There is uncertainty in the MLB air. The ground rules of building a championship team may change dramatically this off-season given a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that, certainly, will include a tightening of the ceiling and floor boundaries when it comes to payroll. Given that expectation of change — though a strict salary cap is unlikely — the Blue Jays brass on Wednesday, promised it will be business as usual as the 51-year-old franchise attempt to reload for another run to late October.
Jays’ President and CEO, Mark Shapiro has gone through seven labour crises through the course of his 35-year career, so, even though he claims to have no inside knowledge of where ownership’s salary-cap hardliners are headed, he and GM Ross Atkins will soldier on with business as usual, until notified otherwise.
“The way you go through it is you prepare under the current system and then you adjust along the way,” said Shapiro, who began his MLB career with the Indians in 1992, before moving to the Jays at the tail end of the 2015 season.
“So that’s what we’re going to do. We always prepare for multiple scenarios, so we will be prepared to adjust and adapt. Any new system, there will be a time frame for adjusting in that system, that’s understood.”
In this space over the past two seasons, ever since the Rogers Centre was renovated and has shifted its raison d’etre into being a money-making “pleasure palace”, we have consistently pointed out that the risk and thus the benefit of all that money spent on the stadium, with bars, restaurants, family areas in the outfield and VIP restaurants behind the plate, including closer access to the players, that the Blue Jays can never again afford a traditional 2-3 year rebuild of their roster. Just win now, baby.
“The level of appreciation and engagement between our fans and the players was clear, it was palpable, you could feel it,” Shapiro said of a season that ended in disappointment, but not abandonment. “If you could drop in on those (last three) games, with no context to what was happening, you would have thought we were playing for a playoff spot down to the last out. That was what the energy felt like.
“Think about the fact that we finished the season with 60 straight sellouts. That over a million people (each game) were finding a way to watch us, either streaming or on Sportsnet throughout the season, across the country. And I’m left with a couple of overwhelming feelings. First, is just gratitude for our fans. For how engaged they are. For the job our staff has done renovating this ballpark to create opportunities for them to have fun. Even with the ups and downs, it was remarkable to see.”
So how do they go about reaching this goal of retained relevance and getting the Jays back to post-season contenders. Sure, one can argue that at a certain point this summer the Jays were 10 games below .500 and still battled back to being mathematically alive with five days left in the season. But one can argue that was only because of a moon-walking American League and a third wild-card availability.
The Jays are the 10th team in MLB history to have a three-year sequence that went sub-.500 — World Series appearance — sub-.500. They have not broken any new ground in terms of disappointing their fanbase. Even the Dodgers’ 1988 upset of the A’s with Kirk Gibson’s Game 1 pinch hit blast vs. Dennis Eckersley, was sandwiched between a couple of dud seasons. So how do the Jays plan on taking the next step?
“When I got here (in ’15), I was told players won’t come here,” Shapiro recalled. “That you’re going to have to pay them more, give extra years, and how far we are from that, now, as a desired landing spot for some of the best players in the game. I think that’s because of our fans and because of how unique and special it is to play here.”
Possible Changes for the Blue Jays in 2027
Given the hopeful, almost defiant tone of Shapiro’s “business-as-usual” comments, moving forward into an uncertain to-be-negotiated financial and salary-cap future, what can Jays fans look forward to, in team-building priorities, at least prior to Dec. 1, and the expiration of the current labour agreement, then into early next year when a new CBA must be settled on to allow for anything close to a full 162-game season?
Hitting all the wrong notes
“A lot of focus has been on the offence,” Atkins stated the obvious. “We understand that, but it’s never one thing. Offensively we never gained any momentum. We never put the ball in the seats. We’re not walking. We’re not getting on base, nearly enough. When that happens, we’re relying on-line drives in the gaps and that wasn’t often enough.”
So where do the Jays go to improve the offence. Start internally with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. That’s a huge start and nagging injuries aside, if he had simply equalled the numbers from his 2025 regular season, Jays would have been a wild-card team.
The 27-year-old, demi-billionaire statistically, from ’25 to ’26, saw drops in all major categories – Runs minus-24; Hits -31; Doubles -9; Homers -14; RBIs -27; Average -.032; Walks -25; OPS -.160. If he can simply return to the average production of every full season from 2021-25, then that would be a huge headstart to getting back to a Jays team playing deep into October. But it’s not a given.
“There’s such an overwhelming level of compassion for (Vlad), because of our belief in him,” Shapiro said about the falling-on-his-face of the franchise with 13 more years to go. “It’s the same belief that led us to the point where we are with him (contractually) and the belief before the season that this clearly going to be one of the most special offensive players in the game and in the history of the franchise.
