Gaston 'ready to go' as Jays manager

[Peteros]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2010/08/10/jays_notes/

"In my mind, it's pretty final for me, I'm going to leave," said Gaston. "I've said it a few times, I think it's best for the ball club to get someone in here who's going to be here for a few years.

"If I was a little bit younger and going to be around for two or three more years, which I think that would be OK, then I'd probably be kicking and screaming trying to stay here. That's not the case for me. If I do come back, it would only be for one year, so what's that going to do for anybody? ...

"I'm ready to go. No problem."

[dballislife]

dam i love gaston, if we kept halladay and picked up a bat, we in playoffs i think

[J-Roc]

All the guys who prefer to manage a game with robots will be happy. The next manager has huge shoes to fill as far as I'm concerned. Cito's teams have overachieved.

[LittleOzzy]

Lots of respect for giving the team plenty of notice to find a new Manager.

The new guy is going to have some very big shoes to fill.

[Hummus]

All the guys who prefer to manage a game with robots will be happy. The next manager has huge shoes to fill as far as I'm concerned. Cito's teams have overachieved.

I agree, the Cito hate has definitely been kind of strong for my likings - the guy lead our only world series teams, and managed very different personalities and talents both years - clearly the guy has some managerial skills. I also agree that all of his teams have overachieved since regaining control; that half season after Gibby was fired was tremendous, and this year we have FAR exceeded expectations.

On the other hand, It is really hard to gauge how good Cito has been. He took over for a lame duck manager, and a guy who really had no business skippering a major league team for so many season in John Gibbons. I liked the guy, but if you think that Cito is a poor tactician, you clearly do not remember Gibby. Outside of the fact he was fiercy loyal to his right-right/lefty-lefty matchups (to the point he would swap out a pitcher who was throwing great and had momentum in late innings) - he was challenging and fighting players in the locker room. The guy was a drunker version of Sam Mitchell.

I do remember when last season ended there were stories in the mainstream media about how the players were unhappy with Cito Gaston. After that point, I was shocked to see him coming back - usually when players throw you under the bus like that, it means you cannot go on. The thing is, those players may still be playing for the blue jays, as there was very little turnover from last year's team (with respect to the big names who would complain). I have always wondered who those players were - if it is a known fact, can you please let me in on it?

[Randle McMurphy]

Better late than never.

[why22]

All the guys who prefer to manage a game with robots will be happy. The next manager has huge shoes to fill as far as I'm concerned. Cito's teams have overachieved.

cito gotta coach the raptors.........im half serious

[Hoopstarr]

-They overachieved this year, yes, but why ignore the underachieving last year? Some players love him, but most hated him all of last season to the point of a mutiny, which wasn't a minor story, by the way.
-I didn't know Gibbons was terrible with bullpens. In fact, I think that was his strongest skill and it's really the only area where baseball managers can make their mark. The rest is basically flowcharts decisions.
-Cito is not giving plenty of notice so they can find a new manager. He already knew long ago that he'd be gone no matter what happened this season. Keeping him when AA took over was just Beeston's way of rewarding him for his original tenure and giving him a nice ride off into the sunset.

[youngLion]

Lots of respect for giving the team plenty of notice to find a new Manager.

The new guy is going to have some very big shoes to fill.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that that's not exactly what he's doing. He's gone back and forth on the topic of retirement, to the extent that AA was asked about a possible return by Gaston on PTS the other day. After all, he is saying that he'd be open to coming back for one more year.

But yeah, the new manager is going to have a glorious legacy of batting John MacDonald second to follow.

[tsherkin]

Cito is what he is... a manager. He's a decent one. There are better. There are far worse.

Gibbons wasn't better. Was he worse? He was stylistically different, and he wasn't as good a hitter's coach, but he made fewer glaring errors in my mind. He wasn't especially creative and he never took risks, which limits your blatant errors but also avoids the pay-outs that a well-timed and clever risk can bring. Cito does some weird stuff at times, but the pluses he does bring are enough to counter them. This team doesn't have the speed to run a lot, but we move on contact and steal more often than we did with Gibbons, because JG was firmly convinced that unless you're Carl Crawford, stealing is pointless. OK, that last is baseless characterization, but he didn't believe in the running game all that much (though to be fair... Matt Stairs, Frank Thomas... not exactly a speed-demon lineup).

I will not miss Cito's love affair with certain players; it reminds me VERY much of Sam Mitchell. I don't need to see Brian Tallet nearly as often as that, Cito, he's not THAT good. Decent middle reliever? Yes. Go-to guy in every situation that doesn't explicitly call for NOT-LEFT-HANDED? NO, DAMNIT!

I really do respect what he's achieved with our bats, though.

TL;DR, he isn't an awful manager and never has been. He's old school, pretty stubborn... and still pretty effective. Not the greatest in the league by far, but certainly not below-average. I'll miss him when he's gone.

[Lateral Quicks]

I think it's safe to say that without Gaston around, Bautista doesn't emerge as the beast that he has become whether it's due to his tweaked batting stance or increased playing time, or both. That's a pretty big positive that outweighs a lot of negatives, as 40HR dudes don't grow on trees (except during the steroids era, when I'm sure I could have hit at least 40HR in the major leagues)

I like Cito as a person, and he's not as bad a manager as some make him out to be. But I will not miss Snider riding the pine, Millar hitting clean-up, John McDonald hitting second, Brian Tallet pitching in close games, etc.

