Winter Meetings Monday: Atkins (Finally) Speaks!

On the day that the New York Yankees unveiled Giancarlo Stanton, there sure wasn’t a lot to talk about when it came to the Blue Jays. The biggest news involving the club was that GM Ross Atkins held a scrum with reporters and… said a bunch of stuff we’ve mostly heard before.

Mike Wilner did a great job of scooping all of Atkins’ comments up and tweeting them out into the world, so let’s go through his tweets and take a closer look:

The Jays very clearly don’t want to talk about the specifics of negotiations at all. Which I suppose I get. The thing is, though, talking about getting “better” — which the Jays continue to do on this topic — is a pretty poor way to skirt the issue. Better in 2018 and better in 2019 and beyond can mean very different things on this one, obviously, so… we’re not really getting anything here. Not that you’d expect otherwise at this point. And it’s not like reporters wouldn’t ask. So… here we go.

The obvious way to get better in both the now and the future, of course, would be to re-sign Donaldson — especially if you can shave some money off of this year’s budget by having his first year salary come in below the $20.7 million he’s projected to make through arbitration. Donaldson should be receptive to a fair offer, given that he ought to have legitimate concerns about hitting free agency next winter heading into his age 33 season and clearly behind Manny Machado as the most desirable third baseman on the market. And if there was ever a time, and a player, where ownership might want to get involved and make an exception to allow extra budget dollars, perhaps this is the one. A Donaldson extension would be a huge win for the team, the front office, the brand, Sportsnet, everybody.

It might not make the most sense to the front office right now, but perhaps — maybe like the José Bautista situation last winter? — ownership can create conditions where it does. I hate the thought of ownership meddling, but for fuck sakes, make it happen!

Gregor Chisholm adds another quote that makes it sound like deals really are afoot — almost…

Clearly they’re going to do something at some point. There’s really not much else to say about that.

OK. Sure.

I mean, yeah. I don’t know. The Jays have some pitchers! They could use another good pitcher, though. Maybe they’ll trade for one? Uhhh… alright!

The Biagini thing is, perhaps, interesting, though, I guess. I think there’s reason to like Biagini as a starter — mostly the repertoire — but it sure didn’t work so well in 2017. And as much as Atkins makes it sound like he’s very comfortable with him being in the rotation, that’s not the vibe I got last week, when Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun wrote this about Atkins’ comments at the luncheon for the Toronto chapter of the BBWAA:

Judging by these comments, there’s certainly a chance Biagini could come to camp and not look the part. Right?

I guess I’d have a hard time believing that the Jays would look to trade Joe, given that they’ve been so concerned for the last two years about building rotation depth. But with the names they’ve got slated for Buffalo, and the fact that Biagini — hard-throwing, can pitch in relief, rotation option, cheap, controllable through 2022 — could certainly have value to other clubs. And if he isn’t one of those guys the Jays have identified as having the ability to “haul 200,” maybe that’s a path they choose to go down.

I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.

Having those infielders in the outfield makes sense — but really only if it’s as part of some kind of committee in left (or right, for those who have the arm to play there). They need one proper, everyday outfielder, I am very sure. But the other thing about this approach is that it really does give them a surplus of outfielders. If left can be covered by Carrera, Pearce, Diaz, Ngoepe, Gurriel, that still leaves Pillar, Hernández, Alford, Pompey, Smith, plus that very necessary other body for the other two spots.

They can do something with that. They obviously won’t want to shed too much depth, but it’s not difficult to see how an outfielder and a reliever could net them the infielder or starter that they seek, or that they might even be able to find multi-team deals that move out multiple pieces, including outfielders, and bring back even better outfielders. Fingers crossed, at least.

Hey, and here’s something!

Some level of a guarantee? Uh… I hope (and assume) that doesn’t mean a big league contract! But sure, find a place in the organization for Goins if you want to. He’s obviously liked.

Fuckin’ eh!

Fucking ennnhhhh. I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell could see what it’s like playing in the Central.

But here’s the thing about all this:

FanGraphs’ Depth Charts page for the Yankees now include Giancarlo Stanton and those fuckers’ updated WAR projection. Right now the projected standings they have New York at 46.8 WAR and Boston at 43.6. The only other AL teams in that bracket are Cleveland at 45.3 and Houston at 50.6. Behind the Yankees are the Angels at 35.3 WAR (not including Shohei Otani), the Blue Jays at 34.5, the Twins at 33.7, and then the Mariners (including Dee Gordon) at 32.8.

Yes, swapping Starlin Castro for Giancarlo added four wins to the Yankees’ projection and makes it that much harder to see one of the teams ahead of the Jays fall back to the pack. And sure, Ohtani going to the Angels doesn’t help the Jays’ Wild Card pursuit. But I just don’t know how you can look at that and think the whole season is futile. Quit pining for the teardown!

That’s good news on Sanchez — but obviously will be better news when he starts really letting loose and puts the damn blister thing behind him. Fingers crossed.

Remember: if just Sanchez, Donaldson, and Bautista had simply repeated their 2016 seasons (3.8, 7.6, and 1.4 WAR per FanGraphs, 4.9, 7.5, and 1.0 WAR per Baseball Reference) in 2017 (0.0, 5.0, and -0.5 WAR per FG, and 0.0, 4.8, and -1.7 WAR per BR) the team would have been eight to ten wins better, and right in the thick of the Wild Card race.

The team isn’t in nearly as bad shape as people think!

Perhaps an interesting comment there on young Vlad, who got his first taste of failure recently in the Dominican Winter League, where he slashed just .211/.276/.278 over 90 plate appearances. I have no idea, but I’m comfortable attributing that to his being a bit worn out from all the baseball he played this year. Atkins, clearly, doesn’t seem terribly concerned.