GM Ross Atkins adamant that 2023 was ‘just a blip’ for Blue Jays

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Sure, there was the flirtation with Shohei Ohtani and the noise about a potential trade for Juan Soto, but, in reality, from the start this off-season always felt like it was going to be just another loss for the Blue Jays.

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And now, less than six weeks before pitchers and catchers report to Dunedin, Fla., for spring training, the team’s general manager in a roundabout way is acknowledging as much.

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Ross Atkins isn’t exactly wording it as such — what professional sports general manager would?

In his first media availability of 2024 on Wednesday, Atkins enthused about the return of centre fielder Kevin Kiermaier and about the utility options fellow free-agent signee Isiah Kiner-Falefa brings. You would expect nothing less.

But the reality has always been that given what is mostly a weak winter for high-end shopping and the underwhelming haul Atkins has made so far, the biggest improvement must come from within — be it from Vlad Guerrero Jr., Alejandro Kirk, George Springer or Daulton Varsho et al.

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For as many times as Atkins uttered variations of “we like our team” on Wednesday (we actually lost count), it started to ring as though Atkins was not just trying to convince a restless fan base, but himself as well.

When it comes to offence specifically, Atkins’ public stance is that the misfirings at the plate in 2023 were an aberration, an unsightly downturn from the power that had been on display the two previous seasons.

“We feel like last year was just a blip in terms of run scoring,” Atkins said. “I think we have plenty of power to drive in runs. It doesn’t mean we’re not open to adding another power bat. Just name off four or five guys at the top of our lineup and they all drive in runs and they all hit home runs.

“We have plenty of power. We project to score runs again and feel optimistic we will.”

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Plenty of power, you say?

On a glass half-full level, Atkins potentially is not wrong. The Guerrero of 2021 and the Kirk of 2022 were significant producers and, in each of those seasons, the Jays’ batting order had plenty of pop.

Last year, not so much.

Of course, Atkins’ assessment is conveniently leaving out the fact that in the previous off-season he dealt a significant portion of that power, sending fan favourites Teoscar Hernandez to Seattle and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to Arizona. The premise was that improved defence would more than make up for the loss, a belief that, from where we stand today, is a gross miscalculation.

While this is by no means a defence of what has been an uninspiring off-season thus far, it wasn’t as if Atkins and his staff were shopping from a bountiful free-agent class. Beyond Ohtani and a still-available-but-inconsistent-and-overpriced Cody Bellinger, the pickings were slim.

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And at least the potential turnaround of the underachieving 2023 group isn’t being left to a hope and prayer. The team has significantly shuffled its coaching staff on the hitting side and, by extension, the approach at the plate.

“It’s really just how we’re helping them and how we’re supporting them and that starts with me,” Atkins said by way of explanation. “How we can put them in the best possible position.

“(Last season) was an outlier over the past four years. Now, having said that, we’re not going to rest on that. Now we’re focused on improving our process. As the league has adjusted to us, we need to adjust back.”

Personnel wise, the off-season offensive machinations are headlined by the promotion of bench coach Don Mattingly to the newly created football-sounding position of offensive coordinator. As well, former hitting strategist Dave Hudgens has been jettisoned from the big league staff while Atkins announced on Wednesday that Matt Hague has been promoted to the role of assistant hitting coach from triple-A Buffalo.

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“The things we’re missing aren’t people,” Atkins said of the 2023 shortcomings. “The things that were missing were our ability to support and help the players which we feel like we’ve worked to offset and put ourselves in a much better position.

“I’m excited about the progress (Mattingly) has made to build a better process. I feel really good about the staffing structure and process to best support them.”

Part of that optimism stems from the fact that Atkins doesn’t really have much choice. While there are still opportunities on the market, the GM suggested that, at most, the team is looking to add one more body (and presumably bat) and, at this point anyway, it’s difficult to imagine that being one of huge impact.

Given the options, there was always a good chance this was how one of the most important Jays off-seasons in recent memory was going to play out. The flaws of the past can get reversed — and need to — and as one of those returning players readily acknowledged on Wednesday.

“We were not as good as we could have been last year,” said Kiermaier, who revealed there was little interest in him beyond the Jays this winter. “We all know that.

“We have dudes who can hit.”

And need to if the team is going to recover from a 2023 season that went sideways early and never quite recovered.

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