MLB: Ross Atkins clear head of AL East general managers
By Bill Felber
Toronto Blue Jays, Ross Atkins, +10.0 games
For Atkins, the winter headline move was the signing of free agent George Springer to a six-year deal. The short-term impact of that heralded move has been negligible; an injured Springer (+0.1) has appeared in just 17 games.
As it turns out, the far more impactful decision Atkins made involved the signing of free agent shortstop-turned-second baseman Marcus Semien (+3.2) to a far more modest one-year deal. Semien is delivering an All Star caliber season with 21 home runs and an .880 OPS.
Counting all the new faces, Atkins has introduced 23 players to the Blue Jays since the end of the 2020 season with a batting average any GM would covet. Eleven have produced positive impacts thus far against just nine on the negative side (three were neutral). Factor in that net negative performers usually don’t last long enough to pile up hugely negative numbers and you begin to understand how Atkins compiled that +10.0 game impact.
It also helped that he promoted starter Alex Manoah (+0.8) in May. Since then he’s only 2-0, but that’s because he has been babied, averaging just five innings per start. He has a 2.70 ERA.
Atkins also showed a keen discretionary eye for which players to dump. Atkins severed eight players from the Jays who interested some other GM enough to catch on with a new major league team. Not a single one of the eight has to date produced a positive impact for his new team.
Those eight included infielder Travis Shaw and pitcher Matt Shoemaker, both released by Atkins before signing on with the Brewers and Twins respectively. They have combined to injure their new teams by 3.7 games.