The Importance of Depth
Roster depth is one of the more underrated aspects of building a team. It's easy to become enamored with the star players and hope your team makes a big splash. More often it's the additions at the back-end of the roster that can pay the biggest dividends. The baseball season is long and grueling and injuries can derail a season if there isn't quality players to replace the lost production.
We have seen a number of stars and scrubs teams that look good on paper but fail to produce wins. The White Sox are a recent example and after years of futility, despite a roster full of stars, they have finally faced facts and begun the rebuild process.
When the Blue Jays made back-to-back ALCS appearances they did so without any major black holes in their lineup. 2017 was a disaster from the start and the main culprit was the number of sub-replacement players in their lineup on a daily basis. A significant number of plate appearances were given to sub-replacement level players such as Ryan Goins, Darwin Barney, Jose Bautista, Luke Maile, Miguel Montero and Kendrys Morales. Those players accounted for nearly 40% of the Blue Jays plate appearances and combined for -3.2 fWAR
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Chris Coughlan and Rob Refsnyder did not log significant playing time but were still worth -1.6 fWAR. With so much dead weight on the roster it's no wonder the Blue Jays fell so far from the playoff teams of 2015-2016.
Making sure those same depth problems didn't repeat themselves in 2018 has been priority #1 for Ross Atkins and co. The outfield may lack star power but it is very, very deep and allows the Jays to go with whoever is producing. Yangervis Solarte is one of the game's better super utlity players and provides insurance all over the diamond. Aledmys Diaz had a down year last season but was still worth a half win more than Goins in less playing time. Even if Diaz repeats his 2017 showing it's an improvement upon what Goins provided last year.
The Blue Jays still have depth questions on the pitching side of things. With plenty of money left in the budget and a lot of options remaining on the free agent market, the front office should be able to fortify their roster with some solid arms. If they can address their pitching depth it would leave few glaring holes on the roster. It would be a roster that isn't big on elite talent but one that would be solid throughout.
A move for an impact player would have been exciting for the fan base, but wouldn't move the needle enough to allow the Blue Jays to be on the same talent level as the Yankees and Red Sox. Acquiring a big name free agent would mean sacrificing other parts of the roster and would leave the team susceptible to injuries and a repeat of 2017. Trading for an impact player makes little sense as well. Going all in for a season where the division is unlikely isn't worth sacrificing talent that may help when the Blue Jays are better positioned to compete for the division.
The depth moves may not be sexy but they put them in a very good position to compete for a wild card. Once you're in the playoffs anything can happen. With where this team is on the winning curve it makes sense for them to build up their talent floor to give themselves a shot at the wild card while simultaneously hoarding their prospects for when they think they have better odds at taking the division. If the team can stay competitive in 2018 it means they will maintain some of the increased revenue they saw during the 2015-2017 seasons and that would go a long way toward seeing winning baseball in Toronto sooner rather than later.
