Ross Atkins: “I Expect Something Would Occur Before the Holidays”

Things have been all but quiet from the Toronto Blue Jays at the winter meetings this week. While other teams are throwing around money and prospects like they’re going out of style, the Blue Jays are sitting back and being the quiet kid in class.

Well, it may not be that way for very much longer.

There have been rumblings from Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins which indicate the Blue Jays have been very active and dialogue with free agents and trade partners. But Atkins spoke to TSN and actually gave a very specific deadline for a transaction to occur:

“We still feel good about a couple of things that are really close. I would expect something would occur before the holidays.

Nothing’s done yet; we’ve made a lot of progress. There are several things we are making progress on, so we have opportunities in both arenas (trade and free agency).”

As far as I can tell, this video was from late yesterday, so Ross Atkins could’ve been referring to the report in which the Blue Jays were very close to signing free agent RHP Yusmeiro Petit. That was prior to Petit’s one-year deal being firmed up with the Washington Nationals.

For Ross Atkins to give that specific of a deadline, something must be on the horizon in a matter of a mere days. And the way Atkins was speaking of this deal, he made it sound like the scope of it was much larger than simply a one or two year deal for a reliever.

Could it be something much larger; like the rumoured interest the Blue Jays have in Chris Davis?

It’s still so early in the Atkins regime, which means it’s extremely tough to get a read on him; but if he and Mark Shapiro are confident that a transaction (or transactions) will be completed in less than two weeks, then there’s no reason to think they’re simply fabricating rumours to make it look like they’re busy.

Ross Atkins’ comments also mirror what Mark Shapiro told reporters on late Wednesday night. That the Blue Jays are making “progress” in several areas.

“We did make significant progress in one hole. We’re very active on another need that we entered and we had some significant trade conversations today.”

Image via Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images Sport