{"id":278085,"date":"2025-11-12T09:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/278085\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T09:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:06:10","slug":"hungry-blue-jays-drawing-early-attention-at-gm-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/278085\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hungry\u2019 Blue Jays drawing early attention at GM Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2014 Armed with the cachet of an inspired World Series run that captivated both fans and the wider industry\u2019s interest, the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> jumped into the off-season with what some agents called a motivated posture across various player markets.<\/p>\n

One prominent agent believes the American League champions will find a more receptive audience for their pitches this winter, too, having shown the baseball world how success looks north of the border.<\/p>\n

Baseball tends to have \u201ca pack mentality,\u201d said the agent, and between seeing players succeed with the Blue Jays, the enthusiasm from fans Canada-wide and positive reviews of the team\u2019s facilities, \u201cit should be easier for them to get players\u201d this off-season.<\/p>\n

A second agent described the Blue Jays as \u201chungry\u201d and \u201cacting like the big boys,\u201d while both representatives said they are involved on top-end starting pitchers, back-end relievers, position players and talent from Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re in every market,\u201d said the second agent.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not necessarily different than in previous years, as the Blue Jays generally canvas the entire player pool to assess what opportunities may exist for them. But after losing Game 7 of the World Series to the now two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the dynamics around them seem to be different this time around \u2014 not only with agents but, most importantly, with players.<\/p>\n

And while MLB players are foremost on that list, NPB players presumably also took note of the team that took the Dodgers to seven games.<\/p>\n

As well positioned as they seemingly are, however, markets in baseball often take weeks, even months, to develop, with one executive remarking how teams are more comfortable than ever doing business in January.<\/p>\n

Last year, for instance, the Blue Jays\u2019 biggest free-agent signings \u2014 Anthony Santander, Jeff Hoffman and Max Scherzer \u2014 took place once the calendar flipped from 2024 to 2025, so their current posture doesn\u2019t guarantee anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Simply put, it\u2019s demonstrative of the wide-range of options they\u2019re examining, along with perhaps an increased receptiveness to their pursuits from the industry.<\/p>\n

Now, based on the way their roster is positioned at this point, the Blue Jays have the flexibility to augment the club in different ways, although pushing more aggressively on the pitching side might make more sense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The free-agent market is deeper in both starters, perhaps the wisest place for them to seek impact, and relievers, another area where they\u2019re surely looking to get deeper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the free agency of Bo Bichette, one of the prime talking points in baseball\u2019s gossip circles, looms large and given both their ambition and perceived financial wherewithal, some see the Blue Jays as a potential landing spot for outfielder Kyle Tucker, too.<\/p>\n

Worth remembering is that as much as the Blue Jays may blanket the market, they operate with a discipline to their valuations rather than a get-the-player-at-all-costs approach, even in their past pursuits of premium free agents like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto.<\/p>\n

How that methodology functions within the current perception of the market certainly bears watching.<\/p>\n

Club president and CEO Mark Shapiro last week called their 2025 spending \u2014 which ranked fifth at a projected $280 million for Competitive Balance Tax purposes according to Spotrac<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a \u201cchampionship-calibre payroll,\u201d and added that \u201cwe’ve had an unprecedented level of support, and I don’t see that support going backwards at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less clear was how much the capacity there is for that support to go forward, although they would seem unlikely to suddenly mimic the profligate spending of the Dodgers and New York Mets, who by wide margins are outspending the rest of the majors.<\/p>\n

That positions the Blue Jays well \u2014 not on the level of the Dodgers, Mets or even the Yankees perhaps, but still in a strong position. Now it’s a question of when the moves start for real and how the reigning AL Champions can leverage their on-field success into an even stronger roster in 2026.<\/p>\n

Scene and heard roaming The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas during the GM Meetings:<\/p>\n

Bobby Cox in 1985 remains the only Blue Jays winner of the AL Manager of the Year award after John Schneider finished second to Cleveland\u2019s Stephen Vogt in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers\u2019 Association of America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schneider received 10 of a possible 30 first-place votes while 17 went to Vogt, with overall tally running 113-91 in his second consecutive win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like 1989, when Cito Gaston rallied the Blue Jays from a 12-24 start to an AL East title but ended up second in the voting, Schneider also had a compelling case that went unrewarded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He oversaw a 20-win turnaround from 2024 to 2025 as the Blue Jays went from worst to first in the AL East, finishing with the same 94-68 record as the New York Yankees but claiming the division thanks to the better head-to-head record.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Voting is done at the end of the regular season and before the playoffs, so the club\u2019s post-season run wasn\u2019t factored into the decision (full disclosure, neither writer here voted on the award).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recognition would have been well deserved for Schneider, a Blue Jays lifer since he was a 13th-round draft pick in 2002. He spent six seasons in the system, topping out at triple-A in 2007 before transitioning to hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays in 2008, slowly working his way up the system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the Blue Jays\u2019 Game 7 win over Seattle in the ALCS, he said that \u201cbesides my wife and my kids, this organization is what I live for and what I\u2019ve devoted my adult life to. I don\u2019t take it lightly. I know there\u2019s scrutiny and second-guessing that comes with my job and I get it, it\u2019s OK. But I will do everything in my power to do what\u2019s right for this organization and this entire country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contrary to the off-seasons in North America\u2019s other major sports leagues, the baseball market moves painfully slow and over time has only grown slower as clubs and players fight tooth and nail over every last dollar. As a result, where once free agents were almost all signed by Christmas, now deals pushing into spring training are common.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my career you’re going back a long time and it’s changed dramatically,\u201d said David Dombrowski, the veteran president of baseball operations for the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies whose free agents this winter include Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto and Ranger Suarez. \u201cI’m sure some people might say to their agents, \u2018Well, I still want to sign by the holidays,\u2019 but that really used to be a driver before, so when you got to that time period, OK, you were pretty well set and then you switched to arbitration, contract negotiations and all that. Now, maybe there are some people that are in a hurry, but I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near NBA or NFL where everybody’s signing within the first three days. You just have to wait it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Players \u201ccontrol the time frame,\u201d he added and while teams \u201care involved in that,\u201d and \u201cat some point you have to say you need to get some answers here before you move forward,\u201d they can\u2019t simply force the issue. \u201cI don’t think there’s any magic answer to that. You just have to have a pulse on what’s taking place. Sometimes they could care less what you think. Other times it’s very important. There is no rhyme or reason and that’s why you just have to have communications with people and keep all avenues open.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Armed with the cachet of an inspired World Series run that captivated both fans and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-278085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}