Mark Shapiro

The Blue Jays fell just short of achieving their goal of making the playoffs this season, but a 91-71 season has Toronto trending upward. That’s cold comfort for a fan base well-removed from its glory days, however. Following back-to-back World Series victories in 1992-93, Canada’s premier baseball club has made the playoffs just three times in the last 28 seasons – once during the shortened 2020 campaign that expanded the playoff field.

Still, the Jays appear on the cusp of sustained success that Canadians haven’t seen from their ball club since Joe Carter’s historic blast ended the 1993 season. Ownership seems to think so, too, as team president Mark Shapiro said today that, despite the COVID-related revenue losses, the payroll will continue to rise, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). With deadline acquisition Jose Berrios just a year from free agency, and young stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette without long-term deals, the Jays will need to pony up significant dough to keep this core together and competitive long-term.

Cot’s Contracts put Toronto’s 2021 payroll bill to be around $154MM, tweets Nicholson-Smith, and it doesn’t sound as if the Jays are quite ready to consider exceeding the luxury tax. But there’s a fair amount of territory between the $210MM tax line (pending the new CBA) and the $154MM they spent in 2021. As of right now, they have an estimated $114MM projected for their 2022 roster, though that number included estimates for arbitration players and only includes contracts for those players under team control.

It’s no secret that Charlie Montoyo’s club has a couple of significant players heading towards free agency, namely second baseman Marcus Semien and starters Robbie Ray and Steven Matz. For what it’s worth, Shapiro didn’t shy away from saying they plan to try to bring those three back, per Nicholson-Smith (via Twitter). But he also made a point of saying that improving the club is the priority, not bringing back the same 91-team from 2021.

So is bringing all three back a  reasonable expectation? Shapiro should have clarity from ownership on their spending limits in a month or so, per MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson (via Twitter). Shapiro certainly seemed to prepare the fan base to say goodbye to at least one of those three, if not more.

Semien is probably the most popular, as well as the safest bet considering his track record, but he also plays a position where the Jays have some depth – both in the near-and-long-term. Cavan Biggio could slide over to the keystone from the hot corner, as could 26-year-old Santiago Espinal after posting a surprising 115 wRC+ in 246 plate appearances. That could make Semien expendable.

Not to mention, Semien is likely looking for a long-term deal after making good on his season-long showcase, and the Jays have fast-rising 19-year-old infielder Orelvis Martinez making his way to the Majors. Martinez certainly isn’t ready to replicate Semien’s 6.6 fWAR season, but he might offer enough promise to push the Jays to devote their resources elsewhere.

Ray and Matz are coming off monster years considering where they’d been as recently as 2020, but the Jays need more starting pitching. Even with Berrios in the fold and Alek Manoah having established himself in the rotation, they still need an arm or two to fill out the rotation. Maybe they feel comfortable enough with the strides made by either Ray or Matz to invest in them long-term, but they might want to see the price tag first, too.

Toronto isn’t limiting their spending just to the payroll, however, as they’ve also allocated some organizational resources to upgrading the fan experience at the ballpark. There will be a new scoreboard at the Rogers Centre next season, per Laura Armstrong of the Toronto Star. That doesn’t mean a future move is outside the realm of possibility, though it certainly would seem that the Jays will have at least a near-term future in their usual confines. While that leaves a fair amount of wiggle room for the future, even a full season back in the Rogers Centre would be more stability than they’ve had in years.

Blue Jays team president/CEO Mark Shapiro discussed several topics during a wide-ranging interview with Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic (subscription required), including an update on the team’s plans to hopefully play games in Toronto during the 2021 season.  Shapiro feels “we have significant positive and objective momentum that would lead us to make a more formal ask sometime in the next month” about setting a somewhat more concrete date for later in the summer about when the Jays could return to the Rogers Centre.

