TORONTO — The Blue Jays are betting on The Blip. Coming off another season that ended in a cruelly familiar fashion, fans are searching for a savior. Until the Instagram heartbreak of Dec. 9, that savior’s name was Shohei Ohtani, but now Toronto needs to pivot once again to reinvigorate an offense in need. Speaking yesterday for the first time since December’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tenn., general manager Ross Atkins pointed his optimism back to the existing roster.
Over and over, Atkins reiterated how good he feels about this team, this roster and this lineup, even coming off a season during which it finished 14th in runs scored and has lost multiple pieces. “It’s really just about putting our staff in a position to best support the players that are here to get back to that run scoring that we had in ’22, ’21 and ’20,” Atkins said. “We feel like last year was just a blip in terms of run-scoring.” It’s a bold bet if they’re really going to push those chips in. To date, the club’s primary offseason additions have been Kevin Kiermaier (one year, $10.5 million) and Isiah Kiner-Falefa (two years, $15 million).
Betting on a better outcome has its legs to stand on, particularly when you look to players like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Daulton Varsho or Alejandro Kirk, all of whom are capable of so much more. This requires a much broader view, though. Blips go both ways. The Blue Jays’ pitching was brilliant for much of 2023, particularly the veteran quartet of Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi. Their bullpen, always baseball’s most unpredictable bunch, was as strong as it’s been in years. Kiermaier, re-signed for another season, just had his best offensive year since 2017. Brandon Belt, now a free agent, boosted this lineup from the left side with an .858 OPS. Whit Merrifield and Matt Chapman are out the door behind him.
Source: https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/news/