Blue Jays: What’s left on Ross Atkins’ offseason checklist?

The Blue Jays have already made some notable additions and subtractions from their roster, but what’s left for Ross Atkins and the front office before Opening Day?

Now that the calendar has flipped to 2019, it won’t be long before we’ll have more to talk about than free agency, the trade market, and the future. For now though, that’s still the focus for anyone who is paying attention to baseball circles, and I’m sure it’s what has been occupying nearly all of Ross Atkins’ time lately, the GM in Toronto.

They have quietly taken care of a few items of the offseason checklist, such as adding a couple starting pitchers in Matt Shoemaker and Clayton Richard, as well as utility infielder Eric Sogard. They’ve also made room on the roster by trading Aledmys Diaz to Houston, and releasing both Troy Tulowitzki and Yangervis Solarte in different scenarios.

Other than knowing that Atkins and the front office are focused on the bigger picture with most of their roster decisions, it’s hard to say what they have planned for the rest of the offseason. If I were to venture a guess, I would assume they’re a little more than halfway through their checklist, and I’m guessing there are a few items that they’ll want to take care of before Opening Day on March 28th, when they open the season at home against the Tigers.

It’s clear that the 2019 season will be a rebuilding year in Toronto, but that doesn’t mean that they can just start the season with whatever they’ve got and hope for the best. There are a few areas that need to be addressed, and a few more that I’m sure Atkins and Mark Shapiro would like to see taken care of, even if it might not happen until later this year.

What do they have left to take care? Here’s my best guess.

Bullpen

We’ve already talked about it here at Jays Journal recently, but that’s because the Blue Jays still have quite a bit of work to do when it comes to building their bullpen.

They do have leftover veterans like Ken Giles, Ryan Tepera, Danny Barnes, Sam Gaviglio, and Joe Biagini, and a bevy of young options like Tim Mayza, or Rule 5 pick Elvis Luciano. While the Blue Jays could add a few other arms once they sort out their starting rotation, it feels like the work here is far from complete.

Chances are Atkins is waiting for the market to bottom out as spring training gets closer to getting underway, and that worked out fairly well for them last year. They were able to get Tyler Clippard and John Axford on MiLB contracts, and Seunghwan Oh was acquired for a bargain deal. It’s hard to say how the market will play out this year, but there is still plenty of talent to consider.

The other option is the Blue Jays could spend some money on a reliever or two with the goal of flipping them before the trade deadline. Depending on how the market works out for someone like Cody Allen, he could be had on a relatively cheap contract, and is a pretty solid bounce back candidate. Chances are there are other teams thinking the same about Allen, but there are plenty of others who could fit the description to a lesser degree.

Regardless of how much they end up spending on it, look for Atkins to add at least one or two more arms to the bullpen picture. At this point there isn’t a lot of urgency unless they are truly interested in some of the higher end arms. I don’t expect that to be the case, but you never know, especially if they’re looking to build trade capital for the summer.

Trade Russell Martin

This article is made up of stuff that I feel that the Blue Jays NEED to do before the offseason is over, and that includes finding a trade partner for Russell Martin.

I’ve said it many times, I believe that the Canadian catcher could offer plenty of value to the Blue Jays in 2019, I just think that both parties would be better off if they went their separate ways now instead of waiting another year. The Blue Jays have a pair of young catchers in Danny Jansen and Reese McGuire that need to see regular playing time this season, and Martin deserves to see the field on a regular basis as well. There just simply isn’t enough playing time to go around with him still on the roster.

Much like the Troy Tulowitzki situation, the Blue Jays would be better off by spending money to make Martin go away. It’s not at the same level, as they should be able to find a trade partner as long as they’re willing to eat some or most of his 20 million dollar salary, but they do need to eat some money in order to make it happen. I would never suggest they should outright cut him, as I don’t think it’s at that point at all, but it would be better for both parties if they could find a way to amiably split before Opening Day. Martin deserves to get the chance to start more often than the Blue Jays can offer him, especially as he nears the end of a successful MLB career.

There are a still few teams in need of catching upgrades, but it’s possible that the situation won’t really move until the Marlins decide if and where they are going to trade J.T. Realmuto. As the prize of the potential catching market, teams could view Martin as a fall back option, and understandably so. Still, he should be able to provide enough value to warrant being a starting catcher in 2019, and the Blue Jays have plenty of motivation to find him another home, and hopefully a chance to chase a championship. .

Another Infielder, preferably a shortstop

It’s a little bit funny when you look back at the start of the offseason, and the Blue Jays had too many infielders, and now they could probably use an extra shortstop. There was method to their madness though. They ended up getting a potential starter in Trent Thornton for Aledmys Diaz, and Troy Tulowitzki didn’t really fit into their rebuild plans.

The type of player they need is something like Eric Sogard, however, it’s hard to say whether or not he can fill the role they may need from him. As of this writing, my assumption is that the infield will be made up of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. at shortstop, Devon Travis at second, Brandon Drury at third, and Justin Smoak at first base. Once Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is called up a few weeks into the season, he’ll take over the full-time duties at third with Drury sliding into a job share with Travis, and potential starts around the diamond in a utility role. They’ll also have Richard Urena as a back-up infielder, assuming he wins the job out of spring training.

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Atkins has already talked about the potential need for another infielder, and it wouldn’t hurt if they had someone else that could handle shortstop in particular. The idea is to give Gurriel Jr. the majority of starts and to have Urena back him up, but if either get injured or significantly falter, I’m not sure that starting Sogard is how the Blue Jays want to go. They do have Bo Bichette waiting in the Triple-A wings as part of their organizational shortstop depth, but he’s a good enough prospect that they may not want to debut him based on injury needs.

There aren’t a lot of available options on the free agent market at the moment, but someone like Freddy Galvis or Adeiny Hechaverria would fit the bill. It’s also possible the Blue Jays are content to roll with what they’ve got and see what happens when teams start making cuts prior to Opening Day. Either way, it’s a situation that’s worth keeping an eye on, as Atkins has directly mentioned the possible need.

I thought about including an argument for adding another outfielder, or even a few other ideas, but I’m not sure that would fall in the “need” category. For now, the four items listed above should be the focus of the remainder of the Blue Jays’ offseason, at least in my estimation.

With an eye on the long term it’s possible that not every box gets checked this winter, and that it’s a puzzle that’s going to be built throughout the year. When the immediate priority isn’t set on winning, that allows a front office to do a lot of different things, and to take a lot more relaxed approach. Chances are Atkins will continue to add to the roster before spring training, but it’ll probably be done pretty late in the game.