Ross Atkins

GMs Ross Atkins, Mike Hazen Share Details On Blue Jays/Diamondbacks Trade

By Mark Polishuk | December 24, 2022 at 6:00pm CDT

After months of speculation and interest from multiple teams, the Diamondbacks finally traded one of their left-handed hitting outfielders and the Blue Jays finally moved one of their catchers. The two clubs joined forces on Friday’s three-player deal that saw outfielder Daulton Varsho head to Toronto in exchange for catcher Gabriel Moreno and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., in a trade that checks several boxes for both organizations.

Given how the D’Backs and Jays’ needs dovetailed so neatly, it isn’t a surprise that Toronto GM Ross Atkins said it was “from the very beginning of the off-season that dialogue began” between the two sides.

“It absolutely was a great fit with their surplus of outfielders, specifically left-handed hitting centre fielders and us having a surplus of catching and their need,” Atkins told reporters, including TSN’s Scott Mitchell. “Right from the start, we felt that was going to be a very important team and fit.”

The Blue Jays entered the winter with Moreno, Alejandro Kirk, and Danny Jansen all lined up as options behind the plate, with Moreno (one of the game’s best prospects) looking ready for an extended audition after making his MLB debut with 25 games played in 2022. While Varsho has only 283 MLB games on his resume, he was actually the most experienced of Arizona’s outfield core — Corbin Carroll and Alek Thomas both made their big league debuts in 2022, and Jake McCarthy has appeared in 123 games for the Diamondbacks over the last two seasons.

Varsho’s longer track record seemingly made him the most sought-after player by interested teams, especially since the D’Backs made Carroll (another elite prospect) all but untouchable in trade negotiations. With the Diamondbacks intent on adding “impact in this trade,” according to Arizona general manager Mike Hazen, that need couldn’t be met just by shopping Thomas or McCarthy.

“I think there was more certainty — and clearly, we have it, too — with Daulton’s performance to this point in his career, and probably rightly so, that teams were willing to pay more for that. I don’t know that we were ever going to cross that divide otherwise,” Hazen told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters.

Such teams as the Yankees, Reds, White Sox, Athletics, Astros, Brewers, and Marlins were also linked to the Diamondbacks’ outfielders on the rumor mill, as both contenders and rebuilding teams alike had interest in Arizona’s mix of controllable young players. Likewise, Toronto got lots of calls about its catchers, but reports suggested that the Blue Jays first wanted to wait and see where some other catchers on the free agent and trade market landed. Once the Braves acquired Sean Murphy from Oakland and once Willson Contreras (Cardinals) and Christian Vazquez (Twins) signed, the road was then a little more clear for the D’Backs and Jays to align on a trade.

Even then, Atkins said that finding a match was tricky since “all three catchers were of some interest to them and all of their outfielders were of some interest to us. The component that made it challenging is that we were both trying to consolidate more talent on our Major League roster. They are looking to take steps forward obviously and push the envelope on the winning front and that’s why Lourdes Gurriel came into the picture and made this deal work.”

Gurriel’s inclusion gives the D’Backs a veteran but not old (Gurriel is entering his age-29) outfield presence to join with Carroll, McCarthy, Thomas, and former AL Rookie Of The Year Kyle Lewis, who was acquired in another trade with the Mariners earlier this winter. “I’m hoping the contact, the on-base, the ability to hit, the two-strike approach, is going to lend itself to making our lineup even tougher to face with the way some of those kids are going to be running around the bases the way they did last year,” Hazen said. “I feel like a lot of that dynamic offense has a chance to be enhanced.”

The trade with the Jays and Mariners represent Arizona’s biggest moves of the winter, as the D’Backs have otherwise mostly focused on their bullpen with relatively lower-tier moves like the signings of Miguel Castro and Scott McGough. Friday also saw the D’Backs complete another trade, bringing Diego Castillo from the Pirates to add more infield depth to the mix.

