Robbie Ray will have no shortage of suitors after a Cy Young-worthy season. (Getty)
TORONTO — Conversations will be “constant,” but nothing is certain.
Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins made that clear in his end-of-season media availability on Wednesday when fielding questions about the possibility of bringing back star free agents Marcus Semien and Robbie Ray.
Ray and Semien emerged as two of the most coveted names in free agency, with Cy Young and MVP-worthy seasons, respectively, during the Blue Jays’ 91-win year.
“That dialogue will be constant,” Atkins said on Wednesday. “Where we’re talking about our interest and their interest and hoping that they’re aligned.”
There’s optimism for the future around the front office and beyond, even though the Blue Jays fell one game short of making their way back into the playoffs, ultimately missing out on a Wild Card spot to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
Though the club has made clear it’s set on building upon the successes of this year, Atkins’s vague statements seem somewhat warranted.
Toronto has made a name for itself as one of MLB’s biggest spenders in recent offseasons. The six-year, $150-million, franchise-record deal signed with George Springer at the start of 2021 is a good case-in-point. So is Hyun-Jin Ryu’s four-year, $80-million contract from 2019.
It would likely take another round of high-calibre spending to re-sign either of the team’s current free agents, which begins to explain the lack of optimism or commitment toward any specific player.
“I think it bodes exceptionally well for us that we were a part of such significant years,” said Atkins. “Being a part of that and having the team success — albeit not what we ultimately were striving for — I think how we finished, and finishing in this stadium on such a positive note … all those things bode exceptionally well for us as we strive to make our team better.”
A left-handed starter, Ray signed a one-year, $8-million deal with the Blue Jays last offseason after joining the club via trade in mid-2020. With a 2.84 ERA, 248 strikeouts and a 6.7 WAR, the 30-year-old is the frontrunner for the American League Cy Young award and will certainly command a long and lucrative deal in the coming months.
Semien, a converted shortstop, set a new MLB record for most home runs by a second baseman in a single season, finishing the year with 45, along with a .265 average, 102 RBIs and a .873 OPS. The one-year contract he signed with the Blue Jays last offseason paid him $18 million, and the 31-year-old is also likely to see a big pay raise wherever he ends up.
Starter Steven Matz is also a name worth observing, as he became a solid and reliable piece in the Blue Jays’ rotation, especially by the end of the season. He will also hit free agency this year.
“All three of them, we have interest in,” said Atkins about Ray, Semien and Matz.
At least two of them, Ray and Semien, have expressed the interest goes both ways.
Among the several questions hovering over this team in the offseason, a significant one is what to prioritize. It’s possible the Blue Jays won’t have the financial capacity to sign Semien or Ray — let alone both of them.
It will come to Atkins and the rest of Toronto’s front office to decide whether to invest on a strikeout leader with the potential of pitching around 200 innings in a season, or to go for a power hitter with defensive upside and the disposition to play all 162 games.
“Really, we don’t want to pin ourselves into boxes,” said Atkins about the Blue Jays’ free-agency plans. “We want to make sure that we keep all avenues for creativity open, and that’s what we’re focused on now: How do we continue to make this organization as good as it can be … what are the best possible, most creative ways to do that?”
Both Ray and Semien are veteran leaders who command clubhouse respect. Bo Bichette, for example, didn’t hide how much admiration and gratitude he has for Semien, who took on the role of mentor for Toronto’s sluggers, and assisted in the development of the team’s young core.
Ray, on the other hand, had an important part in the development of youngster Alek Manoah, who turned heads in his rookie season with limited experience coming out of triple-A.
“I’ve had a lot of time to spend with them over the last month,” said Atkins. “Much more on a personal level, to just learn from them, talk about how we can improve here and, you know, congratulate them and thank them for us to be a small part of what will be, ultimately, an exceptional year for them in their careers.
“And I hope they go on to continue to, obviously, have those years, year in and year out, and hopefully we can be a part of that. But having been a part of it for one year was very fulfilling and gratifying, not only for what it meant for wins and losses and our overall team performance, but also what it means for our environment, to have guys come in and have such exceptional years like that. It says a lot to our coaching staff, it says a lot about our support staff, about our resources and facilities, and I think that we’ll be exceptionally attractive to players moving forward.”
And then there’s the rest of the organization.
One certainty Atkins did offer is that there will be no major roster churn, whether on the field or within the coaching staff, as the Blue Jays intend to bring back all of their trainers and coaches for the 2022 season.
With Bichette settled in at shortstop and MVP candidate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. constantly improving at first base, second and third seem like the most pressing issues to address in the offseason, along with bullpen arms and a solidified rotation. While Atkins sees Nate Pearson and Ross Stripling as starters in the long haul, other components such as workload and development will determine where they fit.
The Blue Jays also believe they have good internal options for the infield, but won’t discard going after outside possibilities.
“We’re in a really good position,” said Atkins. “Player development, performance, all scouting departments have done an incredible job to ensure that we continue to add talent from within to complement this team, and if we have to make trades, that we have the talent to do that as well. And Mark (Shapiro) has done an incredible job of communicating with Rogers and all of the stakeholders that ultimately support us in the most significant way of helping them understand our plan.”
Set to get underway once the World Series wraps up, the upcoming free-agency period has a significant twist, as MLB’s collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Dec. 1. If for any reason the league and players’ association fail to reach a new agreement, it will prompt a work stoppage and a freeze in deals until a potential stalemate is resolved.
One more wave to keep track of on the offseason radar.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
