Atkins on offensive needs: "Power is low-hanging fruit to add. In today's game, you have to be cognizant of strikeouts when you do do that." Also says contact is "exceptionally important" in the playoffs, so "not as simple as plug in a power bat" unless they're versatile.
News and Notes: Payroll not expected to change next season, Blue Jays plan to be ‘a little more aggressive’ in pursing free agent relievers, and more
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2024, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 2, 2024, 19:19 EDT
With the off-season comes the regular News and Notes posts.
While the four Wild Card series started Tuesday, meaning no rumours for now, there are still plenty of notes regarding the Toronto Blue Jays and former Blue Jays’ players.
Let’s look at some recent news!
Notes from Wednesday’s press conference
Instead of playing playoff baseball on Wednesday, the front office held an end-of-season press conference with some interesting notes. We’ve already covered a few topics, such as Ross Atkins and John Schneider staying for the 2025 season, as well as Don Mattingly returning as a bench coach. In this section, we’ll look at a few other notes.
Power is low-hanging fruit
During Wednesday’s press conference, Ross Atkins noted that “power is a low-hanging fruit to add,” mentioning that the team has to be aware of strikeouts when acquiring that type of bat, and the contract is also important.
The team lacked power in their lineup and it showed. After finishing first in the league with 262 home runs in 2021, the lack of power has steadily declined to the point where they hit the fifth-fewest home runs in the league with 156 in 2024. Interestingly, the Jays also struck out 20.3% of the time, the sixth-best percentage in the league.
With that being said, the 2021 Blue Jays had power and only struck out 20.1% of the time, the second-lowest strikeout rate in the league that season. The Blue Jays need protection behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr., even if it comes at the cost of some whiffs.
Blue Jays want to be more aggressive in free agency for the bullpen
It’s safe to say that this bullpen needs to be improved drastically if the Jays want to contend in 2025. On Wednesday afternoon, general manager Ross Atkins said in the press conference that the team will be more aggressive in free agency for the bullpen.
An indication that Blue Jays are prepared to spend on bullpen: GM Ross Atkins said they're prepared to move "a little bit more aggressively" than they did last winter, when they picked up Chad Green's $21 million option. That's biggest bullpen deal by this front office so far
In 2023, the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen was one of the best in the league, posting the eighth-best ERA (3.68) and the sixth-best FIP (3.91) while striking out 26% of batters (tied for second-highest rate) and walking 8.4% of batters (tied for the fourth-best).
It was the complete opposite in 2024. The bullpen’s 4.82 ERA was the second-worst, the 4.84 FIP was the worst, their 20.7 K% was the second-worst, while the 9.4 BB% was tied for the ninth-worst in the league.
A big reason for that is the lack of success of key relievers. Closer Jordan Romano started the season on the Injured List and didn’t pitch great when healthy before being shut down. Erik Swanson also started the season on the Injured List and performed poorly until he was optioned to Buffalo. Thankfully, once he was recalled, Swanson pitched well.
As for Tim Mayza, he was among the league’s elite relievers in 2023 but struggled mightily, leading to the Blue Jays designating their longest-tenured player in the organization. The Jays also traded relievers Nate Pearson, Yimi García, and Trevor Richards around the trade deadline.
It’s worth noting that the Blue Jays picked up Chad Green’s option last off-season, which is the biggest bullpen signing that the current front office has made. In turn, Green was their best reliever.
Payroll will stay around the same
Thankfully, it seems that the Blue Jays are committed to contending in 2025, as Mark Shapiro said in the press conference that the payroll won’t increase or decrease heading into next season.
Mark Shapiro says that he does not see payroll “growing or decreasing in a big way.” Not much clarity on this front yet, but Shapiro has stuck by the idea that it will stay in the same general area. Still TBD, to a certain extent. #BlueJays
Before the trade deadline, the Blue Jays had the seventh-highest payroll. This off-season, there are 10 Blue Jays that have an arbitration coming up, with the most notable one being Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The Blue Jays’ star play is projected to make $29.6 million according to the latest prediction from MLB Trade Rumors, and Cam Lewis wrote on the other nine in a recent article.
Assuming all ten players make what they’re projected to in arbitration, that will be $60 million towards the team’s 2025 payroll. They also have seven players already locked up on a contract, giving them an active payroll of about $123 million. There’ll be space to add in the off-season.
Brian Serven and other former players elected free agency
MLB Trade Rumors reported on Tuesday evening that 34 players elected free agency, including catcher Brian Serven.
Our very own Thomas Hall already wrote about Serven, but there are also a handful of former Blue Jays who are now free agents. Those players are: Reese McGuire, Billy McKinney, Trevor Richards, Kirby Snead, and Mitch White.
The Blue Jays acquired Reese McGuire as a catching prospect in 2016, eventually trading him to the Red Sox for Zack Collins before the start of the 2022 season. Billy McKinney was also acquired in a trade, as the Blue Jays moved J.A. Happ to the New York Yankees, but he was designated for assignment in 2020.
Trevor Richards was acquired by the Blue Jays during the 2021 season to shore up the bullpen, a job well done. Hours before the 2024 trade deadline, the Jays sent him to the Minnesota Twins for prospect Jay Harry, while Richards was eventually designated for assignment.
Kirby Snead was the only player drafted by the Blue Jays, and he was involved in a deal alongside Kevin Smith, Zach Logue, and Gunnar Hoglund for Matt Chapman before the beginning of the 2022 season.
At the 2022 trade deadline, the Blue Jays traded Nick Frasso and Moises Brito to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mitch White and Alex De Jesus. White was designated for assignment early in the 2024 season.
Sep 11, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) hits a home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Francisco Lindor would’ve been a Blue Jay if the Mets didn’t acquire him
On Monday evening, Sportsnet New York’s Zack Scott responded to a Tweet noting that if the New York Mets hadn’t acquired Francisco Lindor, the Toronto Blue Jays would’ve acquired him and likely would’ve re-signed.
He would have been traded to Toronto and likely signed to an extension there.
Whether this is an actual report or just speculation is unknown, but it’s well-known that the Blue Jays were incredibly interested in Lindor when he was still with Cleveland. The shortstop’s best season before joining the Mets was in 2018 when he slashed .277/.352/.519 with 38 home runs in 745 plate appearances for a 132 wRC+ and a 7.8 fWAR.
In early 2021, Lindor was acquired by the New York Yankees’ little brother for Andrés Giménez, Amed Rosario, Josh Wolf, and Isaiah Greene. In 2024, the 30-year-old slashed .273/.344/.500 with 33 home runs in 689 plate appearances for a career-best 137 wRC+ while posting a career-tying 7.8 fWAR.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.
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