With Arizona still trying to finds its footing after three straight losing seasons, the Blue Jays are in a different position as a club intending to compete for a World Series in 2023. After a disappointing collapse against Seattle in the Wild Card Series, the Jays have been aggressive in signing right-hander Chris Bassitt to a three-year, $63MM deal, signing Kevin Kiermaier to a one-year contract, and trading Teoscar Hernandez to the Mariners for Erik Swanson and prospect Adam Macko.

Now that the Jays finally pulled the trigger on a catcher trade, Atkins said “I think our heavy lifting is done” for the rest of the offseason, though the front office is “certainly not ruling anything out and would expect some incremental improvements.” Varsho and Kiermaier are both left-handed hitters, and thus the Blue Jays will “look to improve our team from the subtraction of Gurriel, but in our view it doesn’t need to be right-handed or left-handed, it’s more about the impact and the fit beyond that.”

GM Ross Atkins On Blue Jays’ Winter Goals

By TC Zencka | November 13, 2021 at 9:18am CDT

The Blue Jays would love to add an infielder to complement their current mix of young gloves in the dirt, but it’s not a necessity, says GM Ross Atkins, per Scott Mitchell of TSN. That includes, of course, a potential reunion with Marcus Semien, though having a versatile defensive player like Cavan Biggio on the roster gives Atkins some flexibility. Filling Semien’s spot at the keystone is the natural place to add an infielder, but Biggio could slide to second, opening the hot corner for a bigger fish like Matt Chapman of the A’s, whom Mitchell speculates could be a target.

Of course, injuries limited the 26-year-old Biggio to just 79 games last season and a .224/.322/.356 batting line, so an argument could be made to look for an upgrade at third base regardless of what happens at second. Wherever they make additions, for the second consecutive winter, the Blue Jays are no doubt buyers in this free agent market. If not another infielder, Toronto will surely explore rotation and bullpen upgrades, notes Mitchell.

Specifically, Atkins did not rule out getting a more established closer that might bump Jordan Romano from the role that he stepped into last season. Romano notched 23 games for the Jays last season, but he also picked up a handful of holds while only recording a single blown save. Steady as he was, there is no such thing as too many high leverage arms.

Blue Jays Tried To Acquire Jose Ramirez, Robbie Grossman At Deadline

By Darragh McDonald | October 7, 2021 at 10:49pm CDT

In an article about the Blue Jays’ upcoming offseason, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet says that the club tried to acquire Cleveland infielder Jose Ramirez and Detroit outfielder Robbie Grossman at the trade deadline.

This comment came within the context of a discussion he had with general manager Ross Atkins about the lack of diversity in the Blue Jays’ lineup this season. Atkins stated that the righty-heavy lineup was better when left-handed hitters Cavan Biggio and Corey Dickerson were present. “It’s not just that they’re left-handed, but how we are attacked and potentially the pitchers that are used is different,” Atkins said. “Secondarily, we feel it’s important to have balance and not just the same type of hitters up and down your lineup. So some players that are more batting average driven and some players that are more on-base driven with plate discipline. Having both is exceptionally powerful.”

In the end, the Blue Jays only added pitching at the deadline, with Jose Berrios being the headline move. In the season’s final months, the club finished strong and ended up 91-71, just one game away behind the eventual Wild Card participants, the Red Sox and Yankees.

Ramirez and Grossman are both excellent hitters, making it hardly surprising that Toronto, or any club, would be interested in their services. Both certainly would have helped with the righty-heavy situation, as they are both switch hitters. Grossman is usually better as a righty but still above-average from the left side. For his career, his slash line as a righty is .273/.367/.409, wRC+ of 116, whereas the lefty line is .241/.346/.378, wRC+ of 102. This year, his production as a lefty was slightly better, coming in at 105 in terms of wRC+. But his production as a righty was significantly better, coming in at 135 by the same measure. Ramirez, however, is equally excellent from both sides. His career line as a righty is .292/.351/.500 for a wRC+ of 125. As a lefty in his career, he’s hit .272/.356/.502 for a wRC+ of 127. This year, his wRC+ was 139 as a lefty and 135 as a righty.

