Ross

Atkins

Click was ostensibly fired by the Astros in mid-November, shortly after the team’s World Series championship run concluded. Clearly, Astros owner Jim Crane wanted to take the franchise in a different direction, despite the club’s on-field success under Click’s tenure at the helm of baseball operations, hiring Dana Brown away from the Braves last month. Click will likely play a significant role for the Blue Jays’ baseball operations department moving forward assisting general manager Ross Atkins.

Nothing official from the Blue Jays yet, who unveiled the unofficial changes in progress last week to reporters. Mitchell adds that his sources indicate the most notable dimension change involves moving the right-center field alley in from 375 to 357 feet, which should make playing center field in Toronto much more challenging experience for outfielders. There are also small changes like the left-center field fences being moved in from 375 feet to 366 feet and center-field going from 400 feet to 397 feet. Those dimension changes are being offset by significantly higher outfield walls in certain sections, so it’s unclear whether the changes will lead to more round-trippers. We’ll see.

The exact outfield-wall dimensions will not be shared until next month by the Blue Jays, and construction remains ongoing in Toronto. However, early looks at the renovated Rogers Centre outfield appear to feature significantly higher walls in both left and right field. Those changes will be offset by the fences being moved in by a few feet. There should be more clarity on the changes next month, but it certainly appears that they could be slightly pitcher-friendly changes. It’s starting to make sense why the Blue Jays signed defensive wizard Kevin Kiermaier and also traded for strong defender Daulton Varsho to fortify their outfield defense.

The atmosphere will be electric, even without a full house, when the Blue Jays finally return home for the first time since the 2019 campaign later this month. Toronto boasts one of the most exciting young nucleuses in the game and find themselves on the precipice of a return to the postseason. Get excited, Canada.

Atkins was hired as the Blue Jays’ general manager in December 2015, shortly after Mark Shapiro was named team president, and those two have helped usher in a new era of Blue Jays baseball with an impressive stock of club-controlled position player talent. Toronto made the playoffs as a Wild Card in 2020 and this team has designs on capturing the AL East in 2021. The new deal for Atkins kicks in next yea and will run through 2026. “Coming to Toronto with my family has enriched our lives in countless ways and having the opportunity to remain a Blue Jay is something I do not take for granted,” the 47-year-old said in a statement Wednesday.

Shapiro indicated that he doesn’t have a specific target date in mind, but feels there is momentum towards the team making a formal request “sometime in the next month” with the Canadian government and local city officials to map out a return to the Rogers Centre later this summer. “We’ve got fairly good information that the vaccine will be accessible to our players and other major-league teams in the next two to three weeks or month,” Shapiro continued. “So that if by the end of April or early May all of our players or the bulk of our players and staff are vaccinated and other teams are as well and Toronto is a safe place, it starts to feel like the reasons for us not to be there, the risks start to be mitigated.” There’s nothing official yet, but it seems like the Blue Jays could be back home at some point this summer.

The team officially announced Thursday morning that home games will be played at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida through May 2, but the next move from there might be Buffalo to avoid the summer heat. Shapiro added that the Blue Jays didn’t even bother asking the Canadian government for a timetable of when it might be possible to move back to Rogers Centre in Toronto, stating that “we’re not going to push the issue if we aren’t confident it can be done safely.” Good luck to all those park factor enthusiasts on this one.

That timeframe encompasses the team’s first two homestands from April 8-14 and April 27-May 2. The hope is that the Canadian government will allow a return to Rogers Centre in Toronto for the third homestand of the season, which runs from May 14-24, but that’s far from a sure thing at this point. TD Ballpark is where the Jays stage much of their spring training activity, and it rated as the most hitter-friendly stadium in the Florida State League when the club’s Low-A Dunedin affiliate was last up and running in 2019. Give a slight boost to the power projections of the long list of Blue Jays position players who should be on fantasy draft boards this spring. On the flip side, Blue Jays pitchers should perhaps be knocked down a peg or two.

Davidi and Nicholson-Smith say that the Blue Jays are expected to officially announce the decision on Thursday. The report also states that the shift to TD Ballpark in Dunedin will, for now, cover homestands from April 8-14 and April 27-May 2. It’s yet to be determined where the team will play during their May 14-24 homestand, as the hope is that the border opens up and allows the club to return to Rogers Centre in Toronto by that time. TD Ballpark projects to play very hitter-friendly, particularly for left-handed batters given that the right-center field power alley is just 363 feet. Adjust accordingly.

The Jays, of course, played at their Triple-A stadium in Buffalo in 2020, but for 2021 it would make more sense logistically to play at their spring training site in Dunedin (again, if Toronto isn’t an option). The hope, of course, is that the club is cleared to play at Rogers Centre, but it’s a complicated issue because of COVID-19 travel restrictions. Fantasy managers will want to keep a close eye on this situation, as TD Ballpark projects to play very hitter-friendly. Not only is there likely to be warm weather, but the right-center field power alley is measured at just 363 feet.