Blue Jays: Ranking the offseason checklist priorities

The Blue Jays have an exciting young core in place, and the opportunity for Ross Atkins to put the finishing touches on a championship contender. What are the priorities in order to make that happen?

Even if the Blue Jays didn’t add another player to their roster ahead of the 2021 campaign, I believe they could already field a competitive team. However, after making the postseason in 2020, competitive isn’t going to be enough to satisfy anyone next year.

With that in mind, there have been plenty of reports that the Blue Jays are among the more aggressive teams this offseason when it comes to free agency, and likely also on the trade rumour mill. As they usually are, they’ve been linked to having interest in a lot of the bigger available names, but this time around it feels like they’re doing more than just window shopping.

I believe that the Blue Jays are sincere in their efforts to add at least one or two impact players this offseason, whether it’s through free agency or the trade route. However, there will be a limit to what they can do, especially after a season that saw no gate revenue, and the need to significantly upgrade Sahlen Field in Buffalo so they could play their home games there in 2020.

As such, the Blue Jays will have to prioritize their various needs. While it sounds like Ross Atkins is open to improving the roster based on the best available opportunities, let’s have a look at the areas that will need a boost one way or another. If I were making a top five list, I’d start at number five with simple experience for the young core, so allow me to explain the other four that round things out.