TORONTO — As the Toronto Blue Jays continue to play out the remainder of what has been a disappointing 2024 season, looking toward the future continues to be the main focus.
As such, part 2 of our Blue Jays’ mailbag is mainly concerned with how the Blue Jays can improve in the offseason and what major roster holes need to be addressed. If you missed part 1 of the mailbag, you can find it here.
What steps/actions do the Blue Jays management team need to make to earn the respect/trust of fans and to convince the fans and the rest of the MLB that going for it in 2025 (and not selling off their assets) is the right move? — Corey O.
Scanning through questions submitted for this mailbag — not to mention comments on my stories — a segment of the fan base will probably never be pleased with management. Or more specifically, will never be pleased with the management from club president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins.
Back in February, when I did a Blue Jays fan survey, most respondents’ confidence in Shapiro was middling, while the majority were “not confident at all” in Atkins. After the way this season has unfolded, I can only imagine those confidence levels have dropped even more. Honestly, one move management — or perhaps more accurately, ownership — could make to gain trust and respect from some of the fan base may be admitting change is needed at the top and replace Atkins, Shapiro or both.
But barring wholesale changes, the only way to prove that going for it in 2025 was the right move is to win in 2025. Generally, whenever Shapiro is asked about raising fan morale or addressing fan bitterness, he points to the need to be better and to win. To do that, the Blue Jays will have to have an impactful offseason where they seriously address the team weaknesses — offence, power hitting, bullpen, pitching depth — but until the team starts winning on the field, fans will have every right to be skeptical.
What’s the best way for the Blue Jays to ensure their success in 2025 and beyond and is there still hope to improve the farm system ranking? — Veronica C.
Generally, a recipe for building a successful team is drafting smart, developing well, identifying key free agents and keeping your top talent. For the most part, I think the Blue Jays have done well identifying potential free agents and signing them. They’ve made more good free-agent deals than bad ones in this recent era and they’ve spent like a big-market club. To ensure success, they need to keep doing that.
In that same vein, I think keeping their best talent is paramount, too, and when I say that I’m mainly thinking of signing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to an extension. He’s an elite hitter and continuing to build around him — remember, he’s only 25 — is a way to plan for success in the future.
Drafting and developing is an area where the Blue Jays need to get better, and that’s what’ll help the farm system rise again. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet wrote an informative overview of the Blue Jays’ spotty history in the draft in the Atkins years.
When Shapiro spoke to the media earlier this month, he specifically pointed to the club’s need to get better at identifying and developing pitching talent, an area where they’ve fallen short lately.
Nate Pearson is an example of a first-round pick (2017) who didn’t develop with Toronto as the team had hoped he would. (Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
“I still feel really good about the position players that we developed, signed and transitioned to the big leagues,” the club president said. “We just need to be better on the pitching side, and there’s a lot of energy and time being spent on that.”
What are the major holes this team has going into this offseason, and what are the realistic paths to plug them? Is it even possible to contend in 2025? — Yossi R.
There are a few significant holes that need to be filled.
After another season of a middling offence — the Blue Jays’ wRC+ is 100, exactly league average — the team needs more bats. A corner outfielder who can hit for power and a third baseman are two positions the Jays can look to fill. Alex Bregman and Willy Adames are two of the best infielders available this winter, while Anthony Santander and old friend Teoscar Hernández are corner bats who are set to hit free agency.
On the pitching end, the bullpen needs to be overhauled. Of the relievers currently on the roster (or on the IL), at most, I think you can bank on Chad Green, Génesis Cabrera and Jordan Romano being in the bullpen next season. After that, it’s a bunch of maybes and probably nots. So, we’re talking about potentially finding three to five relievers to fill out the bullpen. Maybe one or two of those relievers come from within the organization, but I think the Blue Jays will need to acquire at least two to three quality relievers via free agency or trade if they want their bullpen to return to league average or better. In the previous mailbag, I listed several relievers who are free agents this winter, including Clay Holmes, Tanner Scott and Kenley Jansen.
