Atkins has announced this to make other teams understand they do not plan on trading everyone and that they only have interest on moving players on expiring contracts. This statement has made quite the joke of Atkins as teams do not believe the Blue Jays can make that big of a turn around in less than a year, especially with Atkins running things.
While team always plan to do well at the beginning of every season, telling other GMs that the Blue Jays plan on being World Series champions next season when they can't even secure a Wild Card spot this year is quite the stretch.
The Blue Jays can make quite the jump next season as they have many incredible players but there will need to be some serious changes, especially within the front-office if they actually want to improve.