It is perhaps worth nothing that both players are still controlled by their respective clubs, making it possible that whatever trade scenarios were discussed could be revisited in the offseason, especially considering that the Jays are losing the aforementioned Dickerson to free agency, weakening their already-thin pool of lefty bats. Grossman and the Tigers agreed to a two-year deal before this season, leaving one year remaining at a salary of $5MM. The Tigers have been rebuilding in recent years, making it somewhat logical that they would consider parting with a veteran player who is approaching free agency. But on the other hand, after an awful showing in April, they went 69-66 over the season’s final months and could be looking to add rather than subtract this offseason. And the Jays aren’t especially desperate for outfield help, given they have George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk on hand.

Ramirez, for his part, is controlled through for two more seasons via a pair of club options as part of the extension he signed prior to the 2017 season. The $11MM and $13MM salaries for 2022 and 2023 are both absolute bargains for a player of his caliber, meaning they’re guaranteed to be picked up. However, that also means it will be difficult to pry him loose from Cleveland, even if it’s unclear how aggressive the team plans to be this winter. They finished the season with a lackluster 80-82 record, meaning there could be an argument for selling. But on the other hand, they suffered a large number of injuries to key players, especially in their rotation, and could expect better results in 2022. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, they also had an opening day payroll of under $50MM this season, lower than it’s been in a decade, meaning there shouldn’t be too much desire to strip it down even further. As much as he would slot nicely into a Toronto lineup that has Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal as its best third base options, it should take a tremendous trade package to make it happen.

The Blue Jays, for their part, should be able to take on some salary. When asked if the payroll could increase from this year’s $140MM range, Atkins tells Davidi, “That is our desire and that is our understanding.” That wouldn’t be unprecedented for the Toronto club, as their budget was over $160MM in both 2017 and 2018, before dipping as their recent rebuild picked up steam. Now that they’ve returned to contention over the past two seasons, it stands to reason that they would return to that level, if not surpass it. They only have about $65MM committed to next year, according to Jason Martinez of Roster Resource, though that’s before accounting for arbitration raises for players like Berrios, Hernández and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Atkins tells Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet that the Jays are looking to add to the infield and rotation, which makes sense given they are losing Robbie Ray and Marcus Semien to free agency in a few weeks. As to whether they have the cash to pull it off, Atkins told Davidi that the Jays could give out a “very significant deal with a lot of term to it, maybe more than one,” but also tried to tamp down expectations by saying that teams “need to have that five- and six-year understanding for what that means for the team and the organization.”

Blue Jays Notes: Tellez, Atkins, Manoah, Pearson, Hatch

By Mark Polishuk | May 16, 2021 at 6:17pm CDT

The Blue Jays may be dealing with yet another injury absence, as Rowdy Tellez suffered a mild left hamstring strain that forced him out of today’s 10-8 victory over the Phillies. While batting in the eighth inning, Tellez slipped on home plate after hitting a line drive to left field, as a would-be double was limited to a single since Tellez was moving gingerly down the first base line. Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling and other reporters that “there’s a good chance” Tellez would be placed on the 10-day injured list.

An injury would compound that has already been a very tough start to the season for Tellez. After seemingly breaking out during the 2020 season, Tellez has hit only .188/.225/.282 with two home runs over 89 plate appearances this year. Despite making a lot of hard contact, Tellez has only a .222 BABIP and has only two walks against 20 strikeouts. The Jays already sent Tellez down to the alternate training site in April as a result of his struggles, and it’s possible he would still in the minors if he wasn’t needed to help fill a hole on Toronto’s injury-plagued roster.

