In their decade-long run with the Toronto Blue Jays, there has perhaps never been a more important trade deadline for general manager Ross Atkins and president Mark Shapiro.
While the duo has had four playoff appearances in their tenure together as well as an ALCS appearance in their first season in 2016, the pressure is likely the highest it’s been for the team to make a push for a deep playoff run.
The Blue Jays made four trades in the last two days, with their biggest-name acquisition being former Cy Young-winning pitcher Shane Bieber. They also added relievers Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez, as well as infielder Ty France.
But it wasn’t just Atkins and Shapiro making the calls. With the team’s chemistry part of the reason why they’ve skyrocketed to the top of the American League East and have one of the best records in baseball, Atkins said that the front office checked in with their roster to see how they felt about the deadline this year.
“We touch base with our staff who were talking to our players,” Atkins told the media on Thursday evening.
Toronto suffered a rare four-game losing skid this week before closing out their final game of the deadline with a 9-8 victory over division rival Baltimore Orioles. FanGraphs has them at a 96.8 per cent chance to make the postseason. In the past three seasons, it’s taken between 86 and 89 wins to qualify for an American League playoff spot, meaning Toronto would need to win just 22 to 25 of the 52 remaining games to land a spot.
“I talked to several players about our needs and about what was important to them. I took feedback from them when they wanted to share it,” Atkins added. “The environment is something that’s always important to us and the hardest thing to nail. It’s always something that you have to constantly be working to improve, and was very much a part of the equation for us.”
Alan Roden and Will Wagner were the two Jays regulars who saw themselves sent out on deadline day.
While some front offices have been adamant on keeping players out of such conversations, it’s an interesting window into how Toronto’s brass calculates their decisions.
The Blue Jays return to Rogers Centre this evening as they kick off a quick three-game homestand against the Kansas City Royals.
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