Rogers' deal proof: Toronto is desirable landing spot

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TORONTO -- In Tyler Rogers, we can see everything that’s right with the Blue Jays.

Few players in baseball would have opened the door to free agency to find such a wide and willing market. Rogers just turned 35, but as a submarine righty with a reputation as one of the most reliable relievers in baseball, he had options and a rare level of control over his own future.

Money is always the loudest voice at the table, and the Blue Jays’ three-year, $37 million deal with a club option for 2029 was enough. Listening to Rogers explain his decision to come to Toronto, though, after a career spent mostly in San Francisco, illuminated all of the reasons the Blue Jays have become not just a destination that’s considered by free agents, but a legitimate, premier destination.

“When the American League champs give you a phone call, you kind of perk up and get excited about that,” Rogers said. “This is a team that was really close to winning the World Series. That right there is a great start. The Blue Jays have a great reputation throughout the industry, even before they made this World Series run. They have a great reputation for how they treat their players, their facilities and even more so how they treat families.”

This keeps coming from players. Several years ago, it started coming from established veterans already in Toronto, especially after the renovations at Rogers Centre were completed. Word gets around, though, and as those veterans talk -- and their families talk -- this has become more of an attraction. Money always wins, but still, this is something real and tangible the Blue Jays can sell to certain free agents.

Rogers and his wife have two young children who will be 1 and 4 years old when the season begins. His wife and kids will be relocating to Toronto full-time when the season begins, too, so he called this “a family decision,” not his own.

After the Blue Jays were the first team to reach out on Day 1 of free agency, Rogers had a Zoom call with Ross Atkins, John Schneider and some other Blue Jays reps. Throughout the process, his agent involved his wife equally, knowing this was a decision they’d be making together, but Toronto just kept making sense.

“I played with Kevin Gausman, so I heard from him,” Rogers said. “I’m telling you, everybody I’ve talked to who has played for the Jays, they don’t say, ‘You’re going to like it there and it’s going to be good there.’ They say, ‘You’re going to love being in Toronto.’ Every one of them says that.”

If Gausman needs a part-time gig in retirement a few years down the road, the Blue Jays’ marketing department should keep an office open for him. Perhaps Chris Bassitt could join, too. Each of these veterans have not only praised the Blue Jays for the work they do with families, but they’ve embraced the experience of living in Canada in ways this front office has always hoped for. Again, these players talk. Word gets around. Eventually, when a veteran free agent rolls around and is fielding similar offers from a handful of teams, these things are tiebreakers.

The narrative of players not wanting to come to Canada has finally been lowered into its grave, even if it’s taken far longer than it should have. That should no longer be spoken of, though, and no longer given lazy breaths of oxygen. Instead, the Blue Jays have swung to the other side. Top players aren’t scrolling down their lists to get to the Blue Jays. Those lists start with Toronto now.

Besides, the Blue Jays are pretty good. Rogers noticed that part, too.

“I obviously watched the World Series run along with everyone else, but I think the biggest takeaway I had came from when I actually played against them,” Rogers said. “We opened up in Toronto right after the All-Star break and I’m pretty sure the Blue Jays swept us. Facing the hitters, it didn’t feel like they chased at all. It didn’t feel like they swung-and-missed at all. Any time you were in a leverage count, they just fouled stuff off.”

This isn’t empty praise for his new colleagues. Rogers really remembered this series, right down to the Giants’ starters -- Justin Verlander, Logan Webb and Robbie Ray -- who were frustrated by the Blue Jays’ lineup. Those three starters combined to strike out just four Blue Jays batters, Verlander getting blanked.

This is all so easy to sell. It’s taken years -- some of them painful -- but this is what the Blue Jays have been building and dreaming of. Now, everyone wants a piece.