With Tellez likely to join George Springer, Joe Panik, and Alejandro Kirk on the IL, the Jays may need to make a 40-man roster adjustment to add another position player (unless they’re willing to play with a very short bench). Such MLB-experienced players such as Tyler White, Dilson Herrera, Breyvic Valera, and Richard Urena are at Triple-A but would need to have their contracts selected to the 40-man before being able to join the big league team.

Injuries were naturally a big topic of discussion when Toronto GM Ross Atkins met with the media prior to today’s game. Speaking to Zwelling, Sportnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith (Twitter links) and other reporters, Atkins gave a positive update on right-hander Thomas Hatch, who has yet to pitch this season due to a right elbow impingement. Hatch is on pace to be activated from the 60-day IL when first eligible, as he is up to three innings of work at a time. Capable of working as a starter, reliever, or in a swingman role, Hatch could be a valuable asset to Toronto’s pitching staff is he is able to return healthy.

Top prospect Nate Pearson would also naturally be a boon to the rotation if he is able to live up to his potential, but Pearson has dealt with a number of setbacks this year — a groin injury that delayed his season debut to May 9, a rough performance in that first outing, and then a demotion to Triple-A. Pearson will now miss his next Triple-A start due to a minor shoulder impingement, but Atkins says the Jays “don’t expect him to miss too much time at all.”

With Pearson a question mark and the Blue Jays rotation still in need of help, all eyes have turned to Alek Manoah, whose first two Triple-A starts have resulted in 12 scoreless innings. Selected 11th overall in the 2019 draft, Manoah was ranked 79th on Keith Law’s preseason top-100 prospects ranking and 83rd on the Baseball Prospectus list, and the right-hander has now slipped into the current top-100 listings of Baseball America (93rd) and MLB Pipeline (98th).

Manoah’s performance has naturally also caught the eye of the Jays front office, as Atkins said “he’s making that [a promotion] very much something that we’re discussing and talking about….The objective and subjective views of how effective he will be at the major league level are all really encouraging. He absolutely maximized his off-season and maximized Spring Training, and he’s getting absolutely every ounce out of Triple-A baseball right now.”

When Manoah might make his debut is still up in the air. The 23-year-old did lose a season of proper minor league development in 2020, his time at the alternate training site last season was shortened due to a bout of COVID-19, and Manoah’s two Triple-A appearances are his only games played above the low-A ball level. As Zwelling noted, however, the fact that the Blue Jays began Manoah’s season at Triple-A rather than Double-A is likely a sign that the team has confidence that Manoah is ready for a somewhat aggressive promotion if he keeps impressing in the upper minors.

Blue Jays Sign GM Ross Atkins To Five-Year Extension

By Steve Adams | April 7, 2021 at 9:32am CDT

9:32am: Atkins’ contract begins at the end of this season, so it covers the 2022-26 campaigns, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. He’s now signed one year longer than Shapiro.

8:37am: The Blue Jays announced Wednesday that they’ve signed general manager Ross Atkins to a five-year extension. The exact length of Atkins’ prior contract wasn’t publicly known, though he last inked an extension in June 2019. This new five-year pact lends some clarity to his contractual status and cements that Atkins and president Mark Shapiro, who was extended through the 2025 season earlier this year, will continue to head up Blue Jays operations for the foreseeable future.

Originally hired as the team’s general manager in Dec. 2015, Atkins has spent the past five years heading up Toronto’s baseball operations department. There were some lean years for the Jays from 2017-19 as Atkins, Shapiro and their front office team turned over the farm system and worked to compile a core upon which they could build. The Jays currently have the game’s third-best farm system, according to both Baseball America and The Athletic. The fruits of those efforts to restock the farm already began to manifest in 2020, when the Jays nabbed a playoff spot in last year’s expanded field.

With the likes of Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez all coming together at the big league level, the Jays began supplementing that core on the free-agent market heading into the 2020 season. Hyun Jin Ryu inked a four-year, $80MM deal to head up a rotation that had vaunted pitching prospect Nate Pearson on the horizon, and the Jays made a larger splash this past offseason when they inked George Springer to the largest deal in franchise history: a six-year, $150MM contract.

