RealGM

TORONTO -- He shows up almost when you least expect it.

Mark Shapiro, the dad, briefly seems out of place in his office at Rogers Centre as he finishes up one meeting and gets ready to head into another. The Blue Jays' president and CEO turns to his guest.

“Have you seen this?” the buttoned-up executive asks as he searches his phone for video of his 17-year-old son Caden doing an on-camera interview in the Indians' clubhouse years earlier.

Caden helps his dad find the video. Mark laughs. “His voice is the same,” he says, embarrassing his teenage son. When the interview ends, he plays it again, ensuring no one missed anything through the joyful laughter the first time through.

He still has a little bit of time, so Mark begins scrolling through the photos on his phone. He shares shots of himself and a young Caden standing together behind a massive trophy, after the Cleveland Spiders finished their season with a championship, one of the last times Mark would coach his son. He pulls up a shot of himself at 17 -- “probably about 100 pounds heavier than Caden,” he says, but looking remarkably similar to his offspring ... if you can see beyond the football uniform.

Then he offers a shot of an infant Caden, sitting in a basket surrounded by baseballs -- a perfect foreshadowing what the future might hold for a family whose baseball legacy looks to continue for at least one more generation.

Just about every team in baseball lost about $100 million last year due to the shortened season and the absence of fans in the stadiums. There were virtually zero revenues from ticket sales and concessions while TV and radio revenues were reduced by nearly two-thirds and will require rebates from the clubs to their networks for the lost games. Even though MLB continues to insist spring training will be starting on time, there is no certainty about that or when fans will be allowed in the stadiums. In the case of the Blue Jays, because of the Canada travel ban, even if the season is able to start on time, they will likely have to be playing their home games in their spring training ballpark in Dunedin which seats approximately 6,000 at full capacity.

The Blue Jays are justifying their spending binge on the fact that they needed to supplement their budding young nucleus, shortstop Bo Bichette, first baseman Vlad Guerrero Jr., third baseman Caban Biggio and outfielders Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez — whose service clocks are all ticking — in an effort to make a few deep postseason runs while they’re all still in their primes and affordable. Even though they are owned by the multi-media colossus Rogers Communications, the Blue Jays do not presently pay revenue sharing because their revenues are based on what the team itself generates.

There is speculation that Rogers Communications, which also owns the TV and radio rights to the Blue Jays games, forgave the rebate owed them by the team for the loss of all the games last year, which was as much as $75-100 million. If so, that would be considered outside revenue, and it’s understandable if the rest of the teams in baseball — particularly the large market clubs like the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox and Cubs who will be paying revenue sharing in 2021 — could be feeling they have subsidized all this Blue Jay spending this winter.

There is a mechanism called a related party review for which MLB examines all the teams’ revenue streams in determining the revenue sharing payers. Because there were no revenues in 2020, it was decided revenue sharing for 2021 would be based on the average of the clubs’ revenues for the ’17-’18-’19 seasons. However, other teams are said to be asking for a review of the Blue Jays’/Rogers situation: Specifically, if Rogers Communications, the Blue Jays’ holding company, is allowed to plow unlimited amounts of money into the team, that is considered revenue and subject to revenue sharing. Otherwise, the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers could have the same thing this winter with their respective partially-owned networks, YES, NESN and SportsNET LA.

I’m told the six years/$150 million the Jays gave Springer particularly consternated other clubs since, despite bidding against themselves once Steve Cohen and the Mets reportedly dropped out at six years /$120 million, the Jays still gave Springer the number he was asking for.

Meanwhile, for all their splashy additions, even the Jays themselves are conceding they need two more proven starting pitchers to back up Hyun Jin Ryu if they are to make a serious run into the postseason this year. Until proven otherwise, both Matz and Ray, with all their inconsistencies, remain projects for Jays’ highly regarded pitching coach Pete Walker. The Jays have remained engaged with the ever-tantalizing but much injured James Paxton, who they originally drafted but failed to sign in the first round of the 2009 draft, and they also continue to talk with Jake Odorizzi.

vaff87 wrote:LOL at that article. Very salty.

polo007 wrote:How are Blue Jays paying for all these new players? - New York Daily News

Just about every team in baseball lost about $100 million last year due to the shortened season and the absence of fans in the stadiums. There were virtually zero revenues from ticket sales and concessions while TV and radio revenues were reduced by nearly two-thirds and will require rebates from the clubs to their networks for the lost games. Even though MLB continues to insist spring training will be starting on time, there is no certainty about that or when fans will be allowed in the stadiums. In the case of the Blue Jays, because of the Canada travel ban, even if the season is able to start on time, they will likely have to be playing their home games in their spring training ballpark in Dunedin which seats approximately 6,000 at full capacity.

