Shapiro Speaks! Again!: On 2018, Josh Donaldson, Team Building, VladnBo, Osuna, Dunedin, and More!

This year was not outside of the range of outcomes that we might have expected.

That doesn’t mean we’re not bitter about it, that doesn’t mean we’re not disappointed. I can tell you right now, if you don’t watch other teams celebrate — regardless of who they are — if that doesn’t create a bitterness deep inside of you — if we’re not doing that now, if it doesn’t create a fire and a burn to a year from now that we are doing that [making the playoffs], then you’re in the wrong line of business. That being said, we said all along that because of the maturity of our roster, and maybe the lack of balance in that,…

…along with the lack of upper level talent and depth, due largely to trades,…

…it was a precarious position — one that we were fortunate to avoid last year, and one that we were unable to avoid this year. And frankly, unless we can reposition the team, which is almost impossible to do through either free agency — it’s definitely impossible to do — and even trades, it’s even harder — it’s going to be a similar story next year.

The silver lining is twofold. One, if even a couple of the seven or eight things that went wrong this year hadn’t happened — if Sanch had have been healthy, if Josh Donaldson had not gotten hurt, if Russell Martin had not gotten hurt, if Devon Travis hadn’t gotten hurt — I can keep going, by the way — but if just a couple of those? We’d be in at least the Wild Card mix right now. It wouldn’t have taken all seven or eight things to have not gone wrong. Just a couple and we’d be right in the Wild Card mix. So, that’s one silver lining.

And the second is it’s been an incredibly productive year of progress in our player development which moves a layer of talent one step closer to the major league environment. So not where we’re going to have the championship depth next year that we need, but we’re certainly getting closer to having the waves of talent coming that would allow us to build a sustainable championship team.

BRUNT: I’m not sure how fans would feel hearing you say that 2018 is a similar scenario to 2017.

SHAPIRO: Well, Stephen, I’m not sure what the choice is.

BRUNT: The difference between managing a team and managing expectations of a team that’s in the position the Jays are right now, versus looking down the road at your former team in Cleveland where, that’s right. They’re in a championship position, the convergence of homegrown talent and the kind of trades you make when you’re on the verge, and some free agent acquisitions — that’s when you kind of hit the sweet spot in the script. You guys are in a different place. I wonder from your point of view how that is different, running a team?

SHAPIRO: Ahhh, one’s how you want to do it and one is not.

BRUNT: But you don’t have a choice, right?

SHAPIRO: And I think that that’s just a fact. I mean, it is what it is. And your job is to not make excuses, your job is to manage through it. Your job is to figure out a way to put yourself in the best possible position to win now, with what’s in place, and at the same time, to spend an enormous amount of energy with a lot of urgency to build the foundation of a sustainable winner. That involves obsessing about infusing talent through the amateur draft, led by Steve Sanders and Tony LaCava, which I think this year was an exceptional year, followed up on our good year last year; by Andrew Tinnish scouring the international market and infusing talent there; and by Ben Cherington, Gil Kim, and Eric Wedge leading a player development system that maximizes the development of those players in helping them achieve their potential mentally, physically, and fundamentally. It’s interesting because the nature of professional sports, and Major League Baseball in particular, is that people just focus their energy on the tip of the sword, which is certainly where they should, but the bulk of our effort right now is like that duck under the water — it’s being spent really obsessively focusing on the foundation. And at the same time, our job is to do everything humanly possible to gives ourselves a chance to win up here. We owe that to our fans.

BLAIR: Is it safe to say that, as you go into this offseason, getting more youthful, getting more balance, is a priority for this organization at the major league level?

SHAPIRO: I guess I’m fatiguing on that statement a little bit, because it’s such an obvious one. And there’s no button to push to get youthful and more balanced, you know? We’re just trying to build a team and an organization the right way. And Stephen probably characterized it, that we would look much different on the field if we could ideally build it. But you can’t just flip a switch and say — well, we could flip a switch and get younger, but we might not get better, right? So, we need championship players. We need players that have the talent to win games deep into October and win the last game played. Certainly we’d like to be more balanced, more athletic, and younger, but that’s a process. So we have, like I’ve always mentioned to you, there’s a duality of the job right now. One is to do the best we can with the circumstances here — and a lot of super players that we think can still provide the foundation to win with some better fortune next year — and the other is to build the model that you guys are referring to.

BLAIR: Knowing how much public sensitivity you’ve shown when it comes to attendance and TV ratings — and I mean that positively — and plus Josh Donaldson’s strong end of season. Are we getting to the point where signing Josh to a multiyear contract this winter almost becomes an article of faith with Blue Jays fans? Or do you think the fan base has been awakened enough that the support goes deeper than loyalty to a particular player?

SHAPIRO: Well, I think not winning tests the faith of fans. So, I mean, I’ve said this multiple times, it’s hard to say there’s a scenario where we’re a better team without Josh Donaldson. How many years can you say that for? I don’t know. But again, the job is about building a championship team and “team” is the word — it’s not about just collecting talent or one player. It’s hard for me to imagine a scenario that Josh isn’t a part of a championship team here, but I think Ross and our baseball operations staff will walk through all those scenarios. It’s an almost certainty that he’ll be back here next year. Beyond that, those are things that we’re going to have to have — much like we started this conversation as we talked about Marco — it’s going to have to be in the best interest of both parties, and see if that fits.

