Have the Blue Jays done enough or are they just getting started on upgrades?

When the Blue Jays snagged Dylan Cease as baseball’s first major signing of the off-season, it set the stage for the rest of general manager Ross Atkins’ winter work.

So, if now we must wait for the next major move from the American League champs, it’s part of the unpredictable script of the baseball’s long, dragging months between the end of the World Series and the start of spring training.

As the MLB world resets following this week’s Winter Meetings in Orlando, the Jays are far from done in exploring ways to further improve. How much they get done, however, remains to be seen.

After spending at the top end with the $210 million US given to Cease, how high the market climbs in players Jays are interested in likely will dictate their next move. We saw hints of that when the Jays failed to land high-end relievers Edwin Diaz (who went to the Dodgers) and Robert Suarez (Atlanta bound) in the past couple of days.

That said, Atkins is committed to explore all avenues to bolster his bullpen and improve the offence.

“The level of responsibility, urgency, stress that I feel for this team to win, I can’t imagine taking it higher,” Atkins said in a session with the Toronto media in Orlando earlier this week.

How that manifests during the remainder of the off-season remains to be seen. But with a stronger sense of the prices attached to players at all levels of the market, the Jays can recalibrate their priorities.

As the meetings wound up on Wednesday, Atkins indicated that there were no deals pending but with the acknowledgement that momentum can accelerate in a hurry.

“Don’t feel like we’re necessarily close, but it doesn’t take much for things to progress pretty quickly,” Atkins said. “We’re just not in control of that.”

Have the Jays done enough?

Atkins has become renowned for being persistent and creative in the way he works to improve his roster and that won’t stop.

That said, by signing Cease early, Atkins said the Jays had “certainty” regarding the rest of the off-season. In other words, landing an elite starter was a priority and allowed the team to proceed to other areas with less pressure.

Adding Cody Ponce furthered that starting depth, allowing the Jays to move to the other areas of importance, namely adding a high-leverage reliever and impact bat.

So what happens if that’s it? Have the Jays done enough?

Probably not, but it doesn’t sound as if they are going to force the issue by spending wildly in a bidding war.

This comment to the MLB Network that Atkins made as the meetings came to a close might be revealing.

“We have a good team and we really do generally feel that we are in a very good position with the versatility that we have, the pitching that we’ve added,” Atkins said. “We’ll be open, but it’s expensive these days.”

What about Tucker and Bichette?

It has been the question that has been central to the Jays off-season essentially since the final out of the World Series: How hot will the Jays pursuit of the impact bats wielded by Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette be?

Atkins was deliberately vague on the topic of both free agents when he spoke with us in Orlando, but that’s how negotiating works.

However, there’s a sense around the league that the Jays won’t be involved in driving up the price for either player, a feeling in line with Atkins’ “it’s expensive these days,” comment.

That’s not to suggest that the Jays are going to walk away from either pursuit, however. More likely, they’ll sit back and observe as the market for both players develops further.

Tucker already has visited the Jays facility in Dunedin and Bichette obviously is well aware of all the team brings. When it comes time for both players to move closer to a deal, the Jays surely will become more involved, but it’s not expected that they will be actively involved in driving up the prices.

More likely, they’ll hope for the market come back to them — and if there aren’t a glut of suitors, that could happen — and see what happens.

How much more will Rogers spend?

The untold riches of the Canadian telecommunications giant are still available — apparently — but the Jays process for the big-ticket spends follows a specific procedure.

When a free-agent offer reaches a certain big-ticket stratosphere, it requires board approval. The Cease deal, for example, would have fallen into that category.

That step isn’t a deal-breaker, of course, as there is zero indication that ownership is going to demand fiscal tightening now.

And if a compelling case is made that Tucker or Bichette will be central to the team repeating in what will be a tough AL East, don’t be surprised if the Jays pounce again, furthering the narrative that they are one of the hottest stories (and teams) in baseball.