TORONTO -- Early in camp, as the Blue Jays trudged through fundamental drills each morning at 8 a.m. in Dunedin, Fla., a sheet of paper appeared in the clubhouse.
The paper, propped up on the center island of the clubhouse, listed two teams. In the top right corner was a photoshopped image of manager John Schneider looking like the Monopoly man, throwing wads of cash into the air.
“We actually had a bunting competition -- true story -- in Spring Training,” Schneider said. “We divided the guys up into teams with the winning team getting $1,000 … courtesy of me.”
They had fun with it. First-base coach Mark Budzinski organized the details. There were hula hoops, Schneider remembers, cones and all sorts of different markers. Each day, red and blue bars would stretch out from each player’s name, tracking their total points that were all tallied up for their team.
It turns out that was a fine investment from Schneider. In Tuesday’s 5-3 win over the Nationals at Rogers Centre, an excellent bunt single from Will Wagner kept a three-run second inning rolling. Then, as the Blue Jays were building momentum again in the eighth, bunts from Ernie Clement and Wagner again kept the line moving until Bo Bichette delivered the big hit.
“I was on the losing team, but we grinded,” Clement said. “We had a good team; they just got more bunts down. [Tyler] Heineman was really good. Wagner was really good, as you could see today. Actually, he had two great bunts today. Wow.
"Anyway, anybody who is really good at hitting wasn’t involved in the bunting competition, so that’s kind of the main theme. [Vladimir Guerrero Jr.] wasn’t there. Bo wasn’t there. The usual suspects.”
There’s always money changing hands in an MLB clubhouse and there’s always someone giving a teammate a hard time, so the bunting competition landed perfectly in those lazy days of February.
The image of Schneider looking like Rich Uncle Pennybags was the work of aspiring graphic designer Gosuke Katoh, who has joined the staff as an assistant to Major League operations. Those were 1,000 American dollars, too, so the winners only grew wealthier the moment they landed on this side of the border for Opening Day.
“I probably could have asked Donnie Baseball for some cash, too, to help me out there,” Schneider said, referencing bench coach Don Mattingly. “But whatever it takes to help a win. If bunting helps us win tonight, that’s money well spent.”