BRUNT: Mark, how different is managing and building this team in an environment where you have a full stadium, and still solid TV numbers in a disappointing year, and a corporate owner that is invested in both of those things, versus kind of doing it in some kind of imaginary vacuum where you could just do whatever the heck you want.

SHAPIRO: I think that is a factor. As I’ve said before, it’s not an intellectual exercise, we’re not just building in a vacuum. If it was I think we probably would be considering very different decisions than we’ve made over the past six months, maybe even year. So it’s not necessarily look at things like just attendance or just ratings, it’s really thinking about the recent history of the franchise — thinking about energizing not just this city, but the entire country, and what that meant to baseball in Canada and baseball in Toronto — and understanding that while we have had an incredible covenant with our fans, it may not be built on such a strong foundation that it can sustain a violent pullback from the attempt to contend. So, it’s a balancing act, and at some point we may not objectively feel that we can follow through or have a real chance to win, and we’d have to probably move more aggressively in another direction. We’ve said that from day one. And I think what we’ve tried to do is, if there is a gap between the next generation of championship baseball and this one, have it be as short as possible, and if at all possible have there not be one.

BRUNT: Is there a risk, a danger — and this maybe the wrong word here — in pandering to a fan base? I know bums in seats and people watching TV, that’s the business you’re in, right? Winning games in order to make those other things happen. But it seems to me you’re walking a bit of a tightrope here.

SHAPIRO: I just, again, every time those kind of questions are put up, I’m not sure the options are thoroughly understood by the people that are asking them. Because I don’t think it’s pandering at all, I think there’s over three million people coming through the gates here that are passionate about the Blue Jays and they’re passionate about the success they’ve seen over the last two years, or year and a half, and I think a decision to do anything other than strive to give them a team to cheer for should not be taken lightly. I’ve been through the alternative. It’s not the .500 seasons that you experience [unintelligible], it’s going through a violent turnaround in order to try and build a championship team back. It’s not the only way go, and I feel like we’ve been able to make so much progress over the last 18 months in our farm system — and the progress we’ve made, I mean, subjectively gone from 24th to 9th based on Baseball America, MLB.com, and other sources — we’re moving in the right direction, Stephen. So, I’m not pandering, just trying to do the right thing for the fans here.

I kind of think back to when we had Manny Ramirez coming up with the [Cleveland baseball franchise] — which just basically says that I’m older than dirt that I remember that — but, you know, there are certain players, generational type of players — I’m not saying either one of those guys are those guys –…

…that just make decisions for you. You guys have heard me say it over and over again. But if we’re having to debate whether they should be here, they will not be here. They will not be here. If they go to Double-A next year and absolutely demolish that league — one or both — then they’ll move to Triple-A…

…And if they go to Triple-A and demolish that league, and there’s both a need here, as well as an opportunity, then I think they would enter in the conversation up here. Does that take a half a year next year? Does that take two years? Does that take one and a half years? Three years? I’m not sure. But they’re obviously special talents that had absolutely incredible seasons — among the best in all of professional baseball. And I think we all should be excited about that, and not feel hesitant to talk about it.

I think that this is a young pitcher that bore an incredible burden over two years, and pitched late into October. Not just a lot of appearances and a lot of innings, but high stress, high leverage, on the biggest stages in baseball, and that it is natural to have some level of regression or fatigue. He’s already proven he’s got the toughness, the makeup, and the personality to handle that role, and to handle the adversity that comes with it. So we’re not going to approach it any differently. I think the most important thing for him to do this offseason is to focus on his conditioning and come into camp having both rested his arm and conditioned his body in position to handle that role next year once again, hopefully with some of the downtime this year doing the way that carried this team to a championship.

I was a little bit nervous when the hurricanes were coming, just because I lived through Andrew and what that meant to the [Cleveland baseball team], and never went back to Homestead, basically were searching for a home for 15 years after that. I’ve been incredibly pleased, and appreciative, of the response of Pinellas County and the city of Dunedin — Pinellas in particular — because we did not initiate conversations, out of sensitivity, and they reached back out to us. As you said earlier, the president’s job is to kind of, to some extent, be pessimistic. I feel very optimistic that we’re going to move towards completion of a deal before year end, and that we’ll be working towards plans and concrete renovations — massive renovation of Spring Training situation and facility, which really ultimately moves it from Spring Training to a state of the art training and rehabilitation centre for the Toronto Blue Jays. A 365 day a year home for us to not only train our players but to gain a competitive advantage.

Nothing is official yet, but according to a piece at TBNWeekly.com last week, Tim Ramsberger, the chief operating officer of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, spoke to the paper about how funds collected from the region’s “bed tax” (a 6 percent tax levied on all hotel guests) were being allocated.

“We just completed our first run of applications for contracts, which were approved by the County Commission,” he said. “Five to six contracts have been approved totaling about $40 million over the next two to four years. Another, the Toronto Blue Jays spring training complex in Dunedin, is in the process.”