Blue Jays’ GM Atkins outlines plans with trade deadline looming

The Blue Jays appear set in their position as buyers, something Toronto Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins reaffirmed during an afternoon availability on Wednesday.

As far as the details and where the Blue Jays hope to improve, that much is a little bit less certain.

“We’ve had such good performances from our position player group across the board,” Atkins told reporters. “You look at every position and feel really good about the contributions we’re getting.”

“Thinking about how to potentially upgrade is really difficult when you also believe in the people that are here and that they’re going to continue to have progress and make strides.”

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Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together, they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering off all the latest news with opinion and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.

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That doesn’t mean that Atkins and the Blue Jays don’t intend to upgrade, especially on the pitching side.

The return of Alek Manoah — despite a shaky outing on Tuesday against the Padres — and impending arrival of Hyun-Jin Ryu give the Blue Jays confidence that they’ll have options on the bump one way or another.

“We’re certainly optimistic that we’re going to have them as options, but we also have to plan for the event that we don’t. If someone has a setback, performance or injury,” the Blue Jays GM responded when asked about the team’s influx of pitching depth. “You can never have enough pitching as they say, so we have to have a contingency plan. But having that as a starting point is a good place to be.”

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Pressed further on his assessment of the market and priorities, Atkins did tip his hand somewhat, if ever so slightly, by pointing to a pair of deadline priorities for Toronto: A veteran right-handed bat and left-handed relief depth. Still, the longtime GM largely kept his cards close to his chest with the August 1st deadline slowly creeping into view.

“There might be a slight lean…but it’s not a significant one because there’s a lot of different ways we could improve our team.

“What we don’t want to do is subtract from it. We believe in the group that’s here, we believe they’re earned that.”

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On the relief front, Atkins noted the team’s heavy righty lean, with Tim Mayza the lone southpaw providing leverage in the bullpen. Adding depth, particularly in the form of players with minor league options remaining, was another desirable trait Atkins asserted.

That’s perhaps of little surprise, given the club’s affinity for acquiring players of that ilk in the past and strong emphasis on flexibility. Just last season, the club acquired reliever Zach Pop from the Miami Marlins, with the Brampton, Ont. native still possessing multiple minor league options.

The total outlook for the Blue Jays trade deadline, in many respects, appears very much up in the air overall, particularly given the state of the market and the lack of definitive buyers. To date, the Texas Rangers acquisition of Aroldis Chapman remains the most significant move made this summer, and that doesn’t appear to be by accident.

“If you look and see all the teams that are statistically in it, are saying that they’re in it, or saying they’re in something of a wait mode, it’s over 20 teams,” Atkins said, pulling back the curtain somewhat on the constipation of the MLB trade market.

“I don’t expect that to be the case in two weeks.”

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