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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the honky tonks and music studios here, there are plenty of opportunities to chase fame and fortune, even if more often than not they end up being hit-and-miss pursuits.
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For Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins and the rest of the pointedly ambitious front office he oversees, it appears they arrive at what is often the tipping point of the off-season ready to swing for the fences.
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Shohei Ohtani, star of the free agent class? Multiple reports have the Jays still very much in the mix to part with some of that bloated Rogers Communications fortune to land the Japanese sensation. Whether team president Mark Shapiro has convinced Rogers CEO Ed Rogers to part with enough of it — or whether Ohtani would even consider taking it — remains to be seen.
Juan Soto, the biggest name on the trade market? Multiple reports have pegged the Jays as a lead bidder in talks with the San Diego Padres. Soto, who would command a hefty price going the other way and only has one year remaining on his contract, would instantly add power to the Jays lineup, fill a need in left field and instantly make the team one of the most feared lineups in baseball.
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Are they all just dreams, Music City miracles?
Perhaps, but the buzz tying the Jays to both of those players certainly fits with a front office that has been in win-now mode for the past few seasons and determined not to squander the potential of a solid core already in place.
So welcome to baseball’s Winter Meetings, the annual three-day frenzy that begins here on Monday at the Opryland Resort and Convention Center and will get under way with the speculation surrounding Ohtani dominating the talk. The man who is poised to become the richest player in the sport, is effectively holding up off-season business around the league.
Despite the tendency of some to do so, dismissing the Jays interest as an exercise of posturing for an anxious fan base is asinine, of course. While there’s no guarantee that the team will land either Ohtani or Soto, it’s also clear that since they signed either Hyun-Jin Ryu to an $80-million US deal four years ago this month, they have been big-game hunters (See Springer, George and Gausman, Kevin among others.)
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Ohtani is the biggest potential prize yet, of course, and all of the Rogers riches might not be enough if the reigning American League MVP decides on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
How big? The New York Post reported on Sunday that bidding for Ohtani had already surpassed $500 million US with as many as five bidders, including the Jays and the presumptive favourite Los Angeles Dodgers.
But dare to dream, right? The Jays may not have a realistic shot, but that doesn’t preclude them from trying. Nor should they, especially given the word leaking from the Ohtani camp that he prefers landing with a contender.
The Jays do have plenty to offer — a big-revenue team with a country-wide fan base and a media conglomerate as owner that could cleverly market Ohtani to further the riches of both player and franchise.
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What else do they have to offer? A team in win-now mode that plays in a domed stadium and is in the hitter-friendly AL East.
The Jays would obviously covet Ohtani’s lethal left-handed bat, finally giving them a presence at the DH spot. While they’d be signing him to be the dual threat that has made him such a hot commodity the Jays would be fine waiting into 2025 when Ohtani recovers from Tommy John. The current rotation is a strength and should continue to be.
Shifting to the other big buzz attached to the Jays, the chatter around Soto is equally intriguing, a prospect that added a full tank of fuel on the weekend when well-regarded MLB Network insider Hector Gomez reported that the Jays were not only getting aggressive in trade talks with the Padres but had emerged as favourites.
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The cost would be dear, however, with several reports suggesting that the club’s top pitching prospect, Ricky Tiedemann, could well be central to any deal and how willing will Atkins be to part with such a well-regarded arm? As the trade speculation amplifies, all sorts of names have been included on the Toronto end, including Alek Manoah.
Meanwhile, as the off-season hype reaches its zenith — as it usually does at the Winter Meetings — it’s important to remember how critical these next few weeks are for Atkins and his front office.
A 2023 season that held such high expectations exposed organizational flaws, a situation that reached its tipping point when the team was swept by the Minnesota Twins in a best-of-three wildcard series.
With departing free agents, there are holes to fill and offence that went missing for long swaths of last season to replenish. For an ambitious Jays team, it all starts at the top of the market, realistic or not.
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