It was almost a year ago when the Blue Jays’ pursuit of Shohei Ohtani started making headlines.
During an annual luncheon with the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøchapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, Ross Atkins was asked about his interest in signing the two-way star, who had only been loosely tied to the Jays through a series of national reports.
Many in attendance expected the Jays general manager to deflect or downplay expectations. Instead, Atkins spent several minutes going through the reasons why the Jays would be an attractive destination. The message was clear: The Jays genuinely believed they had a chance to recruit the sport’s top player.
Approximately one week later, rumours ran rampant as Ohtani made an in-person visit to their player development complex before deciding to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The failed pursuit has done little to lower internal optimism because this year’s BBWAA luncheon was eerily similar. The only difference was that, instead of talking about Ohtani, Atkins answered questions about this year’s top free agent, outfielder Juan Soto.
“We’re a very attractive destination, an incredible city, market and country that players are excited about,” Atkins said Tuesday afternoon when asked if he learned anything from the Ohtani negotiations. “A team that players are excited about, and as we become a group of people working together, we get better at talking about that, get better at presenting that.”
If the Jays doubted their ability to land Soto, there were plenty of opportunities Tuesday for Atkins to voice skepticism. He could have talked about budget restraints or a need to spread resources around to multiple players. He could have pointed to a lack of a long-term contract extension for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as a reason to keep the long-term books clean.
None of that happened, which means the Jays think they have a shot against the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and, possibly, the Dodgers. With Major League Baseball’s winter meetings set to begin Monday in Dallas, Soto’s decision should come soon.Â
Aiming high is a good thing, but it comes with a downside. After the Jays missed on Ohtani they became the butt of a lot of jokes, especially following erroneous media reports that the Japanese sensation was flying to Toronto. Others believed the Jays were only being used as leverage to force the Dodgers into paying more.
The same thing will happen again this year if the Jays miss out on Soto, but they’ll deal with those optics if and when the time comes.
“I just don’t know what the alternative is, other than do our best to make the team better,” Atkins said when asked about managing expectations. “That’s what we focus on.
“How do we make this team as good as it can be, and understand that certain pursuits may create a level of excitement, and that may intensify the level of disappointment? But I don’t know a better way to pursue it, other than to do the best possible job we can to improve the team.”
The Jays’ biggest mistake last off-season wasn’t the pursuit of Ohtani, it was the lack of a viable backup plan once he signed elsewhere. Faced with a weak free-agent market and few prospects to offer through trade, Atkins went from pursuing a generational talent to signing a bunch of rapidly declining veterans to short-term deals.
Kevin Kiermaier was brought back to patrol centre field. Justin Turner signed to become the designated hitter. Instead of finding a plus bat to replace Matt Chapman at third, the Jays settled for defensive wizard Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The lack of upgrades, combined with regression elsewhere, resulted in MLB’s eighth-worst lineup.
The good news for the Jays is that this year’s crop of free agents offers more depth. There’s only one Soto, but a couple of tiers down there are guys like Alex Bregman, Anthony Santander, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Teoscar Hernández and Christian Walker. There are lots of opportunities to improve.
The downside is that there are more teams looking to spend. Last off-season, the Dodgers, the Jays and, to a lesser extent, the San Francisco Giants were the only teams in on Ohtani. This year, there are at least five pursuing Soto and some of the ones that aren’t — the Chicago Cubs, Baltimore and Houston — expect to spend big elsewhere.
If history repeats itself and the Jays fail to make significant adds, what was once supposed to become a golden era of baseball in this city will fizzle out. Running it back last year led to a last-place finish. There’s no reason to believe next season would be any different.
Atkins hasn’t resigned himself to that fate. He clearly believes Soto is attainable, and if that proves not to be the case there’s comfort in the alternatives. The next few weeks will reveal whether that was reasonable thinking or whether Atkins will be remembered as the guy who waited for the star player who never arrived.
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