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TORONTO — It has taken the Toronto Blue Jays a couple of years to rebuild their minor-league pipeline.

Over the next year or so, the facilities those minor leaguers are developed in will be undergoing a similar, long-overdue facelift.

Six days before Christmas, on a Wednesday morning amidst another slow start to the off-season in terms of improving the on-field product from the outside, Blue Jays president/CEO Mark Shapiro unveiled in-depth Dunedin Stadium renovation plans to a group of Toronto media for the first time.

The team’s spring training facilities have been a topic since Shapiro arrived on the scene late in 2015.

Anecdotally, it’s easy to see why.

From state-of-the-art stadiums popping up all over the Cactus League in Arizona to renovations dotting existing facilities in the Grapefruit League in Florida, saying the Jays are lagging behind would be an understatement.

With 22 of 30 MLB clubs either going through significant renos or building new facilities entirely over the last few years, the Jays, without a doubt, had one of the worst spring training setups in baseball.

Decades ago, Dunedin Stadium and the Bobby Mattick Training Center were close to the standard.

Since then, baseball has changed from an eight-month endeavour to a year-round business, one that has seen training regimens follow the same blueprint.

Training year-round is no longer the exception, practised only by those looking to get ahead.

It’s now the norm.

Shapiro believes the approximately $80 million renovation project will help lure his players to Dunedin each winter, rather than going off and training in various warm weather locales on their own, as well as benefit the work being done each spring to prepare for a season.

“It’s meant to be a competitive advantage,” Shapiro said Wednesday. “It’s meant to lead to wins.”

Scheduled to break ground in January, Shapiro expects the project to be fully complete by the time spring training 2020 arrives.

That will mean a transition year for the franchise’s Florida State League team, and the High-A Dunedin Blue Jays will be transplanted to a not-yet-announced location for the 2019 season.

It’s been a long process to get to this point, with a funding agreement being split between Pinellas County ($40 million), the state of Florida ($13 million), the Blue Jays ($20 million), and the city of Dunedin, which has also donated a plot of land that will help expand the training centre area to the north.

In addition to new fan-friendly amenities, Dunedin Stadium will increase in capacity from 5,500 to 8,500.

A 25-year lease will kick in next year when the renovations are complete, keeping the Blue Jays’ footprint in Dunedin for the foreseeable future.

While the cosmetic aspects revolving around improving the Dunedin fan experience each spring don’t hurt, the reason the team has been invested in this tricky process for so long is the fact they believe increased weight room space, additional meeting rooms, field space, and all of the benefits that come along with a state-of-the-art facility will put players in the best position possible to succeed.

That includes everyone from major leaguers in the spring to minor leaguers during the summer to rehabbing and off-season training options in the winter.

Renovation talk is far from over.

Next on Shapiro’s agenda is finalizing a plan to update their regular-season digs.

But as far as potential renovations to Rogers Centre go, those seem to be on the backburner for the time being.

A “re-imagination,” as Shapiro put it, has no timeline.

As work is being done this winter on replacing the roof membrane for the first time in the building’s existence, Shapiro says additional amenity upgrades will also be made, but don’t expect a complete facelift anytime soon.

“We’re continuing to upgrade this building and think about opportunities, but the large-scale project is one that’s still in the works.”​