“Knowing how much he cared. Knowing how disappointing it was to him is just tough. You feel pain, frustration, because you want him to be the cornerstone of what our offence does and that’s going to be part of our challenge this year. But mostly just care for him and desire to help him get back.”
That’s all the right things said and strong support for the player, but nobody will know until opening day and beyond of the ’27 season. But you have to start there.
What about the other negative contributors to a failed ’26 Jays offence? Shapiro and Atkins were reluctant to talk about specifics with regard to the Jays lineup, which parts need to be improved and revamped, but that won’t stop us from making a few suggestions, encouraged by the waffling of the president and GM.
OF/DH: With George Springer and Daulton Varsho gone and with a full off-season and spring training to clear up the outfield plus the DH spot, they are wide open as far as starting position player changes are concerned.
Oft-injured free agent, Anthony Santander should be given the first opportunity to earn the everyday DH job. They need the switch-hitting 32-year-old to be healthy and to be somewhere close to the 44-homer Santander of 2024 with the Orioles.
In the outfield, start with Brett Bateman in centre and think about who should flank him on a daily basis. Holdovers Nathan Lukes and Myles Straw are useful pieces that should be considered for important bench roles. The free agent target to play every day might be 32-year-old left fielder Randy Arozarena who would also bring some veteran clubhouse presence for Guerrero Jr. to lean on. He is a Scott Boras client.
Infield: The corners of the Jays infield are locked in with Vlad and Kaz Okamoto. Shortstop is a defence-first position in this lineup, with Andres Gimenez. As an offensive upgrade at second base with extra-base pop, the Jays could target 32-year-old Brandon Lowe who is a free agent, following one season with the Pirates. After five years with the Rays, Lowe in his lone Pittsburgh year had 35 homers and 96 RBIs.
What then of Ernie Clement? His best role, after watching him every day in 2026, may be the same super-utility, 450-500 at-bat role that was envisioned if Bo Bichette had stayed as a free agent and played second base in ’26. Ernie plays superior defence at second, third or short and given pro sports load management and minor aches and pains of 162-games, a fresher Clement can have a huge impact in any reduced role.
Early suggestion for ’27 Opening Day Lineup: 1-Brett Bateman CF; 2-Randy Arozarena LF; 3-Vlad Guerrero Jr. 1B; 4-Brandon Lowe 2B; 5-Kaz Okamoto 3B; 6-Alejandro Kirk C; 7-Anthony Santander DH; 8-Lukes/Straw RF; 9-Andres Gimenez SS.
The Jays ’27 pitching is in much better shape, with a head start by Atkins at the trade deadline, Jose Soriano and Spencer Arrighetti, with key injured pieces from 2026, expected to return to good health over the off-season.
There’s a potential re-signing of Shane Bieber to a friendly one-year deal. That possibility is something the former Cy Young winner, late in the season, indicated he would welcome, as he bets on himself with the goal of setting up a lucrative, multi-year final contract of his career. Meanwhile, less likely, seems a re-patriation of Kevin Gausman, a free agent after his Cubs were knocked out by the Padres.
Shapiro finished up with his own heartfelt observations, concerning the relationship he has observed among players, fans and country.
“Hearing our players on Sunday talk about playing in Toronto, talk about what it means to be here, what it means to represent a country, knowing that it’s authentic, their appreciation for the support they get, and how their families feel supported, that’s special,” Shapiro said.
“As fans, there aren’t many players who take the time to recognize just how supported they feel, how appreciated they feel, and our players, genuinely, consistently, authentically through the year, especially on Sunday. Not one, not two but multiple players took the time to recognize how special it is. Our fans feel that. Players come here and they recognize how special it is to play here."
“It’s not going to last forever. We can’t have multiple disappointing seasons. We’ve got to correct. But it’s given us more resilience and that’s importance.”
There it is. An admission from Shapiro that they cannot afford multiple disappointing seasons, meaning 2027. It has always been clear for the past three years that with all the huge investment that ownership has sunk into the infrastructure of the stadium improvements, that empty seats are the enemy and competitive teams are their friend.
The Jays best laid plans may not work out as they thought they would, as it did not between 2025-26, but whether Atkins and his group make smart moves or dumb moves, one can be certain that whatever the new basic agreement is stumbled upon, the Jays will be among those teams attempting to add talent, to build a winner.
Warning. It’s down to 60 days until Baseball Armageddon, Dec. 1, when MLB owners can lock out the players, some of them with great glee, upon the expiration of the current CBA. Underlying this one and different than, say the 1994 disastrous stoppage, is that owners need a cap, not for competitive balance, but so that when they expand they can offer cost certainty of a salary cap and jack the expansion fee.
Winter is Coming.