Blue Jays Have to Go Under the Line if Theyre Not Capitalized
Gammons: The Blue Jays have been building to this moment, and they are ready to capitalize
"To sustain a championship-caliber team that competes — passionately, relentlessly and professionally — and in the process makes a positive statement about its collective vision and core values." — Mark Shapiro, The Cleveland Indians Mission Statement, 2000.
The team now known as the Cleveland Guardians has still not achieved its first World Series title since 1948. They were up 3-1 on the Red Sox in the 2007 ALCS before crashing out, and then after Shapiro had moved on to become President and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015, his former club went to the 10th inning of the seventh game of the 2016 World Series under the leadership of Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff and Terry Francona.
Although the 2016 Blue Jays were 89-73, many Jays fans saw it as the residue of the work of fellow Canadian Alex Anthopoulos. Anthopoulos took the Jays to the postseason in 2015, ending a drought that had persisted since their 1993 World Series title, and then left to work for Andrew Friedman in Los Angeles before moving on to Atlanta and winning the World Series himself.
As Cleveland was playing the Cubs in the World Series, Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins recognized that even though they had a winning team in Toronto, they were flying into headwinds when it came to crafting that kind of championship-caliber team — and organization — they had sought to build in Cleveland. In this case, it was also a matter of restoring the kind of culture that once led to continued success in the Pat Gillick days, on top of the need to as reconstruct the organization and modernize both the Rogers Centre and the Florida player development facilities for the 21st century.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was already in the organization, signed in July 2015 by Anthopoulos. Shapiro brought in Ben Cherington and Steve Sanders to run development and scouting, and retained Tony Lacava, with whom he'd worked in Cleveland, to help both departments. Yes, this was to be a reset of the major-league team, and of scouting and development. Beyond Guerrero, the only players now remaining from the 2015 organization are catcher Danny Jansen and relievers Tim Mayza and Trent Thornton. In 2016, their international department signed Lourdes Guerriel Jr., Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno; there are those who feel Moreno is the single best catching prospect in the minor leagues today.
In 2016, Sanders drafted Bo Bichette in the third round, Cavan Biggio in the fifth. The next season they traded Francisco Liriano to a Houston team that was shooting for the World Series for Teoscar Hernández, and drafted Nate Pearson. At that point, they were on the road back to Gillick World, back to that heady era of 1989-93, one that was aided and abetted by the novelty of the '89 opening of the SkyDome, which allowed them to field the highest payroll in the game in'93.
What is remarkable, as they begin a season for which they are considered one of the World Series favorites, is that the road to get back here only saw them endure three losing seasons, those from 2017-19.
Despite a paucity of minor league innings, Alek Manoah quickly made a major league impact (Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
And there are some interesting trends in that rebuild. In 2017, 2019 and 2021, they took pitchers with their first draft picks — Pearson, Alek Manoah and Gunnar Hoglund, respectively. In 2020, Shane Farrell's first year as the scouting director, they took Vanderbilt shortstop Austin Martin with the fifth pick in the draft, even though he was then a mere year younger than the 21-year-old Bichette. Then in January 2021, they signed shortstop Marcus Semien to a one-year, $18 million deal to play second base; all he did was hit 45 homers, earn a Gold Glove at second and lead all position players in WAR. From the moment he arrived in spring training, Semien worked daily with Bichette and Martin on defense at shortstop, which Bichette went out of his way to point out. "Marcus has had an impact on my career," Bichette said. If someday Bichette gets to 3,000 hits and is still playing in the middle infield, he will likely still be citing Semien's influence. At the end of the season, Semien signed a $170 million deal with Texas.
By the end of 2020, the Jays were back in the postseason, and Shapiro, Atkins, Lacava and the organization knew they were close to being back in the high life, again. So they were ready to spend on prominent free agents. Shapiro has long believed that a team's best players have to be leaders. With Grady Sizemore, CC Sabathia and Victor Martínez on the Indians, they were almost there, but the injuries to Sizemore, a legitimate star, were devasting. When they had to trade Sabathia and Cy Young winner Cliff Lee, Michael Brantley and Carlos Carrasco were the substance of their return.
In post-rebuild Toronto, Semien was their second marquee signing. The first was George Springer. "We took a long look at him, then asked, 'Is he a winner?'" Shapiro said. "Who more embodies a winner? Everyone who knows him says the same thing. If we are looking for someone who is a leader, he embodies all of the best. He plays really hard. He loves to win. Relishes being the leader." In Houston, A.J. Hinch got that, knew Springer was the Alpha Dog, moved him to leadoff and the 'Stros won it all. Toronto saw that and invested $150 million in Springer — and $42 million in Springer and Semien for just last year — and went 91-71 playing in Dunedin, Buffalo and Toronto and barely missed the postseason.
This spring training, they are the popular favorite in the American League East, ahead of Tampa Bay, Boston and the New York Yankees.
In baseball, teams tend to hoard draft choices as if they have The Amazing Kreskin in the scouting room and he can predict the future. In the NFL, NHL and NBA, teams routinely trade first-round draft choices to try to win that season's championship. In the NHL this season, the Boston Bruins traded their first-round pick, two future second-rounders and two defensemen for defenseman Hampus Lindholm. In the NFL, the Broncos traded two first-round picks, two second-rounders and a fifth-rounder plus three players for Russell Wilson — and not to have him play second base again for the Rockies.
