Ross Atkins is starting to get uncomfortable

After shelling out $33MM for Jeff Hoffman, the largest contract for a reliever in franchise history, Ross Atkins and the Blue Jays are starting to play the uncomfortable numbers game.

Prior to this, the most money the Blue Jays had given to a Free Agent reliever was the $15MM for Yimi Garcia earlier this year, while the largest amount of guaranteed money was the $21MM for Chad Green.

Throughout the 2024-2025 offseason, the Blue Jays have been consistent and diligent when it comes to player evaluations. This includes the money aspect, but also factors like not going five or six years for certain players. This is one of the many reasons they have failed to sign a big-name bat this offseason.

As Shi Davidi recently pointed out, the Blue Jays have remained rational in a market that requires some degree of irrationality. Clearly the franchise has money to spend, but they aren't going to be the Dodgers and Mets and go on a shopping spree.

And yet, what both the Hoffman signing and the deal with Vladimir Guerrero indicate is that maybe, just maybe, Atkins and Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro are slowly starting to move out of their comfort zone.

In support of this, there have been reports that they have made a 2nd offer to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., that is much more in line with his desired price, which is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $450MM. That is uncomfortable, unprecedented territory for the Blue Jays.

In the free-spending, free-wheeling and dealing world of baseball, uncomfortable can be a good thing. In a world of number crunching, analytics, valuations, and inflated egos, sometimes not sticking to your guns can be the wise decision.

While Ross Atkins isn't truly 100% uncomfortable, maybe, just maybe, he is starting to get there.

SOURCE - SportsNet