The Blue Jays Blueprint

The blueprint for a successful rebuild can be found in Houston, where the Astros have gone from a perennial bottom feeder to a potential dynasty within a matter of several years.

Houston went through a lot of pain before becoming a team that advanced to the American League Championship Series in three consecutive seasons.

 The organization tore apart its foundation and started over with a renewed emphasis on drafting, signing international players and hitting the open market when the time was right.

The result has been three consecutive seasons of 100-plus wins and three division crowns. Next up is a matchup with the Yankees, which starts Saturday, where the club will look to advance to the World Series for the second time in three years. Houston, in its current state, is the envy of almost every team in the league.

Of course, it’s not always that easy. More rebuilds fail than become a success and just because something worked for one team doesn’t mean it will work for another. Yet, at the same time, most organizations look at what happened in Houston and want to replicate it. Baseball often is a game of copycats and teams have been following this model for a while.

There are a lot of comparables between the Astros and Blue Jays, but it’s worth pointing out that earlier this decade the state of Houston was far worse than anything Toronto has experienced over the last several years. Houston lost at least 107 games in three consecutive seasons from 2011-13. Not surprisingly, the Astros’ attendance, which exceeded three million in 2007, dipped to 1.7 million or fewer from 2012-14. 

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The lowest point might have been 2013 when the Astros opened with a payroll of $26 million (all dollars U.S.). Bud Norris, who was cut by the Blue Jays in spring training, was the opening day starter for a team that almost nobody cared about. There were five players on the 25-man roster who made seven figures, and nobody earned more than Norris’ $3 million. That’s as close to rock bottom as it gets in this sport.

It was a clear case of the team tanking to improve its draft position and focus on youth. There was a risk of alienating the fan base and turning people off the sport — and to a certain extent that happened — but a series of deft moves by general manager Jeff Luhnow turned an ambitious vision into reality. 

George Springer, Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman were among the top picks made by Houston in the draft. Yuli Gurriel and Jose Altuve were added as international free agents while others, such as rookie of the year candidate Yordan Alvarez, were acquired through trade. Those moves, combined with a countless number of solid picks and signings, laid the foundation for what Houston is experiencing now.