Atkins Speaks!: Optimist Time?

On Santander, the free agent market, deferrals, damage, hits and misses, ownership, Vlad, Myles Straw, what comes next, and more...

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The Blue Jays introduced their new middle-of-the-order slugger, Anthony Santander, to the media on Tuesday, and unlike the availabilities for earlier additions Andrés Giménez and Jeff Hoffman, GM Ross Atkins joined him and took questions from the digitally-assembled hordes.

You can watch the full press conference over at Sportsnet.

Before you click that link, though, keep in mind that the majority of the presser was about Santander. Rather understandably so, I suppose. But seeing as—no disrespect to the Jays’ new $90-million man, who seems like a fun guy Jays fans are going to love—I tend to not usually find players very interesting unless they’re getting into the weeds about their craft, and seeing as this is an Atkins Speaks! post, you’re not going to find that here.

No, what I’ve got below is a full transcript of everything Ross—and only Ross—said, save for the boilerplate off the top. I’d like to think he’d appreciate the efficiency.

You know the drill! It’s time for Atkins Speaks!…

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Can you comment on Santander's development since your days in Cleveland?

Yeah, really fortunate to have that history from the beginning of his career, from his days in Mahoning Valley and Lake County and A-ball experiences, coming out of Venezuela. Immediately had an impact on his teammates and coaches. Mark Budzinski was his manager in Lynchburg, Virginia. From the very start we recognized another level of professionalism, an elite level of competitiveness, and off-the-field/on-the-field commitment that was extremely strong.

We start with an nice an easy one that reveals something a lot of Jays fans might not know. Santander was originally a Cleveland prospect, having signed with them as a 16-year-old way back in 2011, when Atkins was the director of player development.

Santander struggled early on to progress through Cleveland's system, spending the bulk of three straight seasons from age 18 to 20 at the A-ball level in the Midwest League. He broke out at High-A Lynchburg, under Budzinski, as a 21-year-old in 2016, but by that point he was on his way to Rule 5-eligiblity. Cleveland declined to add him to their 40-man that fall and he was selected in December by Baltimore.

He would go on—after some Elvis Luciano-esque manipulation that saw him curiously spend all but the last 46 days of 2017 on the IL—to be one of the biggest Rule 5 success stories in ages. Since 2009, only two Rule 5 players have been All-Stars while still playing for the team that selected them: Odúbel Herrera somehow and Santander.

So, it’s nice to see him come full circle with Atkins here. Though obviously Atkins didn't really get into all of that in his answer. And there's perhaps a reason why he wouldn't. His Blue Jays picked five spots ahead of the O’s in that 2016 Rule 5 draft. They selected Glenn Sparkman.

Why did it take as long as it did to get this deal done?

Like any negotiation, there's always back and forth. And also a lot of respect for what that process means for someone who is a free agent, and wanting them to have a full understanding of the market. Respecting that every step of the way. Danny (Horwits of Beverly Hills Sports Council, Santander’s agency) and I have been having a good time talking about how much time we've spent together—I've known Danny for 25 years, and I feel like we know each other a lot better now, after this negotiation. We spent a lot of time together. And it was—it was a very, very thorough process with a lot of man-hours and an incredible commitment from Anthony to the process that we're very grateful to be here today at the end of it.

This is not a dig at Ross, but I’ve always loved the phrase “man-hours.” This wasn’t some frivolous collection of time these were man-hours. LOL.

Anyway, we get a bit of an answer within a non-answer here, I think. “Wanting them to have a full understanding of the market” is a nice euphemism for the tactic of dragging things out so long as to make it clear that whatever pie-in-the-sky dreams the agent might once have had about landing a nine-figure deal weren’t coming true.

I mean, I don’t at all doubt that there’s a process involved in this stuff, but it’s kind of funny how baseball seems to be the only sport where that’s a necessity. Don’t think we haven’t noticed!

What does it mean that you’ve included deferred money in a deal?

It's just another tool to help have some agility as you get higher and higher in payroll. So, it just gives us another avenue to continue to build the best possible roster around Anthony and Bo and Vladdy and Kevin and José to ensure we have some flexibility moving forward.

Fun fact: Horwits was the agent who negotiated the deferral scheme that currently has the Mets paying Bobby Bonilla $1.19 million ever July 1st until 2035. So clearly he’s got a little bit of experience with this particular tool. (Deferrals, I mean. Not Atkins.)

