Chris Bassitt is making a $700 million excuse for Blue Jays failures

The Toronto Blue Jays have been one of, if not the most disappointing team in the majors this season. Coming off back-to-back postseason appearances and four straight winning seasons, the Blue Jays are now 58-66 on the season after losing two of three to the Chicago Cubs this past weekend, sitting comfortably in last place in the AL East.

The Jays were expecting to compete for another postseason berth this season but everything has gone wrong. Not only have the Jays had to deal with unfortunate injuries to All-Stars like Bo Bichette and Jordan Romano, but just about everyone not named Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has underperformed relative to expectations.

It's hard to pinpoint this failure of a season on one thing, but Chris Bassitt did his best to do just that on the latest episode of the Chris Rose Rotation.

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Blue Jays failures can be summed up by one $700 million mistake according to Chris Bassitt

When asked where this season went wrong, Bassitt had one thing in particular to point to.

"We put, I think $700 million into Shohei Ohtani's basket and didn't get him. We really didn't have a pivot," Bassitt said.

As Bassitt notes, the Blue Jays made a serious push to sign Shohei Ohtani in free agency this past offseason. Ohtani toured their Spring Training facility, and it was even reported that he was on a flight to Toronto, but there was no Ohtani flight, and he wound up signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. They were close to signing the best player in the game but came up short.

As frustrating as it was to see the Jays miss out on Ohtani, losing him isn't the only reason why the Jays are where they are currently. The lack of a pivot is where they really went wrong.

The Jays really wanted Ohtani, but they weren't ever really perceived as clear favorites for his services. While he was clearly the best available free agent, he wasn't the only option out there. The Jays let impactful players like Matt Chapman, Cody Bellinger, and even Teoscar Hernandez sign elsewhere. After missing out on Ohtani, they essentially ran back a team that wasn't good enough to win a postseason game in 2023 just with everyone one year older and without Brandon Belt who is still unsigned, and Chapman who has had a strong season with the San Francisco Giants.

Betting on their pitching staff to have another great year felt reasonable, but their lineup was underwhelming last season and they did nothing to make it better. It's surprising to nobody with Ross Atkins as the lone exception that they haven't scored enough runs to win games.

"The reality of the landscape is that you need three or four superstars. We have to get more hitting to protect Vladdy, and then the pitching has to be a lot better."

The Blue Jays lack the star power on the offensive end to compete. Guerrero is an obvious star, and Bichette at his best is another one. Who's their third-best hitter, though, Daulton Varsho? 34-year-old George Springer? A lot of work has to be done to get this team where it needs to be, and it's going to take a lot of money for Ross Atkins to get them where they need to be. There's reason to believe that the pitching will improve, but the offensive concerns are very real.

The Jays can pursue a free agent like Juan Soto this offseason who'd instantly change the outlook of their lineup, but they must have a pivot if they fail to get him. The Jays cannot say they expect to compete only to run out a worse club on paper like they did last offseason.