NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Headlined by David Price, the Blue Jays have lost six key players to free agency under a new team president and GM, but manager John Gibbons still thinks his team has the makeup to take another run at the AL East title in 2016.
"It's never an easy transition when you bring new people in," Gibbons said at baseball's winter meetings. "It's not easy for us. It's not easy for them. But we can make that work.
MORE: 13 worst December trades of all time, ranked | Greatest Blue Jays of all time
"We've got a real good team, we think. We got a taste of it last year, and we want to repeat that. We think we've got the guys that can do it. Play good enough baseball, everything will be fine."
In the wake of Price's departure to the Red Sox by way of a seven-year, $217 million contract, the Blue Jays have tried to fill the void with the acquisitions of pitchers J.A. Happ and Jesse Chavez, who will compete for the No. 5 spot in the rotation with Drew Hutchinson and possibly Aaron Sanchez, should the Jays decide to move him out of the bullpen.
With 20-year-old Roberto Osuna manning the closer role, Gibbons hinted that the Blue Jays could stand to use a veteran presence late in games. One name that was brought up was Yankees reliever Andrew Miller, who was rumored to be available this winter.
"He would be a nice guy for us to get," Gibbons said about Miller. "But I don't see that happening.
"You figure the Yankees are always laying in the weeds to do something. I'm sure they'll make some moves. But (Miller) got my attention."
Instead, the Jays are interested in adding a utilityman capable of playing shortstop with the departure of Cliff Pennington in free agency. But the front office will have to keep one eye fixed down the road with the pending free agency of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion after next season.
"You look at his production the last few years, it's really a bargain," Gibbons said of Encarnacion, whom the Red Sox reportedly are interested in to replace David Ortiz at DH.
"There's a lot more money for Eddie to make before it's all said and done. As far as whether he tests the waters, who knows? I think he'll be excited about coming this year because we won last year and the fact that he will be a free agent."