Adding a starter, bolstering bullpen on the mind of Blue Jays’ Atkins at GM Meetings

LAS VEGAS – The currencies that play during the baseball off-season aren’t as varied as the methods of payment accepted on the Vegas Strip, where the 30 teams gathered for the GM Meetings are making initial moves to spend their money, prospect capital or big-league players.

Cash always rules and markets are driven by those looking to part with it, making the Baltimore Orioles, ready to augment their roster in a big way, a team to watch this winter. That they are also flush in prospects gives them a chance to impact the trade market, too, where the lack of tear-down sellers may mean more need-for-need deals off major-league rosters.

The Toronto Blue Jays, having spent the past two off-seasons and trade deadlines building upon their base, have less financial flexibility and prospect capital to draw from, although there’s certainly some surplus, particularly at catcher, to be found on their 26-man roster.

At this point, the latter seems like a resource pool they’re likely to leverage this off-season, along with some complementary spending, especially after beginning a restock of the farm system during last year’s draft.

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“I do feel strongly that we are one of the few teams that can leverage all three of those,” GM Ross Atkins said Tuesday. “Ideally, we don’t have to leverage the major league team, but are we more strongly considering that for balance and flexibility to our roster? Sure. That’s an opportunity for us, but not a pressure point.”

Maybe, but Atkins acknowledged that “our catching has been interesting for years to other teams,” and revealed that “we actually have some interest in our relievers, too.” He added that “we’ll look to acquire another starting pitcher,” and “in an ideal world we’re adding someone to complement Jordan Romano, Tim Mayza and Yimi Garcia at the back end of (the bullpen).”

Those two needs could be met with money alone but to do anything transformative with the position-player group, the Blue Jays will surely need to do some trading. Easier said than done as teams, particularly contending clubs, are generally loath to subtract from their big-league roster.

The St. Louis Cardinals, for instance, need to replace retired catcher Yadier Molina and have a surplus of outfielders (Dylan Carlson and Lars Nootbar both make sense for the Blue Jays). But John Mozeliak, their president of baseball operations, said the NL Central champions will weigh their options in free agency and trade and choose which route makes the most sense.

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As for moving an established big-leaguer, he said it was difficult to assess the possibility in a vacuum without specifics, although “ideally, we’re not, if that makes sense. But we’re not saying no.”

Right now, nobody is and the Blue Jays, losing only one major piece in Ross Stripling to free agency, are in position to run it back next year with essentially the same team.

Given how that group won 92 games, any change will have to create an opportunity for meaningful improvement, particularly since, “we believe in environment and continuity,” said Atkins.

“I’m sure you’ve seen that from our decisions,” he continued. “We believe in people and believe that players get better at the major-league level, too. That’s a clear benefit. We don’t have any concerns about the players on our team other than opportunities for guys to make strides or get better. It’s a healthy organization with a healthy major-league roster that we view to be one of the best in the AL, for sure.”

The standings are proof of that, but the landscape will be shifting in both the American League East and the circuit as a whole with off-season moves and a more balanced schedule in 2023, so maintaining might not be good enough.

Orioles GM Mike Elias is looking to add a front of the rotation starter and a couple of bats and while he concedes “it’s going to be challenging,” he adds that “I definitely think it’s conceptionally possible to improve our team to the degree that we want to with the finances that I’m expecting to use.”

A better Orioles team takes a few wins away and the Blue Jays are unlikely to dominate a team the way they went 16-3 against the Boston Red Sox this past season, so that changes the post-season path.

Plus, there are needs, and with essentially two holes to fill in the rotation if Stripling isn’t re-signed and the questions around Yusei Kikuchi and Mitch White, it was intriguing to hear Atkins mention adding one starter as the starting point.

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After that, they’ll “think about what that means from a workload standpoint on the individuals that are here, in innings that we need to fill and then obviously want to think about complementing our bullpen, as well.”

The Blue Jays could create competition for the fifth spot between a bounce-back candidate, Kikuchi (“We certainly are going into it with the hope that he can be a starting pitcher for us,” said Atkins) and White, but there’s potential for volatility, especially if no other depth options emerge.

“It would be great if we could have eight credible starting pitchers and two or three of them on option or just somehow in the organization, (that) would be an incredible starting point,” said Atkins. “But how realistic is that for any team, really?”

Having Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman and Jose Berrios gives the Blue Jays a solid starting point at least, and they’d need to go strong at No. 4 to handle a less certain five.

Among the plethora of possibilities on the market is Kodai Senga, the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks right-hander planning to transition to the majors next year. The Blue Jays’ interest in him was demonstrated this summer when they dispatched two senior officials to watch him pitch and Atkins was as blatant about the team’s intentions as he gets when he said, “we have done enough work to be ready to have dialogue.”

Dialogue, amid the slot machines and blackjack tables of Las Vegas where fortunes are more often lost than made, is where it all begins anew for the Blue Jays.

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