GM Atkins on Tulo's health, rotation and more

TORONTO -- Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins held his annual end-of-season news conference on Tuesday afternoon, and while Toronto's search for a new manager dominated most of the conversation, it was far from being the only topic discussed.
Atkins also touched on a number of topics surrounding his plans for the offseason and the Blue Jays' outlook for 2019. Here's a full rundown of some of the most interesting tidbits to come out of Atkins' availability with the media:
On how much financial flexibility the Blue Jays have this offseason...
"I just know that we'll have enough. The number is not final yet. Part of it is circumstance, too -- where we are, the players that we want to play, the opportunities that we want to give. Ultimately, we will spend less money, but we will have enough to understand all of the opportunities in the market and make sure we're prepared."
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On the roles for Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki next season...
"They're different situations. It will depend on, for Russ, specifically, how he comes into camp, what his mindset is. He makes such a difference for pitchers with his receiving, with his leadership, with his instincts, with his confidence. If he's near his best, he's playing. How regular? We'll see. It will depend on Danny Jansen, Reese McGuire, Luke Maile, Max Pentecost. There are other pieces to that equation. The receiving and the athleticism that Russ has behind the plate makes a positive difference on our pitching."

And more specifically on Tulowitzki...
"Tulo would be health dependent. If Tulo's healthy and performing at a very high rate, then yes [he'll play]. If he's healthy and his performance isn't to the caliber that Major League environments demand, then no. It starts with health. ... We can't guarantee that."
On where things stand with Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez...
"A lot of upside, still. Probably a little bit different, in that Aaron Sanchez hasn't pitched as much and Marcus Stroman has been relatively reliable as a starter. I'm confident that both of those guys can return to being regular [starters and] take the ball every five days. Because Marcus has thrown more innings, it's probably a little more realistic that he'll be more durable over the course of 162 [games]. At the same time, there's more upside in Aaron Sanchez maybe having a bit more power. There's a bit more of a growth opportunity [for Sanchez] because of the lack of innings and the lack of development."
On Sanchez's recent surgery...
"The UCL of the right index finger was repaired. So Dr. [Steven] Shin went in and saw some mild changes, felt like he could make that improvement that he would benefit from, and that procedure was done. We feel that he'll be ready for Spring Training."
On what the Blue Jays intend to do with Yangervis Solarte's $5.5 million club option...
"We've started the work. A lot of our focus has been on the managerial candidate. We have meetings coming up to talk about our offseason on the player front and our strategy for acquisitions."

On needing to protect a large group of prospects from the Rule 5 Draft and having only so many spots on the 40-man roster to do it...
"It's great. I'm so glad we're there. I'm glad we have a 40-man crunch and we have a lot of tough decisions. I would be surprised if we didn't have someone Rule-5'd away from us. That's a very good feeling to have, to have that amount of talent and not enough spots to protect it.
"Turning multiple roster spots into one [through trade]? Sure. We can't start out saying that's what we want to do. Obviously, you can understand why, but that might be an idea that evolves in some way. You're devaluing an asset if you quickly move to say you're moving multiple pieces."