When a franchise begins a rebuild as the Blue Jays have recently started, the general expectation is that the budget won’t be as high as it would be in seasons that the team is planning on contending. Part of that is tied to revenue generated around attendance, which is usually a direct reflection of the standings, so you can understand why teams might scale back when they know it’s going to be hard to draw fans to the ballpark.
One would assume that this same line of thinking will apply to the Blue Jays for the next season or two, however, so far this winter they have been spending money.