When the Blue Jays realized during last season that eventual Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and Steven Matz would likely depart in free agency, they needed a young top-of-the-rotation starter. José Berríos seemed the perfect guy, so they traded Martin and pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson, a 2018 second rounder with the Mets, for the 27-year old Berríos, then signed him to a seven-year contract during the winter. They lost Ray and Matz and signed Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi. In Manoah, they have one of the best young starters in the game, plus Hyun Jin Ryu, Ross Stripling and Buffalo depth in Anthony Kay, Thomas Hatch and Pearson, if he doesn't slide to the bullpen. The pen seems one of their remaining concerns, and after being in on free agent Kenley Jansen to the end, they will be looking to add more depth and a late-innings reliever in-season.
Having lost Semien left an infield hole, and they had Biggio and the valuable Santiago Espinal to play second base, so they traded 2021 first pick pitcher Hoglund and three other prospects to Oakland to get 28-year-old Matt Chapman, one of the best defensive basemen in the sport (two Gold Gloves) with 97 homers in the last five seasons.
What's common to both Berríos and Chapman? "They truly love to play," Shapiro said, referring to one of the traits most valued in the organization. They also picked up a lefthanded bat in outfielder Raimel Tapia from Colorado, although with Hernández, Springer and Gurriel in the outfield, he may not see many starts, barring injury.
To some extent, the Jays have replaced Semien's 45 home run power with Chapman, who has a good hitting ceiling even if the power expectations don't fully match. The Jays led the majors in homers last season, which without Semien is difficult to replicate, but they were also first in slugging, fourth in on-base percentage and second in lowest strikeout rate; Guerrero was second in the MVP voting, won the Home Run Derby, led the league in homers, slugging, OPS and OPS-plus, and his hand-to-bat skills are astounding, as evidenced by leading the league in on-base percentage with a mere 15.8 percent strikeout rate.
Springer spent much of the season troubled by injuries, but said this spring he is fully healthy. "I think the best thing is that we are so close as a team," the 2017 World Series MVP said. "Everyone here is focused on one thing — winning. Everyone plays for one another. We have a team of gamers. Sure, it was a little rough playing in three different parks, small crowds until late in the season in Toronto, but we focused on winning and we played as a team." Those three venues were a spring training/A-Ball park, Triple-A Buffalo and, for a while, the Rogers Centre with attendance limitations restricting them to 15,000 fans.
"We never talked about excuses," Springer said. "When our Toronto home is packed, it's incredible. The fans in Toronto are tremendous."
Berríos has thrown between 190 and 200 innings in each of his last three full seasons, and he is one of the best fielders in the game. His former manager Rocco Baldelli said: "He's a shortstop on the mound."
Technically, Baldelli is right: "I was a shortstop-pitcher until a few months before the (2012) draft," Berríos said. "I love PFP drills, I like to try out things, or just practicing. " Opposing managers say he is so athletic, anticipates out of his delivery and plays so hard he actually allows the shortstop and second baseman to spread out a step or two further away from the second base bag, which can only benefit Bichette and Biggio.
Adding Chapman allows Bichette to play closer to second base, as playing the hole was a slight issue at times last season. The Toronto staff thinks Chapman can cut off balls that may require Bichette to throw from the hole.
Then there's Chapman's arm. During spring training, coaches have been shooting balls out of the high-speed pitching machine to Guerrero at first to prepare him for the power Chapman's arm. They feed high-rising, high-velocity balls that sail, then high velo balls near the knees that dip and run. Chapman's arm is a force among third basemen; at Long Beach State he pitched and threw close to 100 miles per hour. In fact, in one game this spring, Chapman went to a late-inning gathering on the mound with pitching coach Pete Walker and teammates, and Chapman suggested that he could close out the game.
"Whoever is playing second base had better be on time on potential 5-4-3 double plays or a potentially close force play at second," cracked one teammate. "He gets rid of the ball quickly."
Chapman is another of those players who lives to play, as is Manoah. "I can't think of anything better than playing in the major leagues, no matter where," he said.
Start with Manoah's presence. In offseasons, he might try earning a living at Disney as the world's largest, friendliest teddy bear. He can also really pitch. When he joined the Jays in May for his debut at Yankee Stadium, he had made nine minor league starts good for 35 innings; he was Toronto's first pick in 2019, and there was no 2020 minor-league season. Yet he adapted quickly to the majors, and by the end of 2021 was 9-2, 3.22 with 127 strikeouts in 111 2/3 innings. In September, one opposing pitching coach said, "he may have the most devastating breaking ball of any righthander in our league." A pitch that runs and sinks. Batters hit .146 against that pitch, and righthanded batters struck out 53 times in 140 at-bats.
Back in Dunedin, Shapiro negotiated the funding for and headed the creation of a player Development center that looks as if Graham Gund, Paul Allen and the creators of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai collaborated to overhaul and improve a complex that had been so basic that players' cars were often hit by batting practice foul balls, including one black Rolls Royce with gold trim.
The next project is to renovate the Rogers Centre, which in 2001-04, when known as SkyDome, drew 12.7 million fans. Baseball is a better game when Toronto's team is really good, and this 2022 Blue Jays team should be that, and maybe more.
Spend a couple of days around this club, and you'll hear a lot about the clubhouse and teammates and you'll hear Springer and others talk about the way the players and the whole organization are respected. One of the things I remember most about the previous generation of successful Jays teams is that during the 1993 postseason, Gillick, Paul Beeston and owner Peter Hardy brought everyone who worked in the organization — even members of the Dunedin and Dominican League ground crews — in for the World Series. And if (and/or when) this generation of Blue Jays gets to lift another trophy, we can hope that history repeats itself.
(Top photo of Guerrero and Springer: Mark Blinch / Getty Images)
Source: https://theathletic.com/3221862/2022/04/01/gammons-the-blue-jays-have-been-building-to-this-for-some-time-and-they-know-their-moment-is-now/
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