Shapiro: Lack of depth could make Blue Jays 'fragile'

The Toronto Blue Jays own one of the most prolific offenses in baseball, but president Mark Shapiro believes the major-league squad could be in jeopardy unless the club builds some depth around their biggest strength.

"We’ve got a very unique situation with a lot of really talented players that are in place this season, and we need to try to maximize that opportunity to win," Shapiro told Ken Davidoff of the New York Post last week. "It doesn’t take a lot of study or a lot of time to realize where the voids are. Our position-player club is one of the most dynamic in all of baseball, but there are clear starting pitching needs. We addressed one by bringing (Marco) Estrada back (on a two-year contract), and we’ll continue to work on addressing the pitching."

Toronto has already made one addition to its starting pitching depth this offseason with Friday's acquisition of right-hander Jesse Chavez from the Oakland Athletics, but Shapiro thinks the Blue Jays need to take a good look at the entire organization's roster at all levels, and fill in vacancies to prevent against any kind of troublesome situation that may arise.

The Blue Jays lost 652 man-games to injury in 2015 according to Man Games Lost, which ranked them 22nd in baseball, but have lost a total of 4046 since 2010. Shapiro said the club needs to strengthen its minor-league system with added depth, in order to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

"The other issues are going to be more depth because there’s a challenge with Triple-A," Shapiro explained. "There are not a lot of players there. Which, with an aging major league team, is going to make depth (important). How we structure the roster to provide some depth is going to be important. Because we’re susceptible. It’s a fragile major league team if something happens."