Naturally, much is still up in the air in regards to these plans depending on the state of the pandemic.  Shapiro doesn’t “have a potential target date” for when the Jays might again play in their home city, but he has more optimism that more significant discussions could occur now that vaccinations are taking place.  Most notably, he also stated that the team has “fairly good information that the vaccine will be accessible to our players and other major-league teams in the next two to three weeks or month.”

“So that if by the end of April or early May all of our players or the bulk of our players and staff are vaccinated and other teams are as well and Toronto is a safe place…the risks start to be mitigated.  I would say that when we start to have that material progress that we see the vaccinations actually happening, we will start to formalize an ask.”

This doesn’t cover the possibility of when fans may be able to attend games at Rogers Centre, as Shapiro said “One [step] is just to get back.  And the second step will be to get back with some measure of fans.”  The city of Toronto has barred all public events until July 1 (Canada Day), and while the Jays could conceivably play empty-stadium games at Rogers Centre before that date, Shapiro acknowledged that in all likelihood, “we can’t come back to Toronto before July 1, unless something changes dramatically.”

The Blue Jays are slated to play regular-season home games in Dunedin through May 2, with homestands scheduled from May 14-24 and June 1-6.  It’s probably safe to assume the Jays will remain Florida-bound at least through May, as Shapiro said that “Obviously, we’re probably going to be in Dunedin a little longer than we’ve communicated,” but “playing here [in Dunedin] past early June is going to probably be a challenge, just weather-wise.”

Buffalo remains the probable next stop for the Blue Jays.  Buffalo’s Sahlen Field already had something of an overhaul last summer in order to make the park Major League-ready, and Shapiro said that the team is currently working with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons for more stadium upgrades in preparation for games in 2021.

Blue Jays president and chief executive officer Mark Shapiro has agreed to a five-year extension, per an announcement from Rogers Communications. Shapiro indicated back in October that he hoped to remain in his post and that Jays ownership at Rogers had reciprocated that interest. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith tweets that Shapiro will now be under contract through 2025.

“Mark’s leadership and commitment to excellence over the last five years have been critical to the team’s growth and development,” said Rogers Communications/Blue Jays chairman Edward Rogers in a statement announcing the new contract. “We’re extremely pleased that Mark will continue to lead the Toronto Blue Jays and build on the team’s progress as we work towards our goal of bringing as World Series championship back to Canada.”

Shapiro, 53, came to the Jays in 2015 on the heels of a 25-year run with the Indians. He served as Cleveland’s general manager from 2001-10 before being promoted to president, at which point current Cleveland president of baseball ops Chris Antonetti was elevated to GM status. Shapiro hired Cleveland’s director of player personnel, Ross Atkins, to serve as the Blue Jays’ general manager upon taking his initial post in Toronto, and the two have overseen the club’s operations since. Atkins signed a contract extension himself back in June 2019, although unlike Shapiro, the length of his contract was never formally announced by Rogers.

As is often the case with front-office overhauls in baseball, there were some lean years for the Jays after the hiring of Shapiro and Atkins. Those struggles are now in the rear-view mirror, however, as the Jays boast a young core that is among the more enviable groups of controllable talent in the game. Toronto supplemented that core with the signing of ace Hyun Jin Ryu last winter, and the Jays are widely expected to sign and/or acquire additional high-end talent this winter as they take aim at a second consecutive postseason berth.

The extension for Shapiro and the 2019 extension for Atkins ensure continuity atop both the baseball and business operations hierarchies for the Jays as they endeavor to establish themselves as a perennial contender in the ever-competitive AL East.

Shapiro issued his own statement on the new contract as well:

“From a personal and professional standpoint, I am thrilled to continue being a Toronto Blue Jay. I am fortunate to work with exceptional people and am proud of the progress we have made together, to build a culture, community and clubhouse that our incredible fans can cheer on. Living in Toronto and Canada has been life changing for me and my family and I am excited to experience the feeling of winning a championship with this city and country.”

Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro has fielded his share of criticism over five years at the helm, but now seems on the precipice of another term. As Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca was among those to report, Shapiro strongly suggested that he’s going to re-up with the Toronto organization.

