Blue Jays say they have the cash but so far no place to spend it

SAN DIEGO — The way Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro has approached his give-me-more-money discussions with owners Rogers Communications over the past several seasons has been bluntly transparent.

In order to contend for a championship, you have to spend like one.

With that in mind, Shapiro said the Jays have essentially been given clearance from the telecommunications giant to navigate a crucial off-season for the franchise with money to spend.

“It’s not an obstacle for us,” Shapiro said of the threat of spending to the MLB luxury tax, implying that there is enough financial freedom to stay below the tax. “The payroll is rising in a way I would say corresponds with our team, our success and our expectations, which is to be a championship-calibre team.”

Of course, spending large chunks of that Rogers loot has been easier said than done in what has mostly been a slow moving Winter Meetings for the Jays thus far. This, of course, is not unexpected given the tempo of the annual session in recent years and it’s nowhere near panic time.

It hasn’t been for a lack of trying nor — to a point — nor a lack of discussions with key free agents by Jays brass, either. And as general manager Ross Atkins has pointed out repeatedly, the off-season grades can’t be assessed at a hard deadline like Wednesday, when the Winter Meetings here conclude.

While there is a finite number to which the team can spend — none of which Shapiro is willing to divulge, of course — the president is adamant that there is enough flexibility to continue on the path towards contention.

“We’re not a team that functions without a budget,” Shapiro said. “We’ve certainly got limits. But the support and the growth of the payroll is unprecedented in the history of the franchise and continues to be very strong from ownership.”

With that budget freedom and a strong and improving core comes its own set of challenges, however. As Shapiro noted, the maturing and talented group of young star players will escalate with each passing season — think possibly extending Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette in the increasingly shrinking future

But there’s also immediate need — namely adding another starting pitcher this season an offensively productive outfielder to fill some of the void created by Teoscar Hernandez’s departure.

How and when those upgrades happen remain to be seen, though Atkins and the Jays baseball operations department of been laying the groundwork here.

“The nature of a maturing core that’s very talented and very strong means that more of the payroll goes to that core of players which is fitting because they’re good,” Shapiro said. “What we’re focused on is taking the resources that we’ve got and complementing a really exciting, dynamic and talented young core.”

What that means for the necessary upgrades for the team to continue on the upward arc of the past few seasons is the challenge, of course.

The Jays have money to spend, yes, but as mentioned so far have been priced out of spending it. They were “in” the Justin Verlander market but certainly not in the two-year, $86-million US stratosphere the New York Mets went to on the weekend to snag the AL Cy Young Award winner.

On Tuesday, another rotation arm they had expressed interested in, Andrew Heaney, was signed a two-year deal with the Texas Rangers that could escalate up to $37-million with incentives. The Jays front office wasn’t heartbroken by either of those “losses” nor was it a surprise given some of the limitations with both players.

It was the same situation with Cody Bellinger, an outfielder with red flags who signed a one-year, $17.5-million US deal with the Cubs.

There are plenty of options out there, but the more that go off the board, the more the limitations pile up.

Not that the Jays feel daunted by any of those players who have gotten away, but there is certainly a sense of what now? It’s also significant to remember, however, that much of Atkins’ most significant work as GM has been secured in the weeks after the Winter Meetings.

“Where we started this off-season is we are as well-positioned as any team in all of Major League Baseball,” Shapiro said before we asked him if there is a sense of urgency attached to that self-proclaimed status.

“I will say this: We feel a sense of urgency all the time. But if you don’t feel a sense of urgency in these jobs, you shouldn’t be in them. I think the fans deserve that. Our owners deserve that.

‘If you don’t wake up thinking about how to help us get better and what are the alternatives and opportunities, you’re in the wrong line of work. So yeah, we feel the urgency.”

The fans feel it as well, of course. But the off-season didn’t begin or end when the baseball world arrived here in Southern California.

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