The Blue Jays are justifying their spending binge on the fact that they needed to supplement their budding young nucleus, shortstop Bo Bichette, first baseman Vlad Guerrero Jr., third baseman Caban Biggio and outfielders Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez — whose service clocks are all ticking — in an effort to make a few deep postseason runs while they’re all still in their primes and affordable. Even though they are owned by the multi-media colossus Rogers Communications, the Blue Jays do not presently pay revenue sharing because their revenues are based on what the team itself generates.

There is speculation that Rogers Communications, which also owns the TV and radio rights to the Blue Jays games, forgave the rebate owed them by the team for the loss of all the games last year, which was as much as $75-100 million. If so, that would be considered outside revenue, and it’s understandable if the rest of the teams in baseball — particularly the large market clubs like the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox and Cubs who will be paying revenue sharing in 2021 — could be feeling they have subsidized all this Blue Jay spending this winter.

There is a mechanism called a related party review for which MLB examines all the teams’ revenue streams in determining the revenue sharing payers. Because there were no revenues in 2020, it was decided revenue sharing for 2021 would be based on the average of the clubs’ revenues for the ’17-’18-’19 seasons. However, other teams are said to be asking for a review of the Blue Jays’/Rogers situation: Specifically, if Rogers Communications, the Blue Jays’ holding company, is allowed to plow unlimited amounts of money into the team, that is considered revenue and subject to revenue sharing. Otherwise, the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers could have the same thing this winter with their respective partially-owned networks, YES, NESN and SportsNET LA.

I’m told the six years/$150 million the Jays gave Springer particularly consternated other clubs since, despite bidding against themselves once Steve Cohen and the Mets reportedly dropped out at six years /$120 million, the Jays still gave Springer the number he was asking for.

Meanwhile, for all their splashy additions, even the Jays themselves are conceding they need two more proven starting pitchers to back up Hyun Jin Ryu if they are to make a serious run into the postseason this year. Until proven otherwise, both Matz and Ray, with all their inconsistencies, remain projects for Jays’ highly regarded pitching coach Pete Walker. The Jays have remained engaged with the ever-tantalizing but much injured James Paxton, who they originally drafted but failed to sign in the first round of the 2009 draft, and they also continue to talk with Jake Odorizzi.

Cyrus wrote:Do you see the Jays adding another FA piece this off season, that's not a minor league signing or do you think they are "done".

TORONTO -- Now that president and CEO Mark Shapiro and manager Charlie Montoyo have their contract extensions, GM Ross Atkins is next up for the Toronto Blue Jays.

“Ross and I are in active conversations about keeping him here,” Shapiro said during an interview Sunday. “I obviously feel extremely happy about and proud of the job he's done in building out infrastructure and, most importantly probably, acquiring and developing talent, and leading the baseball organization. I see Ross as part of a long-term future here and want him to be here, and that's shared at the ownership level.”

Shapiro signed a five-year extension that runs through the 2025 season back in January, while Atkins revealed last week that the club option for 2022 on Montoyo’s original three-year contract had been exercised.

The Blue Jays gave Atkins a four-year contract in December 2015 when he was hired over Tony LaCava, the assistant general manager named interim GM after Alex Anthopoulos declined an extension. Atkins then signed a two-year extension in 2019 that runs through this year.

The next contract will put Atkins, 47, in position to become the second most tenured general manager in Blue Jays history, behind Hall of Famer Pat Gillick’s 18-year run. J.P. Ricciardi ran the team eight seasons (2002-09), Gord Ash seven (1995-2001) and Anthopoulos six (2010-2015).