Shapiro has long spoken of his interest in remaining with the Jays, so there’s no news there. But as Davidi observes, it’s hard to imagine that the veteran executive would’ve casually made these additional comments in the absence of an all-but-imminent new contract:

“The desire to be here long term has been reciprocated by the people I work for. That’s as simple as I can be for you. I’ll be here until I’m not here. Based upon my desire to be here and the reciprocation of that, I would expect that that’s going to continue to happen.”

It’d certainly rate as a major surprise at this point to see Shapiro depart. Just how long and lucrative his new contract will be remains to be seen, but it appears the Blue Jays will entrust him with navigating a tricky economic and competitive situation.

Quite apart from these suggestive comments, Shapiro seemed safe after a successful 2020 showing. Facing increasing pressure from the fanbase, he and GM Ross Atkins delivered a postseason appearance after making a few significant roster moves in the 2019-20 offseason.

Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro met with reporters today to discuss a variety of topics, including future plans on and off the field for the Jays.  Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, TSN’s Scott Mitchell, and the Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm have some of the highlights, and you can view a video of some of Shapiro’s interview at Sportsnet.ca.

One of the chief points of discussion was criticism directed at Jays management from both fans and pundits in the wake of the perceived lackluster returns for Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez in respective deadline trades with the Mets and Astros.  Shapiro defended the work of GM Ross Atkins and the front office as a whole, saying “they’ve positioned the team extremely well, regardless of what happens, for the future,” and cited several recent high-profile deals that ended up with unexpected benefits for the teams involved.

“It’s the nature of both media and fans to want to judge trades in the short term….Trades take a while to ultimately evaluate,” Shapiro said.  “If you’re evaluating them on a small amount of information and a small set if data, they can feel unpopular in the moment and you have to be more confident of the group of people and the information that led to that decision.”

Beyond the rebuilding plans, however, Shapiro himself is well aware that “winning…is the only thing that will satisfy people,” as the Jays are well into their third season of non-competitive baseball.

“I’m aware of the frustration because I share the frustration.  Any time you’re not winning, there is anger, there’s frustration and there’s disappointment,” Shapiro said.  “If you don’t feel bitter about anything other than a winning and a championship-caliber team, then you’re in the wrong line of work….We’ve listened to our fans, we’ve made tons of changes to the products that we supply and what we’re doing around the ballpark, the times of games, and the deals we offer, so we’re always listening to our fans.  But ultimately, the only thing that really is going to make the bulk of our fans happy is winning games.”

This doesn’t necessarily indicate that the Blue Jays’ rebuild is coming to an end, as Shapiro said that the team will look to be “opportunistic” in their offseason expenditures since, in his opinion, “it’s not a great off-season for free-agent talent.”  That said, “the bulk” of winter resources will be spent on adding pitching, since Toronto already seems to have a young and talented core (i.e. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) in place.  “We will certainly have to and will supplement that internal group of players, [and] look to do it as soon as this off-season,” Shapiro said.

The Jays have just under $30.93MM in committed payroll next season, with almost half of those funds dedicated to retired shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.  While there’s plenty of room to spend, major splashes don’t seem to be in the offing until the Blue Jays have proven themselves to be a bit closer to contending in the AL East.  Past comments from Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins indicated that 2021 could be the target year for when the Jays turn from retooling to pushing for a postseason berth, though Shapiro hesitated to put any type of “limits on the pace or deadlines” of the process.

“So a player who’s a three-win player who takes you from 82 to 85 wins probably doesn’t move that needle. But if you’re at 87 wins and it takes you from 87 to 90, does that make sense?” Shapiro asked rhetorically.  “So it’s more like when we’re at that point, when you can get the player who helps take you from a good team to a team that’s a potential championship team, we need to go out and get that player, and that [ownership] support will be there.”

One potential bit of spending with long-term repercussions could be extensions for the young core players, and while though Shapiro said those types of talks usually don’t happen until later in the offseason or during Spring Training, “those will be conversations we’d certainly have.”