As far as the Jays go, while I know there’s a lot of chatter these days about the Dodgers’ exploitation of the deferral loophole—theScore’s Travis Sawchik had a particularly good take on it this week—as long as deals with deferrals are allowed, why on earth not use them? Especially if it can give you an advantage over teams that are unwilling to do so.

What I find even more interesting with this statement, though I want to be careful not to read too much into it, is the way Atkins positions deferrals as a thing that can be used to help the team.

What he suggests is, of course, true when we talk about keeping a club’s luxury tax number down—though the CBT really just functions as an artificial salary cap for some clubs. But it also could be—possibly?—maybe?—a signal to a certain someone who doesn’t seem to be interested in deferrals.

*COUGH*

(You can hear Mitchell’s segment in question here. The quote comes at the 13:40 mark.)

How would you describe the free agent hits and misses you've had this winter?

Thinking about the big hit we have today, is where my focus is. We're always focussed on trying to make this team better. The additions of Andrés Giménez, and Yimi García, and Jeff Hoffman, and Nick Sandlin are also exciting. We'll continue to think about ways to make our team better, and feel we've had some pretty big hits.

I guess you gotta ask about all those high-profile misses the Jays have had. I guess?

But, I don’t know, man. I think we could have predicted this answer from Ross—not that his answers are ever especially difficult to predict. It’s just… let the man have his moment maybe? Santander too.

Especially seeing as Atkins still has a chance to make a lot of people look awfully foolish before this winter is said and done. And that’s not necessarily just pie-eyed optimism on my part, either. Ben Nicholson-Smith was on the J.D. Bunkis Podcast on Wednesday and had a whole bunch of very interesting nuggets to share—paraphrased below by @Josh_TheJaysFan, who does a great job of aggregating all the Jays-related rumours and rumblings that are out there. Follow him and @benturn22 and you won’t miss a thing.

YOWZA.¹

And if you’re one of those poor souls who takes Carlos Baerga’s tweets as gospel, we’ve got another YOWZA for you.²

How much does having another slugger change what you do at the plate?

Yeah, Anthony's about as good of a fit as we can find. Doing it from both sides of the plate, putting the ball in the seats at a very regular amount, his ability to do damage on a nightly basis is exactly what we're looking for, and a great addition to this lineup.

But- but- but- but- but- but I was told Don Mattingly convinced them that home runs are bad and only opposite field hits count!!!

How important is it to continue dialogue on an extension with Vlad before Spring Training begins?

Today is about Anthony. Glad to talk to you about that on another day.

OK, but can that day be the day that you sign him, and can it also be today?

Please?

Seriously, though. Before we move on from Vlad, and before this moment of optimism about the team passes, I’ve got to say here that nothing has made me more confident that a deal with him will actually eventually get done than this recent tweet:

Now, that one tweet alone doesn’t mean I’m supremely confident, but deals of this magnitude will always go over the heads of the baseball people. And if Edward wants it, and it can be done, that feels like a pretty good reason to believe it will get done.

No?

We shall see…

How does this deal impact what else you can do on the market?

We feel like we've got a lot of work done this offseason with the additions I just mentioned previously. We of course will continue to try to add to this team if there's a way to do it, and we'll present those opportunities to Edward and Tony. We have a pretty good understanding of what is there, what is available to us, and as they become more real, we'll present those, and then hopefully have avenues to improve our team.

Look, all I’m saying is that maybe Edward Rogers getting constantly humiliated the last two winters could have been a good thing. Perhaps he’ll start approving crazy amounts of payroll, above and beyond the highest CBT threshold, simply to avoid being laughed out of Mar-a-Lago the next time he arrives for some billionaire Eyes Wide Shut party or whatever.

Hey, and if he’s not there now, maybe we could try humiliating him some more?

Couldn’t hurt.

What impact, if any, does the Myles Straw contract have on your future pursuits?

Zero. Zero impact, and only positive impact.

Lol.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this is a lie. I mean, it’s entirely possible that Ross had ownership approval to flush $11 million down the toilet with the understanding that it was some kind of extra-budgetary gambit. And I recognize that the $2 million in international bonus pool money received from the Guardians remains an asset—even if the best players available this winter are all already off the board. There could be some late bloomers the club could find—or already has in mind—and Straw could… play some. Maybe?

Like, Bradley Zimmer is not an awful guy to have on your bench, you just shouldn’t be paying $11 million for the privilege.