Some of the current roster — Guerrero, Rowdy Tellez, Danny Jansen — was acquired prior to the hiring of Atkins. As is the case with most front-office shuffles, there’s some groundwork laid by the prior group that continues to shape the long-term direction of the club and some continuity from regime to regime. Tony LaCava, for instance, was an assistant GM under Alex Anthopoulos and still holds a key position (senior vice president of player personnel) in the current group.

Acquiring Hernandez from the Astros in exchange for Francisco Liriano is likely the most notable success on the trade market under Atkins, while key international signings like Gurriel and Alejandro Kirk have begun to provide value at the MLB level as well. Time will tell whether the investment in Springer proves fruitful, but the Ryu investment has paid off so far and it’s hard to fault a one-year pact for a player of Marcus Semien’s caliber. There have certainly been missteps along the way — the Randal Grichuk trade worked out nicely; his extension did not — but Atkins has clearly commanded the confidence of ownership and is now being rewarded with a lengthy extension for his efforts.

For all of the Jays’ recent spending, the affordable nature of their young core gives them the flexibility to continue being aggressive on the market next winter. There was a clear stopping point this winter, as the Jays cooled their spending despite some a relatively questionable rotation composition. But the Jays only have about $65MM committed to the 2022 roster at present, and the only sizable arbitration raises on the docket figure to be Hernandez (who’ll get a bump from this year’s $4.325MM salary) and Guerrero (who’ll be arb-eligible for the first time).

The Blue Jays aren’t considered division favorites in 2021, but they have one of the game’s top farm systems, a promising core of controllable young big leaguers upon which to build, and considerable payroll flexibility heading into a historically strong class of free agents next winter. The future looks bright.

AL East Notes: Atkins, Choi, Stewart, Arroyo

By Mark Polishuk | March 21, 2021 at 6:39pm CDT

The Blue Jays are having “active conversations” with general manager Ross Atkins about a contract extension, team president Mark Shapiro told Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi. Atkins’ current deal with the Jays expires at the end of the season, Davidi writes, which means that the extension Atkins inked back in June 2019 was a two-year pact. Since Shapiro’s own recent extension runs through the 2025 season, it’s fair to speculate whether Atkins’ next contract might have a similar term length.

The Jays have a 337-371 record since Atkins was hired in the 2015-16 offseason, a tenure that began with a postseason appearance in 2016, three down years as the Jays embarked on a rebuild, and then a return to the (expanded) playoffs in 2020. With a wealth of homegrown young talent and some high-priced free agents — Hyun Jin Ryu, George Springer, Marcus Semien — on the roster, Toronto has the pieces in place to become a consistent contender, marking quite the franchise overhaul in the five-plus years of the Shapiro/Atkins regime.

Blue Jays Pick Up Charlie Montoyo’s 2022 Option

By TC Zencka | March 16, 2021 at 10:57am CDT

The Blue Jays have secured manager Charlie Montoyo for the 2022 season. GM Ross Atkins announced the move on a Zoom call today, per Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports (via Twitter) and others. Officially, Toronto picked up their option for the 2022 season. Through two seasons, Montoyo’s Blue Jays have a 99-123 record.

The Jays hired Montoyo from the Rays before the 2019 season to a three-year deal with an option for a fourth. With that option now executed, Montoyo heads into a fairly critical season. Expectations are sky high for the Blue Jays for the first time in Montoyo’s tenure. Montoyo helped Toronto end a three-year playoff drought last season. Speaking hypothetically, if the Jays under-perform in 2021 and finish, say, with 85 wins and outside of the money, the Jays would face a difficult decision on Montoyo heading into a lame duck season. If, on the other hand, the Jays are able to sneak past the Rays and Yankees to win the AL East, an extension could be in order for their 55-year-old manager.

