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TORONTO — Don’t let the slow start to the off-season fool you.

When the floodgates finally do open, and Mark Shapiro expects the final days of 2020 to be busy, the Toronto Blue Jays will be involved in some way, shape or form.

After an overly quiet week that was the Major League Baseball virtual winter meetings, the Blue Jays president and CEO emphasized that his front office is still big-game hunting, although he cautioned improvements could come in many different forms at this point.

“To place all of the emphasis on a successful off-season on a few names is probably not the right way to focus on it,” Shapiro said Friday afternoon on — what else? — a Zoom call with the media. “We need to get better and I’m 100 per cent confident we will get better. That could come in the form of four very good players, it could come in the form of two elite players. But we’re going to get better and we have a lot of exciting conversations happening right now.”

By all accounts, the Jays have been one of the most aggressive teams in baseball since free agency opened last month, leaving no stone unturned.

Agents have also been hard at work attaching their clients’ names to the Jays — one of the few teams publicly saying they have cash to burn — in order to drum up interest from other franchises.

It’s led to just about every premium name being attached to Shapiro’s club in free agency, while their quest for “impact” players and “elite” talent has also led to trade rumours swirling around names like Francisco Lindor, Kris Bryant and Nolan Arenado.

What isn’t certain at this time is whether any of the top free agents, specifically two they’re chasing hard in George Springer and D.J. LeMahieu, are seriously considering Toronto.

At a time of year when the top players are usually slowly starting to come off the board, Shapiro can see things dragging into January, which could have major implications for the Jays as they play potentially a tense waiting game with their top targets, as other players begin to sign and are no longer options.

“I do think that things are going to get done,” Shapiro said. “I think the next two weeks will be a busy two weeks in the industry. But I think you’re right, a lot more business than usual of higher magnitude will get done in January this year.”

Now through the budget planning process, Shapiro isn’t about to reveal the payroll number for 2021 but there seems to be considerable room to add to multiple areas of the roster in significant ways if “four very good players or two elite players” is actually in the cards.

Shapiro says the long-term budgets he structured with ownership for when they believed the team’s on-field competitive window was about to open haven’t changed because of the pandemic, putting them in an enviable position when compared to some of the other 29 franchises around the league.

“There are still a lot of uncertainties within the budget, but not as it pertains to major-league payroll,” Shapiro said.

“That budget projects significant losses, much like it did last year. What it does do, what it clearly does is stay the course and continue on the strategy and plan, and allow us to move forward in it. We’re incredibly fortunate that we’ve got that strength of ownership behind us.”

With revenue almost non-existent for 2020 and fans not expected for at least the first portion of 2021, uncertainty still exists in many areas.

Once again, that extends to where they’ll be playing home games come April.

With vaccines on the way, Shapiro is staying optimistic they’ll be in Toronto, but contingency planning is currently ongoing.

“I think opening here with fans is almost impossible,” Shapiro said. “We’ll adapt to what happens but we’re not going to concede because we want to play in Toronto, we want to play in Canada, that remains our hope.

“As we examine alternatives, whether they are one-or-two month or longer alternatives, we look at a variety of variables. Location, proximity to the teams we play and what travel looks like. Most importantly, health and safety and what it looks like for us to be able to create a facility that allows for the safety protocols. Probably after that, things like training environment, a championship environment … and somewhere in that is revenue, but that’s not at the top of the list.”

As different venues are investigated by the Jays this winter, Shapiro even predicts rumours of where they’re playing will swirl, but he expects to need to make a decision “weeks” out, not months out, giving them likely until well into March to make a final decision.

That’s also assuming the schedule starts on time.

Until then, they’ll focus on improving the roster, a storyline that has amused Shapiro to an extent this off-season.

“It’s been interesting to see our level of interest and our engagement and involvement be such dramatic news, but I think maybe that’s a reflection and a reinforcement to our fans that we’re taking the next step,” he said.

STADIUM ON BACKBURNER

From one stadium situation to another, Shapiro addressed the Globe and Mail report from Nov. 27 for the first time Friday, saying the future of Rogers Centre is not a focus right now.

According to Globe and Mail sources, Rogers Communications Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. “want to demolish the Rogers Centre and construct a new stadium as part of a downtown Toronto redevelopment.”

The report also said the Jays are considering building a new stadium on a different lakefront site if those renovation plans fall through.

While it’s very clear some sort of new stadium or massive Rogers Centre redevelopment is going to become at the very least a planning focus this decade, the pandemic has slowed that roll.

“From my perspective, it’s not in my windshield,” Shapiro said. “It’s certainly one of the things I’d thought we’d attack when I got here. At some point, the scope and the magnitude of that project got much bigger than the deal that the Toronto Blue Jays could put together alone. I guess what I would say is what’s been reported by Rogers is accurate — the pandemic has overtaken any planning whatsoever.”

Instead, now that the multi-million dollar renos of the club’s player development complex and spring training stadium in Dunedin are complete, the focus is on pouring resources into the roster, managing the financial fallout of the pandemic, and making minor improvements to the existing stadium infrastructure.

This past year, those included a new sound system and changes to the 100 level, with a new turf playing surface and batting cages going in this winter.

That’s left a major stadium project on the backburner.

“We’ve got plenty of work to focus on,” Shapiro said. “At the right time, I’m sure we’ll get engaged and involved in that, but this isn’t the time for that for us.”