But, I don’t know, man. It’s pretty hard to believe it could have zero impact. As a wise man once said, it’s still a business and numbers matter.

If you were to add to your position player group, where would you look to add?

We're in a really good position with the acquisitions we made at the deadline last year. I could rattle off six or seven names that will be in the mix for maybe competing with another free agent, maybe competing with another acquisition via trade. But there's a good group that will be competing for at-bats to start the regular season, some of which had some success with us last year that will be squarely in the mix. Our 40-man roster, our 26-man roster, we feel like are in a really strong position. Our Triple-A team is going to be, at every position, have a prospect and rising major league player at it—which is rare to have. Excited about some of the additions that we've made to our rotation in Triple-A and the depth that we have there as well. But we'll continue to look to make our organization better. And feel like we don't have to in one specific area.

Typical Atkins stuff here, as he talks up his own guys and makes sure not to telegraph any sort of specific interest in… anything. Gotta maintain that plausible deniability, I guess. Wouldn’t want an agent or another team to think he’s desperate—that might hurt his negotiating position. Or the feelings of his own players who expect to have genuine paths to jobs—something he always seems eager to protect.

Which is reasonable enough, I suppose. Or it would be if he had some kind of a masterful record of negotiating to show for it. Frankly, he might be in a better place in terms of job security if he’d simply been more forthright and plainspoken with fans over the years.

Anyway, though it’s clearly not his intent, what Ross is highlighting here is actually that he’s got a bit of log jam on his hands when it comes to the 40-man, especially when it comes to position players who can cover non-premium positions. And it’s only going to get worse. Not just if they add another bat—as they absolutely should—but over the course of the next year regardless. According to Roster Resource, Ricky Tiedemann, Alan Roden, Josh Kasevich, Kendry Rojas, and T.J. Brock will all have to be added to the 40-man before December in order to avoid being taken in the Rule 5 draft.

So, not only would the Jays’ current lineup look significantly better with a Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, or Jurickson Profar in it. An addition like that would practically compel them to consolidate some of that fringe-MLB/Triple-A talent into a single player much more useful to the 26-man roster.

We can dream, can’t we?

Is there room to add a major league starting pitcher?

Yeah, and it's just a matter of opportunity cost. So, as you weigh that, whether via trade or free agency, how does that impact the rest of your roster, and what did you not acquire by making that move. But, absolutely, room to do so. And all of our pitchers understand how competitive the environment is. We've been in one every spring training for the last five years, and plan on remaining one for the years to come, where you're coming in and there are guys like Anthony that know exactly what the season—well, not exactly, but have a really good understanding of what their playing time will be. Others understand that they need to be flexible and compete.

Dust off your bullpen cleats, Yariel!

At what point in the process did the deferred money/opt-outs arise, and do you plan on using those tools more going forward?

Every situation is different. I can't remember the specific date to when we brought up certain aspects, but we had really good communication, a lot of open-mindedness both ways. I certainly hope you felt that way Danny, but I certainly did. It was a lot of work, there was a lot of time spent on making sure we got it right for Anthony, and that it made sense for both of us.

GIVE US THE DATE!

How satisfied about the offseason would you be if you went into the spring without further moves?

Feel we're in a really strong position, but we'll continue to work to see if there are ways to improve our roster.

With the understanding that this guy will absolutely never say “well clearly we need to upgrade at x, y, and z positions,” this is pretty much the correct answer.

Is there anything impending right now? Anything you're close to?

You know, the way I always view it is you're never close until you're done, because something could always change, or set you back. But we're working around the clock and won't stop.

Yeah, I’ll fuckin’ bet Ross Atkins says “you’re never close until you’re done” about MLB transactions involving the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club.

Do you have a preference for where Santander will play?

No, I think the ability to play left, and right, and first, and the openness to DH is where we need to be. And the Schneids and Anthony will work through that together as Spring Training and the season unfold.

Translation: “Depends on which one of Bregman or Alonso we sign.”

WHAT? WHAT OF IT??

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1. Cue breathless dopes who have no clue how newsrooms work insisting that this kind of stuff is constantly being fed to Sportsnet reporters from on high as part of the world’s most incoherent PR strategy. Lol.

2. Lmao, I love it every dang time I see that stupid logo from the “I’m a graphic designer and this is what the Jays would have done if they used proper design principles” guy. What an absolutely incredible day to have been alive for.