The Blue Jays are in last place in the AL East, and Exec VP/Baseball Operations & GM Ross Atkins on Monday acknowledged that the front office is now "shifting focus away" from this season to next, according to Steve Buffery of the TORONTO SUN. Atkins: "We haven’t gotten hot, we haven’t gotten on a streak and now we’re in a position where it’s a lot more difficult to add to a team like this.” Buffery noted Atkins is "clinging to the party line that the Jays can rebuild and still stay competitive" in '18. Atkins: "It’s really about young, controllable talent and any way you can do that, we’ll look to do that." With the July 31 trade deadline, Atkins "wanted to assure the increasingly skeptical Blue Jays fanbase that, yes, the front office actually has a plan in place for the Jays to rebuild and still contend next year." Atkins: "It won’t be about luck, it’s going to be about opportunities, it’s going to be about how we’re using information. ... So we now have more information about this group and we’ll have to think about how the pieces that will be here can improve and get better." The Blue Jays have roughly $60M in salaries that will "come off the books next year, meaning that the Jays can be active in the free agent market" (TORONTO SUN, 7/25). In Toronto, Laura Armstrong noted Atkins "made the decision clear" that improving next year’s team is the focus moving forward. But he said that the club "doesn’t have to go into full-blown rebuild mode, with a solid core plus young talent" such as 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., SS Bo Bichette and RF Anthony Alford "on the fast track to the majors" (TORONTO STAR, 7/25).
BRASS TACTICS: SPORTSNET.ca's Michael Grange wrote the Blue Jays' "proper course of action" before the trade deadline "should be very evident." Grange: "Figure out what needs to be done to develop a truly sustainable winner at Rogers Centre and get on with the job as quickly as possible." The Blue Jays must focus on "building the best farm system" while still spending "aggressively to compliment that homegrown core." Now that ownership "knows exactly how Blue Jays fans will respond, it’s a low-risk strategy." Grange: "Exactly how not to do it? That’s obvious, too -- keep doing what they’re doing." The Blue Jays have the "second-oldest roster in baseball," something not "worthy of preserving." The "path ahead is obvious" and the sooner Blue Jays President & CEO Mark Shapiro gets "started on it the better" (SPORTSNET.ca, 7/21).
