With Tulowitzki gone, Martin move could be next for Blue Jays

LAS VEGAS — As the Toronto Blue Jays wind down the Winter Meetings with relatively little tangibly accomplished, the next steps are becoming more clear.

Yes, the club is looking for starting pitching, that much is clear. But the release of Troy Tulowitzki shows they’re also looking to start moving on from veterans that don’t fit, even if that means swallowing dead money.

The next man to fit that description is clearly Russell Martin, who’s owed $20 million this season but has no obvious place on the roster considering the “catcher of the future” Danny Jansen needs to play as much as possible and Luke Maile is an affordable and effective backup.

That means the best course is to eat a lot of money and move Martin elsewhere.

“We have enough flexibility if there was the need to do that,” general manager Ross Atkins said. “It just depends on the return. We’re fortunate we have so much support that we can use dollars and payroll to acquire prospects.”

At the right price Martin has an appeal to a contending team. He can still get on base, he can still call a game, and he’s got the ever-mystifying and unquantifiable ‘veteran presence’.

“You see the winning teams and their push to acquire a Carlos Beltran type, the influence Jason Giambi had later in his career, the impact that David Ross had in Chicago,” Atkins noted. “It’s hard to say how much, but there’s no doubt it had a premium [on it].”

At this point, it’s hard to imagine the 35-year-old Martin as a full-time starter for a contending team, but that’s not where Atkins puts his ceiling.

“I think Russ could easily catch 120 games today,” he said. “He’s such an incredible athlete with such incredible range of motion I think he’s as comfortable in a crouch as I am in this chair right now.”

That’s well and dandy – and a surprisingly amusing soundbite – but it’s also worth noting that there’s a heavy incentive for Atkins to say positive things about Martin from here on out.

So, expect hear more of the same – at least until the Blue Jays find a trading partner.

Blue Jays could be active at the Rule 5 Draft

Atkins had hinted at the GM meetings that the Blue Jays were unlikely to make a move in the Rule 5 Draft. On Wednesday, however, he backpedalled on that a touch.

“As we did more work, and candidly as I got up to speed, it’s become more apparent that there could be some potential there for us.”

Releasing Tulowitzki also created some room for an addition on the 40-man roster, and the bullpen has no locks outside Ken Giles and Ryan Tepera. It’s not too hard to connect the dots.

On the other side – the potential to lose players – Atkins didn’t rule anything out.

“In protecting Jacob Waguespack feel like that was mitigating that somewhat, but there are several other players that we really struggled to not protect that I’d imagine other teams would have some interest in.”

Atkins meets with Brandon Drury

Drury is a player who’s been “out of sight, out of mind” for Blue Jays fans as he played just eight games with the club in 2018 after being acquired from the New York Yankees.

The 26-year-old figures to be Toronto’s Opening Day third baseman though, and could play a big role shifting over to second when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is promoted. Atkins touched base with Drury on Tuesday, and the veteran feels confident after a bumpy season.

“He’s excited about how he’s seeing the ball and how his hand feels,” Atkins relayed.

Although versatility has been one of his calling cards traditionally, it seems like the former Arizona Diamondbacks regular has a positional preference.

“He sees himself as a third baseman who’d embrace second,” Atkins said. “He thinks he can be one of the best third baseman in the game. He’s comfortable there.”

Anthony Alford’s lost 2018

Another forgotten man for the Blue Jays is Alford, who came into the 2018 campaign ranking between #48 and #60 on major MLB-wide prospect lists. Unfortunately for the outfielder he managed just a .240/.312/.344 line at Triple-A and had a seven-game cup of coffee in the majors.

With Alford turning 25 next season he’s getting close to an age where the Blue Jays need to see what he’s got at the highest level. Atkins thought his chances of making the team in the spring were awfully slim, though.

“I think the way we’re built today it would be hard for him, not impossible,” he said. “McKinney has options, we’ll see… Anthony’s just not coming off the best year.”

When asked about where Alford’s 2018 went wrong the Blue Jays general manager indicated his impression was that it was largely a mindset issue.

“I think it was mostly psychological when he got off to a tough start. He was trying so hard to make up for that,” he said. “That’s a separator. That’s like the biggest separator for guys is going one pitch at a time.”

The way Atkins figures it Alfords selflessness works against him at times, and it did last year.

“The frustration was high when he didn’t got off to a good start after the injuries in Spring Training. He’s such a selfless guy too, that he sees it as not just letting himself down, but letting his teammates down and letting the organization down and letting his family down – and I think that stress got to him.”