Before taking over in Toronto, Montoyo spent 18 seasons managing in the Rays’ system. He spent three seasons with the Major League team as the third base coach before replacing Tom Foley as Kevin Cash’s bench coach for the 2018 season. Montoyo finished third in AL Manager of the Year award voting in 2020. Last April, Montoyo made history with Alex Cora of the Red Sox in the first-ever MLB match-up featuring two Puerto Rican managers.

AL East Notes: Blue Jays, Catchers, Rays, McKay, Red Sox, Cora

By TC Zencka | November 14, 2020 at 1:56pm CDT

The Blue Jays are prepared to make impact moves this offseason, but they’re also preaching patience, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. If they do make a move early – beyond what they’ve done so far – GM Ross Atkins thinks it will be a significant one. Per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca, Atkins said, “If we were to move earlier, the impact would be significant. And that doesn’t take us out of significant impact later.” If you’re sensing a theme, you’re not imagining it: The Jays are dreaming big this winter. One of the biggest names available is catcher J.T. Realmuto. The former Phillie would fit the mold described above, but Atkins also says they are “extremely satisfied” with Toronto’s catching situation. And why shouldn’t they be? With Danny Jansen, Reese McGuire and Alejandro Kirk all contributing at the big-league level, they have affordable depth and upside in the form of Kirk, who hit .375/.400/.583 in a 24-at-bat cup-of-coffee in 2020. Still, that depth can be repurposed to make room for a star like Realmuto, especially in the American League where the DH provides opportunity for diversified playing time.

Southpaw Brendan McKay remains in Baseball America’s list of top-10 Rays prospects, but J.J. Cooper sounds concerned about McKay’s ability to recover from shoulder surgery on Kyle Glaser’s Baseball America podcast. Cooper notes that Hyun Jin Ryu took about three years to really return to form after a similar surgery. All that said, it’s telling that McKay remains at number six on the list. Until he begins his return and something new emerges, the only confirmed change for McKay is his timeline and his risk profile. The upside that made McKay a top prospect in the first place remains.
Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom was given full discretion to make the final hiring decision for the Red Sox managerial opening this offseason. Bringing back Alex Cora wasn’t money in the bank, as it might seem, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. The assumption would be that Bloom had the final say-so, but given the unique nature of Cora’s return, and the fact that Bloom didn’t hire Cora the first time around, it would be fair to wonder how much ownership weighed in on the decision. The idea to interview Cora at all, however, was Bloom’s, per Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe. Bloom and general manager Brian O’Halloran met with Cora in an “empty hangar on the airport tarmac.” It was an exhausting but thorough interview by the accounts of those involved, and it didn’t seal the deal. That interview simply entered Cora into the field. Bloom and O’Halloran kept ownership and their assistant general managers involved in the process throughout, but ultimately the decision was left to Bloom, who went with Cora over the Phillies’ integrative baseball performance director Sam Fuld. Definitely read Speier’s piece for the full account.

Ross Atkins Discusses Blue Jays’ Offseason

By Mark Polishuk | October 3, 2020 at 10:46am CDT

After a 95-loss season in 2019, the Blue Jays’ rebuild began to bear fruit in 2020 as the team went 32-28 and earned a wild card playoff berth. This result has left the Jays eager for more, and general manager Ross Atkins told reporters (including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson and Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi) that despite all the financial uncertainty caused by the pandemic, “the quickest way to recovery is winning. The quickest way to getting our business back to a very good financial spot is winning and our ownership knows that.”

The Blue Jays have their own unique set of revenue issues to deal with heading into 2021, such as not yet knowing if they’ll be permitted to play in Toronto next season. In terms of pure player payroll, however, the Jays are in better shape than most teams. The Blue Jays have less than $54MM on the books for next season since so many of Toronto’s key players have yet to reach salary arbitration, or (like Teoscar Hernandez) are only just entering the arb process for the first time.