It's time for a new manager, but I hope Gaston stays involved coaching within the organization, and IIRC that is the plan.

[LittleOzzy]

Lots of respect for giving the team plenty of notice to find a new Manager.

The new guy is going to have some very big shoes to fill.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that that's not exactly what he's doing. He's gone back and forth on the topic of retirement, to the extent that AA was asked about a possible return by Gaston on PTS the other day. After all, he is saying that he'd be open to coming back for one more year.

But yeah, the new manager is going to have a glorious legacy of batting John MacDonald second to follow.

He is not saying he would come back for one year.... He is saying if he did it would only be for 1, so what's the point? He is ready to move on

[Kid Vicious]

Damn man, this guy has been the only decent Manager we've had in the last 20 years...I can't believe he's just going to walk out.

If I was AA, I would convince him to stay for at least 2 years....this team is too close to just go out like that.

[Schad]

Cito is and has always been a great hitting coach masquerading as a flawed manager. That's not necessarily a slight: he is one of the better hitting coaches going, and for players that fit his "swing first, last and always" philosophy, he's a godsend. Lineups, the few in-game decisions a manager must consider, pitcher use...not so much.

[Avenger]

-They overachieved this year, yes, but why ignore the underachieving last year? Some players love him, but most hated him all of last season to the point of a mutiny, which wasn't a minor story, by the way.
-I didn't know Gibbons was terrible with bullpens. In fact, I think that was his strongest skill and it's really the only area where baseball managers can make their mark. The rest is basically flowcharts decisions.
-Cito is not giving plenty of notice so they can find a new manager. He already knew long ago that he'd be gone no matter what happened this season. Keeping him when AA took over was just Beeston's way of rewarding him for his original tenure and giving him a nice ride off into the sunset.

How did they underachieve last year? All we had was Doc with Rickey being the only other decent pitcher in the rotation. Cito brought the best in Lind, he was the one that saved his career when Retardi almost gave up on him. The mutiny thing was so overblown its not even funny, the only person who made it a bigger deal than it actually was is Mike Wilner and his nut huggers in the blogosphere.

[luvtheteam]

I really hope he stays. Everyone is playing so well right now and the young kids are all developing nicely. I know there are other coaches involved as well, but the whole system seems to be running very smoothly right now. Cito i'm sure gets a lot of respect because he is a proven winner. He's got two rings. That's worth something to the kids coming up. They look at a proven winner, and it gives more weight to what he says. I'll take even 1 year.

[The_Hater]

dam i love gaston, if we kept halladay and picked up a bat, we in playoffs i think

In any other division, absolutely but not in the AL east.

[Hoopstarr]

-They overachieved this year, yes, but why ignore the underachieving last year? Some players love him, but most hated him all of last season to the point of a mutiny, which wasn't a minor story, by the way.
-I didn't know Gibbons was terrible with bullpens. In fact, I think that was his strongest skill and it's really the only area where baseball managers can make their mark. The rest is basically flowcharts decisions.
-Cito is not giving plenty of notice so they can find a new manager. He already knew long ago that he'd be gone no matter what happened this season. Keeping him when AA took over was just Beeston's way of rewarding him for his original tenure and giving him a nice ride off into the sunset.

How did they underachieve last year? All we had was Doc with Rickey being the only other decent pitcher in the rotation. Cito brought the best in Lind, he was the one that saved his career when Retardi almost gave up on him. The mutiny thing was so overblown its not even funny, the only person who made it a bigger deal than it actually was is Mike Wilner and his nut huggers in the blogosphere.

You know you don't sound too rational when you use childish names like Retardi. They underachieved last year because after all that suckage, they still finished 11th in the majors in 3rd order standings and a +27 run differential. According to another ranking of team quality, they were 6th in the majors (http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/1 ... nd-of-2009). That entire 2nd half of the season especially was a study in awful managing, no Rolen and Rios or not. Cito was using Vernon, the worst hitter in the majors, at cleanup. He was played Kevin Millar at 3rd and hitting him cleanup as well. He refused to play Randy Ruiz. Made decisions citing single digit sample sizes and "player confidence". Cito did great things with Adam Lind, yes. How is he doing this year? He forced a player who is a natural all-field hitter, basically Olerud with power, into a pull hitter pathetically flailing at outside pitches because pitchers know he won't try to hit them oppo field. Having an entire team swinging away at first pitches is not a sustainable strategy. It works for half a year, maybe a whole year, and then your team regresses, quickly.

[J-Roc]

Whatever happened to the great Randy Ruiz. I always say you have to look at Cito as a whole. His managing reminds me of Pat Quinn with the Leafs. Show faith in players and hope they come through. Some do, some don't. But the judge is how the team does compared to expectations. Sure they fell off the map the second half of last season, but they were good in other parts. Point is, in this second go around with the Jays, the Jays have generally exceeded expectations.

Meanwhile, with a guy like Jay Triano, you could say his teams have generally fell below expectations. Just look at the big picture. Our new guy might always pinch hit or run when the computer says he should, but we might see a player lose confidence and never get it back because he's dropped from the lineup.

Vernon sucks last year, but Cito trusted him and now he's back this year. Hill and Lind have sucked this year, but Cito keeps running them out, and that along gives me hope they can come back next year. Cito knows what he's doing. He's managing ballplayers.

[SharoneWright]

I won't shed a tear.