Ross Atkins believes he has a clear vision of how to fortify the Blue Jays roster this offseason, and it starts with area of perceived strength already with the team.
Speaking at the General Managers Meetings in Orlando, Atkins told reporters that his first priority is to add quality depth on the Jays infield. Considering that Justin Smoak resides at first base with his 38 home runs, Josh Donaldson and his 33 bombs man third base, and the middle infield is manned by Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop and Devon Travis at second base, there would seem on the surface to be little reason to spend significant resources on the infield.
However, what Atkins sees is that Tulowitzki played in only 66 games last year while Travis appeared in 50. Even Donaldson found himself limited to 113 games. Injuries took a major toll on Toronto's solid infield corps, so Atkins has a plan moving forward.
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"Our priority is complementing our infield with versatility, someone not that can just play when needed, but someone who could potentially get 600 plate appearances playing across our infield in some form or fashion," stated Atkins. "That's the type of value we are looking for. It might mean that player might have to play the outfield."
It appears that Eduardo Nunez best fits that mold on the free agent market. The 30-year-old Nunez has experience playing second, short, third and the outfield over the course of his career with the Yankees, Twins, Giants and Red Sox. He is coming off a career-high .313 batting average and .801 OPS in 2017, but suffered a season-ending knee injury in Game One of the ALDS.
Neil Walker, another free agent who split last season between the Mets and Brewers, is capable of playing second base, third base and first base, and would add a left-handed hitting option to the lineup.
Whether Atkins fills this role on the roster by signing a free agent or via the trade route, the Jays GM is motivated not to be caught short because of injury again next season.
"With how things transpired last year with the health of our roster -- we certainly don't intend on that being the case where we have as many injuries or as many DL days -- we need to be better prepared to handle it if they do," explained Atkins. "More infield depth and versatility. We're focused out of the gate to create more balance and to create more depth on the major league roster."
That desire to improve both "depth" and "balance" is not solely about the infield. Atkins said that, while happy with the outfielders on both the big league and triple-A rosters, he seeks to create even better options in the outfield for next season. He also says improving the depth of the Jays starting pitching -- again, both at the major league and high minor league levels -- is important.
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"Right now the bulk of our focus is on position players," offered Atkins. "Part of that is where our team is, part of that is the market. But at the same time, we are talking to every available starting pitcher and are having trade discussions about starting pitchers."
In 2017, Marcus Stroman (13-9, 3.09) and Marco Estrada (10-9, 4.98) each made a team-high 33 starts for Toronto. Jay Happ (10-11, 3.53) made 25 starts. However, blister issues ruined the season of Aaron Sanchez, who made only eight starts, and finished with only one victory on the season, showing once again how important quality depth is at all positions.
Atkins said that the GM meetings this week are a "significant kick off" to the offseason's Hot Stove, which hit full stride at the Baseball Winter Meetings next month in Orlando.
Ryan Fagan contributed to this story