TORONTO – In the course of their Zoom calls with free agents, Toronto Blue Jays front office executives and coaches attempt to showcase the franchise’s best attributes to their off-season targets. With a talented young roster, a diverse home city, a new Florida training complex and money to spend, they’re choosing from some legitimate selling points. So many, in fact, that some calls leave manager Charlie Montoyo bursting with energy.
"I feel like when those calls are over, I’ve got to go run five miles because I’m so excited about our team," he said on a Zoom call with Toronto-based media Friday.
Of course it’s the players who need persuading, not Montoyo, who’s already two years into his three-year contract with the Blue Jays. And ultimately, which free agents feel similarly excited will determine how the Blue Jays’ off-season unfolds. At this point, their options remain wide open, largely because so few deals have been completed across baseball this winter. Once there’s clarity on who’s joining the Blue Jays, Montoyo looks forward to making the pieces fit.
To start, Montoyo acknowledged what’s been widely reported: the Blue Jays are now ‘on everybody’ from infielders and outfielders to starting pitchers and relievers. All of those groups could help the Blue Jays accomplish their stated goal of improving their run prevention after allowing more runs than all but four teams in 2020.
“It could go either way,” Montoyo said. “It could be infielders, it could be outfielders. That’s what I like about our club. We could adjust to that. If we sign somebody we can make the adjustment because our guys can play different spots.”
With so many possibilities in play, the challenge facing Montoyo is less about mapping out lineups and more about answering questions from players both in and out of the organization. Accordingly, Montoyo has been a regular on recruiting calls and speaks with GM Ross Atkins every couple of days.
The most common question from the Jays’ free agent targets is whether they’ll play their home games in Toronto in 2021. For now, there’s no concrete answer to that question, but the Blue Jays tell prospective additions they’re hoping to play out of Rogers Centre if possible. If not, it’s conceivable they open the season in Dunedin, Fla., where their new spring training and development facility exists.
“There’s always a chance of that.” Montoyo said.
Beyond the recruitment process, there are also questions to answer internally. With the Blue Jays showing interest in so many players league-wide, there’s the potential for confusion, so Montoyo attempts to communicate with the likes of Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio when necessary. The team’s interest in stars like Francisco Lindor and DJ LeMahieu could have implications for the Blue Jays’ infield, so Montoyo has reached out to his own infielders at times.
“I’m very lucky to have the team that I have,” Montoyo said. "They just want to win. And that's why they don't have any problem moving around just to help the team win."
That flexibility could eventually help the Blue Jays, who used Biggio at five positions in 2020. Yet until there’s traction toward a deal, preliminary trade talks don’t materially change anything. Biggio would slot in everywhere with a regular dose of second base and Bichette would start at short.
As Montoyo recently told Bichette, "Right now you're our shortstop.”
If Lindor’s available at a fair price, perhaps that changes. For now, Bichette says another player would be his top target: the defending AL leader in batting average and OBP, who came up with the Rockies when Dante Bichette was Colorado’s hitting coach.
"I think DJ LeMahieu is the best hitter in baseball, and I don't even really think it's close, from what I've seen. He's probably the No. 1 player I'd want to play with in the league," Bichette recently said on teammate Ross Stripling’s podcast. "If that would happen, that would be awesome for us, but either way, man, our team's pretty good already."
Another variable in the Blue Jays’ off-season planning is the continued progress of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who’s playing Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic to work on his third base defence. Montoyo has been speaking to Guerrero Jr. once a week while also staying in touch with Dave Jauss, the Mets bench coach who manages Escogido.
At this point, Guerrero Jr. likely slots in as the team’s regular first baseman in 2021, but the Blue Jays haven’t closed the door on a return to third for some games. If nothing else, the willingness to work on conditioning has been a positive for Guerrero Jr., who said he has lost 20 pounds since the season ended and 40 since reporting to summer camp above 280.
"I'll tell you what: I'm so proud of Vladdy. He's working so hard," Montoyo said. "When we put him at first base last year, we never closed the door for him to come back to third base. You don't close the door on a talent like that."
One way or another, the Blue Jays are likely to add a starting infielder before the winter ends. That move will have implications for some or all of Biggio, Bichette and Guerrero Jr., but most importantly this roster needs more talent. Hopefully for Montoyo, a few of those Zoom calls resonate with free agents and create high hopes for 2021.
“That’s what we want: higher expectations because of how we played,” Montoyo said. “You know whose fault that is? Ours, and that’s great. Our guys are ready for expectations.”
