TORONTO – Early Wednesday afternoon, Mark Shapiro took his seat at the front of a Rogers Centre boardroom and surveyed the scene in front of him.
A gathering of local media members turned their eyes to the front of the room, where Shapiro settled in at the head of a long table. With the Blue Jays’ 50th season about to begin, it was time for the team president to take questions.
A brief silence descended over the room – “I’m just going to call on people,” Shapiro joked – but soon the conversation started rolling. Over the course of the next hour, Shapiro spoke at length about key topics concerning the Blue Jays, including expectations for the upcoming season, plans for future events at Rogers Centre and how recruiting free agents has become a strength of the organization.
“Guys love playing here, and that is no longer a small subset,” he said. “They still want to get paid, but they want to play here.”
Starting with Rogers Centre itself and making our way to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., here’s a closer look at some of the key themes to emerge from Shapiro’s annual pre-season availability:
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The big-picture outlook for Rogers Centre
While the biggest renovations at Rogers Centre are now complete, Shapiro said the Blue Jays could look at some smaller-scale upgrades, such as freshening up the stadium’s many suites and adding a bigger kids’ area.
Eventually, a discussion about the stadium’s long-term future will be necessary, but that’s likely “a good 15 years” away. It’s perhaps premature to discuss what that means in much detail, but Shapiro said all options would have to be considered, including an even larger-scale renovation of Rogers Centre or building an entirely new stadium on the same site (a scenario that would likely require a temporary home elsewhere for a year or two).
“You'd hate to ever give up this location,” he said. “It's just such a unique one. There's not many like it. Maybe the Cubs, (but) not really. Maybe the Red Sox. Maybe San Francisco. There's not many teams that are in such a central walking distance in downtown.”
For now, the bones of the stadium are holding up well, giving the Blue Jays stability for now and flexibility years down the line.
“We’re in good shape from a structural perspective,” Shapiro said. “And I think now we're in good shape from offering fans a true best-in-class fan experience and players a best-in-class player experience. We’re always going to need to fight to keep current and fight to keep that up to date. But I do think we bought ourselves some time.”
All-star hopes delayed
Only two teams have waited longer than the Blue Jays to host an All-Star Game: the Cubs, who are slated to host in 2027, and the Athletics, whose stadium fell into disrepair before they moved, temporarily, to Sacramento. Any fair distribution of All-Star Games would logically see the event return to Canada for the first time since 1991, but MLB officials have told Shapiro there’s no timeline for that to happen.
As Shapiro noted, MLB’s involvement in the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics could have a big say on how and if the 2028 All-Star Game unfolds. Under those circumstances, the Blue Jays might have to wait until 2029 or later.
"It's been put, frankly, on hold due to the Olympics,” Shapiro said. “Things keep coming up that keep pushing us a little bit further in the queue. But we have an application in. We're going to have an All-Star Game here. It's just a question of when. But things have pushed it back, whether it's the U.S. celebration for Philadelphia (this summer), things have just conspired to kind of push us back a little further.”
Interest in hosting WBC
Toronto hasn’t hosted World Baseball Classic games since 2009, but the Blue Jays would like to see that change. Asked whether Rogers Centre could host part of a future tournament, Shapiro answered without hesitation: “Yes.”
“We’ve lobbed that interest,” he added. “It’d be great for the city.”
Some logistical concerns would exist, as there’s no obvious alternate site for teams to train on days they aren’t playing games, which take place in March when it’s typically cold outside in Toronto.
Payroll can remain high
The Blue Jays are spending to historic levels with an opening-day payroll of approximately $318 million, according to Roster Resource. Asked whether he expects to be able to sustain a similarly substantial payroll in years to come, Shapiro pointed to their last few seasons.
“The question is best answered by the recent precedent,” he replied. “We do have a budget every year when we go in. We do go through the process of looking at where our major-league payroll is and where it could go. But we also are given, from Edward (Rogers) and from Tony Staffieri (the president and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., which also owns Sportsnet), a clear mandate that if there's an opportunity to make this club meaningfully better, bring it to them. You've seen the outcome of that, whether it's the trade deadline or the off-season, that we've been greenlit to go and pursue some upper-level talent that has impacted and helped in many ways ... That's the mandate. The mandate's still there. The desire from ownership is to win.”
For context, the Blue Jays spent $258 million on payroll in 2023, $234 million in 2024 and $286 million last year, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
Vlad Jr.'s joy
When the topic of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. came up, Shapiro compared the first baseman to Hall of Fame outfielder Kirby Puckett, who hit .318 with an .837 OPS in 12 seasons with the Twins.
“Kirby made it better for every single person to come to the ballpark,” Shapiro said. “Whether it was the equipment manager, the groundskeeper, or the starting third baseman. Everybody, every single person, enjoyed coming more because of Kirby. He had that energy, and Vlad, he has that same joyful exuberance, love of the game, joy in playing the game. So I think the power that he brings (is) a joy of playing the game of baseball. That impacts us more powerfully. And if that never changes, then that will be his greatest impact on this team and on this franchise and on his fan base because they feel it. It's authentic, it's genuine, and I do think that he's thinking about leadership differently.”
