player with a qualifying offer attached won’t deter them.
Adding two starters would allow the Blue Jays to keep Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna in relief roles, although depending on how things play out both could be stretched out, as well (the same goes for Liam Hendriks, although nothing is settled yet). Either way, the bullpen needs to be bolstered, and while the Blue Jays have some money to work with, it will only go so far.
They are believed to have spent roughly $135 million on players in 2015, and are expected to be in the same area for 2016. So far they have $71 million in guaranteed money committed to five players (Dickey, Bautista, Encarnacion, Tulowitzki and Russell Martin) and their nine arbitration-eligible players, led by Josh Donaldson, are projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $33 million. Factor in another $4.5 million for their 0-3 service time players, and that leaves them with some $26.5 million to work with, although they can find some savings if their arbitration-eligible players are negotiated down or non-tendered (Ben Revere’s projected $6.7 million is an interesting call).
"I’ve been assured that we’ll have all the resources we need to put a championship team out there," said LaCava.
The Blue Jays could also try the trade route – even though the Oakland Athletics insist Sonny Gray isn’t available, he’d in many ways be an ideal target – but pulling off a deal won’t be easy without subtracting from the big-league core.
Anthopoulos’ flurry of pre-trade deadline deals stripped down the club’s prospect base, but LaCava insists that "it’s better than most people think."
"There were some surprises on the farm where guys took really big steps, not that we’d want to use them or will use them, but I’m pleased, I think our farm is a little under-rated right now," he said. "Hopefully those guys continue to improve."
Still, beyond the obvious pitching holes, the Blue Jays also must rebuild their upper-level depth, as they have just 14 pitchers on the 40-man roster at the moment, offering little insulation in the event of injury.
Though they’ve been fortunate to avoid major pitching injuries in recent seasons, some protection from the inevitable attrition is needed.
"Minor-league free agency is certainly a place where we’re looking at and we’re in the process of trying to acquire those types of guys," said LaCava. "We’ll be looking at the waiver wire as well, see if guys come across like that, and hopefully that can create some depth. And then we’re obviously going to shoot for bigger targets as well, if they’re available and they make sense."
Given how the roster is constructed, it’s the only approach to take. The middle ground between contention and rebuilding is a very dangerous place, and the Blue Jays it appears have no interest in getting stuck there.