Wheeler apparently had a higher offer from the White Sox but went with Philly because of location. The Jays are not an ideal location for players, and it’s a bad team in the AL East. Atkins is going to have to give out a contract that he will feel uncomfortable with and exceeds the value the club has placed on that specific player. He might do that on a short term deal, but remains to be seen if he’s willing to tack on an extra year or so to get a player that may be diminishing returns by the backend of the contract.
If you look at the big free agents the Jays have signed in the last 15 years, almost all of them were dead money by the last year or two of their deals except Burnett who opted out after 3 years. Ryan, Thomas, Martin, Morales. I don’t think shatkins wants to sign that type of deal.