As for the rotation, the Blue Jays have three of five rotation spots locked up with Chris Bassitt, JosĂ© BerrĂos and Kevin Gausman. That leaves two open. The internal candidates are Bowden Francis, Yariel RodrĂguez and Jake Bloss. Francis has been sharp lately and Bloss was a top prospect in Houston’s system, but neither of them have long track records of starting in the majors and for now, they profile more as rotation depth. Meanwhile, Alek Manoah will probably be out until around the All-Star break while he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Considering all that, the Blue Jays need to go out and acquire at least one, if not two, proven starters to complete their rotation. The list of available free-agent starters includes Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell (if he chooses to opt out of his contract, as expected), Max Fried, Yusei Kikuchi, Jack Flaherty, Nick Pivetta and Sean Manaea, to name a few.
It seems like the front office is set on trying to be competitive in 2025, and while I don’t think that is a good idea, might as well enjoy it. If you were throwing caution to the wind and trying to position the Blue Jays to win a World Series in 2025, what three (semi-realistic) moves would you make? — Jack S.
It’ll take a lot more than three moves to build a World Series contender and if I have to stick to semi-realistic, I think that might rule out Juan Soto, who is in line to earn a $500 million-plus contract and does seem like he’s happy in New York. So, assuming the Blue Jays fall short of signing Soto, here are my three other ideas.
Sign Guerrero to an extension. The Blue Jays’ first baseman has shown he can be a franchise cornerstone because of his elite bat and star power in this market. In part 1 of the mailbag, I suggested a Guerrero extension could look similar to the 10-year, $313.5 million pact Rafael Devers signed with the Boston Red Sox in 2023. That will smash the Blue Jays’ record $150 million deal they signed with George Springer and that’s fine because Guerrero is a special player. It’s a risk and it’ll feel uncomfortable but keeping Guerrero in Toronto and building around him is the first step in remaining a competitive franchise for the long haul. Not to mention, I think it would be a badly needed public relations win for the front office to get this done.
Sign outfielder Santander. The Orioles’ switch hitter will reach free agency this winter and he’s the sort of power corner bat that the Blue Jays have been missing. He’s hit a career-high 37 home runs for the Orioles so far this season with a 130 wRC+. He slugs the baseball and the Blue Jays need to get back to doing that. He can play mainly left field and DH — and while the Blue Jays might sacrifice a little on the defensive end with him, he’ll have defensive whiz Daulton Varsho playing in centre beside him.
Sign Burnes. If the aim is for a World Series next season, the Blue Jays must beef up their bullpen and rotation. But, postseason winners almost always have an ace. Burnes is currently among the best starters in the game and is a free agent after the season. He could demand more than $200 million, so signing him would require the Blue Jays to exceed the franchise record deal they agreed to with Gausman (5 years, $110 million) but Burnes could step into the ace role and lead a rotation that should still be very strong with Gausman, Bassitt and BerrĂos.
I think the Davis Schneider experiment may need a reset. After his fun start, teams have figured him out and he is well below replacement at this point. Should he be sent down to play every day and regain some confidence and his mojo? — Frank W.
It’s no secret that Schneider has been scuffling at the plate. Before Friday, he was slashing .200/.293/.348 in 110 games. Amid his struggles, his playing time is also down, as the Blue Jays aim to mix in all the new kids on the roster now, which means it’s harder to get into a rhythm and break out of a slump.
That said, in his case, I don’t think optioning him down to the minors would be beneficial right now. It would be different if the Blue Jays were in a situation where they were making a playoff push and the stakes were higher. But, since the Jays are playing out the string without pressure to win, there isn’t the same urgency to option under-performing players down to get another bat in the lineup.
Behind the scenes, Schneider is working hard to make the necessary adjustments and it’s in his best interest that he continues that work with the Blue Jays’ hitting coaches, including Matt Hague, with whom he has a strong relationship. Disrupting that process by sending him to Triple-A Buffalo wouldn’t be helpful.
You mention the need to regain confidence and mojo, as well, but I don’t think that’s an issue here, either. Schenider isn’t happy about his recent slump. He knows he can be better. But I don’t think his issues at the plate stem from a crisis of confidence. He can look back on his track record and realize he has what it takes to be a productive major-league hitter. It’s just a matter of putting the work in — and he does that.
(Top photo of Ross Atkins: Nick Turchiaro / USA Today)
