Blue Jays in 2022: From the future to the present

For a few years now we’ve been talking about how good the Blue Jays will be “some day soon”. That day should be here once the 2022 season begins.

That might sound like an obvious statement to make about a team that qualified for the playoffs during the 60-game season in 2020, and followed it up by winning 91 games last year and just missing out the postseason by one game. However, I view the Blue Jays as a team that is entering a new era as a core group, and one that should see them as unquestionably one of the best teams in baseball.

Over the last few years we’ve enjoyed the “emerging talents” of guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and more as they’ve broken into the big leagues and established themselves as young stars in the game today. While they’ve had historic starts to their careers in many ways, we’re now reaching a point where that kind of production is expected. Yes, I know we’ve been expecting them to produce since they debuted, but did anyone predict Vlad Jr. would finish 2nd in AL MVP voting last year? I predicted a breakout for young Vlad in 2021, but even my rose-coloured glasses didn’t see that coming.

I realize that it’s a tough blow to lose the AL Cy Young award winner in Robbie Ray, and the 3rd place finisher in the MVP voting in Marcus Semien, but Ross Atkins and company have already begun addressing those holes. They signed Kevin Gausman to a five-year, 110 million dollar contract, extended Jose Berrios for seven years and at least 131 million, and that’s on top of other pieces they have in place, like five more years of George Springer, for example.

What’s really exciting about the state of this team right now is they’re hitting the point where their elite in-house talent is meeting the investment from the front office, and making for a scary roster. Those core pieces aren’t making top dollar just yet, which allows for the Blue Jays to spend big on players like Gausman, Springer, and more, and still have elite talent around the diamond. We’ve heard the term “window of contention” a lot over the last 10 years as Blue Jays fans, and there should be no doubt that they’ve very much in the midst of one now. I would argue that they’re just starting that true window, and it’s encouraging to see the front office acting in accordance with just that.

It will be interesting to see just how aggressive the front office is when it comes to finishing off their roster ahead of the 2022 season. It’s expected that they’ll still add to the pitching staff, and likely still look for some sort of replacement for Semien. In years past I would have expected the Jays to look for a more cost-effective option, but things have certainly changed over the last couple of years. When you consider that they were reported to be a legitimate finalist for the services of Corey Seager, it doesn’t feel like there are many options that are off the table.

That’s the difference between “some day” and being a team that intends to win right now. There’s a different kind of urgency around the Blue Jays now, as one of the most talked about teams of the offseason before the lockout began, and one of the more feared clubs in the game. If they can find those finishing pieces to add to what’s already a dynamic roster, hopefully this will be the year they can surpass the Tampa Bay Rays, and maybe even return to the World Series for the first time since 1993.