BALTIMORE – On his way home from the general managers meetings in November, Ross Atkins went to Disney World. After a long rookie season as Toronto Blue Jays GM that extended into the American League Championship Series, certainly he had earned a break, but this pit stop into the most magical place on Earth was all business. Kendrys Morales and his family were there on vacation and enough momentum had developed in talks for the sides to want a face-to-face meeting. So Atkins flew from Phoenix to Orlando, headed right to one of the resort’s hotels and met with the Cuban slugger in a lobby café, where Morales insisted on buying the coffee. An hour, maybe two later, a deal was all but set.

“Ross Atkins is a person who knows what he wants and what he needs and because he’s like that, the team is also the same way,” Morales says through interpreter Josue Peley. “Everything happened at Disney, he came to me and impressed me with how he acted, how he talked and how he explained everything to me. So it was easy to make the decision.”

The day after their chat, the sides settled on a $33-million, three-year deal that marked a pivotal transition point for the Blue Jays. Had Edwin Encarnacion re-signed, the club’s 2017 roster would likely look much as it did last year, but instead, the addition of Morales allowed Atkins to reallocate some money and bring in Steve Pearce, Joe Smith and J.P. Howell while re-signing Jose Bautista. The additional depth may come in handy as the Blue Jays try to extend the competitive window of an aging roster while simultaneously waiting for a farm system slowly percolating talent to the upper levels to develop pieces that will eventually turnover the core.

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Until that happens, Morales, highly regarded among his peers for his skills at the plate, will be counted on to help the Blue Jays continue winning in the interim, providing both an impact bat in the middle of the lineup and a switch-hitter to help balance a right-handed heavy lineup.

And their partnership was cemented during that 5 p.m. meeting at Disney, one that leaves Blue Jays fans hoping Morales will help their dreams come true.

“I went to answer any possible questions that he and his family had about the opportunity, the situation, the team, our resources, what we believe in, what’s important to us and then to ask him questions about his experiences and learn from him,” Atkins says of the meeting. “It wasn’t to sell the Toronto Blue Jays, it’s to educate him on what’s important to us and what the Toronto Blue Jays will be if he chooses to sign with us.

“He brought his family to the meeting, his kids sat with us with great behaviour the whole time, his wife was extremely appreciative of the time. It was as comfortable as it could possibly have been.”

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To understand what the Blue Jays could be with Morales as their primary DH, it’s worth understanding a little bit about who Morales is.

A 33-year-old born in Fomento, Cuba, Morales quickly emerged as a hitting prodigy and rising star on Havana’s Industriales and on the island’s famed national team. But suspicion that he was planning to leave for the United States led to a suspension that left him feeling that he had no option but to actually leave. He made 12 unsuccessful attempts to escape before succeeding in 2004.

“It was really hard mentally already, but I was ready for that, knowing that you’re not only leaving your country, you’re also leaving your family, you’re leaving your fans,” says Morales, who was separated from his family for nine years. “It’s really hard to do but you’re mentally prepared. Not just for me, but for anybody else that did it, it’s something that’s really hard.”

In 2005, Morales signed with the Los Angeles Angels, and a year later, he made his big-league debut, going 3-for-5 with a homer against the Texas Rangers. Still, it took him time to acclimate to his new life and he didn’t stick until 2009, when he posted a career-best .924 OPS with 34 homers and 108 RBIs.

“It was very hard because the language wasn’t the same, I didn’t know anyone and no one knew me. Baseball was the same,” says Morales. “It took me about three or four years to actually have a normal conversation with a teammate and to learn the little English I know now.”

Morales was on track for another big year in 2010 when he snapped his left ankle jumping on home plate after a 10th-inning, walk-off grand slam against the Seattle Mariners on May 29. The bizarre injury cost him the rest of that season and all of 2011, when he underwent another surgery to clean out debris and scar tissue from the ankle and had a bone graft performed.

In 2012 he recovered to post a .787 OPS in 134 games and was afterwards traded to the Mariners, where he delivered a .785 OPS in 156 games before hitting free agency. Victimized by the qualifying offer, he lingered on the market until June 8, signing a one-year deal with the Minnesota Twins, who a month and a half later flipped him back to Mariners.

A second turn through free agency proved far more fruitful, as he landed a $17-million, two-year deal with the Kansas City Royals, whom he helped win the World Series in 2015 with an .847 OPS and hitting 30 home runs in a solid follow-up in 2016.

Over those parts of 10 big-league seasons, he’s earned a reputation as a top quality teammate.

“I’ve learned from the past that to win ballgames, you have to win them inside the clubhouse first,” says Morales. “In order to do that, you have to be a team, you have to talk to everybody, you have to know everybody. If you don’t do that in the clubhouse, it’s going to show up on the field. Everybody is going to be individual. I try to bring everybody to the same point in order to make a championship team.”

Morales has been back to Cuba three times since he left and his feelings toward his country now, versus when he left are, “pretty much the same.” A question on what may lie ahead after the death of longtime ruler Fidel Castro and the start of a rapprochement with the United States draws little reaction from him.

“I don’t watch much TV or news about politics, I don’t try to get involved with that,” says Morales. “To be honest I just try to stay away from that.”

It’s easy to understand why, given the challenges any person, athlete or not, can face in fleeing their country. Consider, too, how many times Morales had to attempt escaping before managing to leave Cuba, and there’s an inherent strength needed to cope with it all.

“That’s definitely a part of who he is, there’s no doubt,” says Atkins. “I think that’s the case for most Cuban players if you just think about what most of them have been through. For example, when I asked Lourdes Gurriel Jr., what that time was like away from his family, it was right in front of his mom and dad, and both of them immediately started to weep. Just as context, even if you’re flying over and it’s the first time you attempt it, it’s still a very, very difficult thing to persevere through.

“I get that it’s a generalization but with the way the laws are, most Cuban players have a level of sacrifice and perseverance that they’ve gone through that maybe a lot of others haven’t.”

Unlike some of his countrymen who take the field with flash – Yasiel Puig and Yoenis Cespedes come to mind – Morales seems to have a calm, steady demeanour. During the spring he could often be found sitting at his locker, quietly kibitzing with teammates when he wasn’t hitting. He drew the respect of manager John Gibbons and his coaching staff by regularly getting his at-bats in road games, undaunted by long drives each way that prompt veteran players to beg off.

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“I always played with veteran players in Cuba,” says Morales. “When I was a rookie I had seven or eight veterans on my team and when I was with the Angels, I had seven or eight veterans over there so I learned from them. I’m really aggressive on the inside but I try not to show it on the outside.”

Atkins describes it as a “toughness” he gives off.

The two first met at Morales’ first workout for big-league teams, but they didn’t have much contact after that. Trying to fill in the details, the Blue Jays spoke with former teammates, coaches and others who knew him well.

While the information was trusted, Atkins couldn’t help but wonder if the people the Blue Jays were contacting weren’t being totally honest, since some are reluctant to dish up dirt on players lest that cost them a contract. And what they’d gathered, “couldn’t have possibly painted a better picture of Kendrys as a person, as a leader, as a father, as a teammate and as a hitter, someone who’s passionate about baseball, passionate about competing, wants to win, culture and environment is important to him – all the boxes we were looking to check were checked with him,” says Atkins. “It couldn’t get any better. And then when he got here, it still got better.”

The Blue Jays will be plenty happy if Morales simply delivers as expected, but all the better if he goes beyond that. After all, Atkins went to Disney World looking to add something special to his lineup and now that the season is here, Morales is ready to try and provide it.