DUNEDIN, Fla. — This will take time. Getting to know Ross Atkins. Trying to understand him, figure him out and maybe, just as importantly, trying to believe in the first-year general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.
He speaks mostly in non-specifics. He can be rather vague when asked what he thinks of just about anything. He makes few, if any, proclamations. He won’t be known for making that famous quip. There is no Brian Burke in him.
He’s a touch unsure, a little nervous — not about the new job, necessarily, and not about his baseball capabilities, but about how public he is supposed to be, how comfortable, how revealing, how much of himself he will allow us to see.