This flexibility allows the Jays to pursue upgrades in several different ways, and Atkins didn’t rule out the possibility of another big-splash acquisition like the Hyun Jin Ryu signing last offseason. “I think we are in a position where we could add to this team with talent that is condensed in one player and a super high impact….We’re going to continue to think about how we can build upon this group, and hopefully it’s both complementary as well as making as making a really high impact,” Atkins said.

Speaking of the broader offseason landscape, Atkins noted that “the COVID-19 pandemic hit the finances of different clubs in different ways, creating an extremely uncertain outlook as we eventually approach free agency. Some believe this could open up the trade market, with teams more willing to use prospects over cash to acquire talent entering 2021.” It’s safe to assume the Blue Jays will look into both trades and free agent signings, though Atkins’ comment could be interpreted in two different ways — the Jays could be one of those teams that prefer trades to signings, or they could use their payroll space to be more aggressive in free agency if other clubs are holding back.

Looking at the 2020-21 free agent class, such names as J.T. Realmuto, Trevor Bauer, George Springer, and DJ LeMahieu stand out at the top of the market, if Toronto planned to look into the very upper tier of available players. Since Ryu and Nate Pearson seem like the only locks for next year’s Jays rotation, pitching is an obvious need, so the Blue Jays could be more apt to explore signing Bauer or a known AL East commodity in Masahiro Tanaka. Re-signing Taijuan Walker wouldn’t be as expensive as those other names, though Walker is sure to attract a lot of attention given how well he pitched in 2020, particularly after joining the Blue Jays at the trade deadline.

In regards to position players, Atkins said the front office will “stay open-minded” about possible additions. Davidi speculates that shortstop could be a target position, as the Jays have had interest in free agents Andrelton Simmons and Didi Gregorius in the past, and the club could also revisit trade talks with the Indians over Francisco Lindor. Bo Bichette would move off shortstop in this scenario, with Bichette and Cavan Biggio likely handling second and third base in some combination.

Bo Bichette Back, Teoscar Hernandez And Rowdy Tellez Hopeful To Return Before Playoffs

By TC Zencka | September 12, 2020 at 11:15am CDT

The Toronto Blue Jays have pushed their contention window up with a strong first two-thirds of the season. At 24-20, Charlie Montoyo’s club sits half a game ahead of the Yankees for second place in the AL East. If the season ended today, Toronto would find themselves in the playoff bracket for the first time since back-to-back ALCS appearances in 2015 and 2016.

The Blue Jays have remained competitive despite a number of injuries to their offense. Bo Bichette is their biggest absence to date, but he’s back in the lineup for tonight’s game, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (via Twitter). They may have other reinforcements on the way as well. GM Ross Atkins sounds hopeful that Rowdy Tellez can return soon, though his language suggests a playoff return is more likely, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). Said Atkins, “Hopefully Rowdy becomes an option for us if not by the end of the season, hopefully by the playoffs.”

Tellez hit the injured list just a couple days ago with a knee strain. For the first 35 games of the season, the Blue Jays featured Tellez prominently as the big first baseman slashed .283/.346/.540 with 8 home runs and 23 RBIs while splitting his time between first base and designated hitter.

Teoscar Hernandez could return to the lineup even sooner, per Nicholson-Smith. The 27-year-old has enjoyed a breakout campaign as his contact and on-base skills have – at least in the small sample of the season – caught up with his considerable power. Over the previous two seasons, Hernandez posted a triple slash of .235/.304/.470 with 8.7 BB%, 32 K%, and a .235 ISO. This season, slight improvements in strikeout rate (28.3 K%) and a robust display of power (.329 ISO) have led to a .308/.358/.637 line with 14 home runs across 159 plate appearances this season for the right fielder. Of course, a .352 BABIP, perhaps brought on a by rising 56.9% Hard Hit percentage, hasn’t hurt his cause either. Per Nicholson-Smith, Hernandez’s recovery has thus far gone better than expected.

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