The Blue Jays are winning the off-season again. And Matt Chapman might not be the final piece

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This article was published 16/03/2022 (1660 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DUNEDIN, Fla.—Last year, the Blue Jays had one of the best off-seasons in Major League Baseball. This year, they’re doing more of the same.

After coming two wins shy of a spot in the post-season, a case could be made that the Jays have since become the team to beat in the American League East following a slew of aggressive moves by the front office.

General manager Ross Atkins spent most of his time — pre- and post-lockout — upgrading the pitching staff. On Wednesday morning, his attention shifted to the everyday lineup by acquiring former all-star Matt Chapman from the Oakland A’s for a package of prospects.

Chapman is coming off a down year with the bat after hitting just .210 with a .716 on-base plus slugging percentage, but he offers a lot of power and has a patient approach, which should fit in well with a lineup of free swingers.

Perhaps more important, Chapman is a defensive whiz who possesses one of the top gloves in the game.

“He’s so well-rounded, and such a good player with such a good track record, extremely durable,” Atkins said of Chapman, who appeared in all but 11 of Oakland’s games last season. “He’s played constantly and he’s always making an impact. Last year we saw him a good bit and I didn’t want to see him hitting against us. I still feel like he’s a very viable offensive threat, a big-time threat on both sides of the ball, and that’s hard to find.”

Atkins was in a difficult spot attempting to match last winter’s success, which included signing Robbie Ray, Marcus Semien and trading for lefty Steven Matz. One guy was a Cy Young winner, another a finalist for most valuable player and the third had arguably the best year of his career.

Yet consider what the seventh-year GM has done so far.

He signed ace José Berríos to a seven-year deal, ensuring last year’s deadline acquisition wouldn’t walk away at the end of the season. He replaced Ray with another front-line starter in Kevin Gausman, and essentially swapped Matz for Yusei Kikuchi, who comes with more risk but possesses much more upside.

Then on Wednesday he found Semien’s replacement by trading for one of his former teammates. The bats aren’t necessarily comparable, but Chapman is still a guy who has hit at least 24 homers three times in his career, finished in the top 10 in MVP voting twice, and is just two seasons removed from posting an .848 OPS.

The scary part for other teams in the AL East is that Atkins might not be done.

The Jays continue to be linked to Cleveland’s José Ramírez, while Arizona’s Ketel Marte is another candidate worth considering. If neither guy is moved, the club could focus instead on adding a designated hitter while allowing Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal to platoon at second.

“Maybe you can tell by my eyes that it’s around the clock. We’re spending a lot of time and energy on ways to make our team better,” a weary Atkins said. “If that means in incremental ways, or significant ways, we want to make sure that we can present those opportunities to ownership and our group. But having said all that, we feel very good about where we are. We feel like we’ve put ourselves in a good position. We have a really good foundation.”

Atkins indicated Wednesday that he wasn’t close to making another deal or signing, but that could change in a hurry. With three weeks remaining until opening day, agents and GMs are rushing to complete their business so that players have time to settle into their new surroundings before the season gets underway.

If the Jays make another move, it would likely be to add a lefty bat. First baseman Freddie Freeman was the best of those available, but according to the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal he was in serious talks with the Los Angeles Dodgers late Wednesday night on a six-year deal worth about $160 million (U.S.). While Freeman had previously been linked to the Jays via a report from former major leaguer Carlos Baerga, it was a questionable pairing for a long-term deal because of the overlap with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first.

Kyle Schwarber would have been a much cleaner fit, and the Jays had plenty of interest, but the 29-year-old chose to sign a four-year deal worth $79 million (U.S.) with the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday morning. Later, another possible DH went off the board when Joc Pederson reportedly agreed to a deal with the San Francisco Giants. That leaves Michael Conforto as the top lefty bat still available, but he would require a starting job in the outfield, which the Jays can’t provide without trading away Lourdes Gurriel Jr. or Teoscar Hernández.

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“The potential to complement our offensive roster is still there,” Atkins said when asked about the possibility of another move. “I feel good about internal pieces. There’s a lot of talk about the right-handed nature of our lineup. We’re mostly focused on acquiring good players, and if the left-handed version is better than the right-handed version that we have then we have to consider that, but I do feel good about where we’ve gotten to.”

Final grades for an off-season can’t really be handed out until the end of the regular season because it’s impossible to predict how some of these players will perform. Nobody saw Ray’s Cy Young season coming, and only a few thought Semien would make that much of an impact at the plate.

There will be even more surprises this year, but no matter what happens next it’s difficult to criticize what Atkins has managed to accomplish so far.

On paper, the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox look good. From this vantage point, the Jays just happen to look better.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca