“Alex has done a terrific job of building the farm system, but the future, I like to think is now.”
With that, Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Beeston has essential laid down the gauntlet for the 2013 version of the ball club and its GM, Alex Anthopoulos, changing the front office rhetoric from ideas like “payroll parameters” to something that sounds like the team is ready to shell out some cash to complete the final pieces of this supposed freight train of a club that would be competing in the playoffs 2-3 times over 5 years.
Speaking on Sportsnet’s Prime Time Sports, Beeston expanded on this sentiment, suggesting that the upcoming off-season for the Blue Jays will probably have a significantly different tone than the previous ones under Anthopoulos’ watch:
“I think that we’re at a point right now where we’ve got to make a move. We’ve got to be aggressive. We’ve got to put ourselves in a position where we’ve got a chance for next year [italics mine], which means that I think we have to be either in the trade market or the free agent market.”
Aggressiveness? Having to make a move? Free agent market? It’s almost like we’re listening to the front office of a different team, after years of being told that big, risky contracts aren’t part of the team’s modus operandi. So, it looks as though we can expect the Blue Jays’ payroll to go up next year, but under what sorts of money spending scenario?
I have to say, despite the big claims that the team’s president is making, I’m still a little skeptical about this whole idea that the team will break from the norm and go after players via the free agent market (Anthopoulos’ 5-year contract limit will eliminate the biggest names), or trade their top prospects in a package like in the Gio Gonzalez scenario…
…still, what if those self-imposed limits weren’t there? How much could the Blue Jays’ payroll increase, given that attendance is up this year? I expect the Blue Jays aren’t talking about Joe Blanton and Randy Wolf when talking about being aggressive, but how big are they talking about here? Like in the previous off-season, it’s hard to imagine that the team won’t at least be perfunctorily linked to the biggest names like Zach Greinke (or…Josh Hamilton for LF!), but the possibility that those off-season rumors might be a tad more than puffs of smoke is an interesting prospect.
It’s one thing when fans clamor for big splashes and are disappointed when the team decides to go in a different direction. It’s a whole different story though, when the team’s president says that the head brass expects to make big splashes. The expectation is set now for the team to make some major additions now, and it’s not just because the fans want it. Remember when Beeston said that this market can support a team with a $150 million payroll? It’s going to be a fun winter for those of us following the Blue Jays.
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