A Letter to Cito
Dear Cito,
You know, there was a certain excitement in the Jays’ fan base when you were hired back a couple of years ago; a lot of sentiments, good memories – and it was all well deserved. After all, you were the last manager to lead our beloved Blue Jays to baseball glory in the early 90s. Even though it’s been almost 20 years (can you believe it?), many of us still remember fondly how you transformed a losing club in championship winners.
Less fondly remembered, though, is how your success faded with the MLB lockout. How you never had another winning season since 1993. How you got tired of losing under the Gord Ash era, and how you just flat out didn’t want to manage anymore. It’s been more than a decade since you were let go, Cito, and now all of these ugly things – all of which has yet failed to tarnish your career and memory with the Jays faithful – are rearing their heads again.
I suppose, Cito, ultimately it is your players that decide the games. There’s only so much you can do. This being said, there are things that a manager should do. One of them is making the right tactical decision in a tight situation in a close game: for example, with the Jays up 2-1 against the Yankees on June 6th, with 2 outs and first base open, with a struggling Jason Frasor (he who sports a 5+ ERA) up against Robinson Cano, you elected to pitch to him. This was a move so bewildering that even Yankees fans attending the game wondered aloud “is Cito trying to lose the game?” Of course, Cano promptly doubled off Frasor, the Yankees ended up scoring 3 more runs in the inning, to beat Toronto 4-3.
A manager not only has to make these tactical decisions correctly, but also has to recognize the talent on the team, and allow them to do their jobs. This is just one example of you not seeing who Frasor is, and being too trusting with him. The person you should have trusted instead was Scott Downs. You know, the guy who has 16 holds for you, with the 3.13 ERA and the 1.03 WHIP – the same guy who has been one of the most reliable 8th inning set up men in the league over the last few years! Do you want to know what you don’t do with him? You don’t put Downs in against one batter, and take him out after he gives up one single – as you’ve done in similar situations in his last 6 out of 10 appearances. To then go to Jason Frasor or Kevin Gregg after is just a downright insult. Downs is the set up guy. He’s shown that he can do the job; you just have to let him do it, Cito.
While we’re on the subject of letting players do their job – you have to realize that some players with hot starts aren’t the right guys for the job. Yes, we know Jose Bautista was swinging a hot bat to start the season. Some people were even saying he deserves an All-Star nod – but you know, and I know, that he is simply not the answer. A journeyman who, in his entire career, has never hit more than 16 home runs, then goes and hits 12 in a single month is not the Jays’ answer. Bautista has since cooled off, and he will continue to cool off, until he, and all the other overachievers on the team finally sink the Blue Jays to Baltimore levels by the end of this year. Baseball is about “what have you done for me lately?”, Cito, and lately, Bautista hasn’t done much. He won’t continue to do much. This is a rebuild – and you, as the manager, have to facilitate it as such. It’s time to let the kids play. Lind, Snider, Wallace and Hill – they are who should be given the chance to carry the team. Not Alex Gonzalez, not Jose Bautista, not John Buck, and definitely not Kevin Gregg.
Yes I know, Cito, that Hill, Lind and Snider have all had their struggles. But isn’t it your job to help them work through it, while building their confidence so that they can reach their full potential? You did it with Lind when you took over for previous coach John Gibbons, who almost wrecked Adam. Why won’t you do the same now with Travis Snider? I know the team was on a hot start, but let’s face it, we never had a chance to compete against the other AL East juggernauts – all three of them. If the Rays are having a tough time competing, we never even stood a chance. So stop managing as though we’re going to try to make the playoffs. Don’t just roll with players with hot bats, roll with players who have the talent to make a long-term difference. Not all of your players are going to hit home runs each time they step up to the plate, and it’s time you realize that. This version of the Toronto Blue Jays is not the same as the teams you coached in 1992 and 1993.
So in the end, maybe it won’t make much of a difference to you personally. When you finally retire as a baseball manager, people will probably remember you for those World Series championships – but unless you start making the right moves now, Cito, people will also remember you fading away from those glory years, as a coach that never lead his team to a winning record since. They’ll remember you for losing all the way up to 1997, and when you came back in 2008, how you continued your losing ways. Unfortunately for you, this time there won’t be a Gord Ash to blame, and J.P. Ricciardi won’t be around to take the fall.
It’ll just be you, Cito.
Yours truly,
A present day Blue Jays fan
Jays Lose 2-1 to Indians
Despite a valiant pitching effort by Ricky Romero (6-4), the Blue Jays bats fall flat as the team loses 2-1 to Cleveland and drops to 40-37 overall.
With match-ups against the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins on the horizon, the Blue Jays will need to re-gain their early season form, or risk falling completely out of Wild-card contention.
Next on the mound for Toronto is Brandon Morrow (5-5), as he looks to extend his current streak of 5 quality starts against the Indians Fausto Carmona (6-6).
Reader Poll: Blue Jays will be Sellers at the Trade Deadline, But Who Goes First?
The Toronto Blue Jays losses are slowing catching up to their wins.
As of this morning the Jays are 40-37, and with the Yankees, Twins and Red Sox coming up on the schedule, the losses may pile up quickly.
If that occurs, and Toronto doesn’t make it out of July with a winning record, expect to see the Jays management cashing in a few veteran chips to continue the rebuilding process with youth.
Who will be the first dangled in a trade?
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Bud Selig Openly Favors Phillies, Screws Over Blue Jays and Misses Huge Opportunity!
Answer me this Bud Selig, how is it fair to give the Philadelphia Phillies, a World Series favourite, 84 home games, while the rest of the league gets the standard 81?…No Answer?
Okay, how about an easier question.
Why is it that you think allowing the Blue Jays to wear their home uniforms and to play in the bottom of the inning – IN PHILADELPHIA – would equal a home game?…No Answer still?
Okay Bud, I’ll dumb it down for you again.
Are you openly favouring the Phillies by giving them 84 games in their home park? Or are you openly mistreating the Blue Jays who only get 78 home games?..Wow, still silence.
Hmm, I guess I’ll have to make this really basic for you.
Is it possible that you are legally brain dead and are only functioning as a result of some high-tech remote control? I mean, even Bernie from the 1980′s film “Week-end at Bernie’s” showed more brain function than you did making this decision…and he was actually dead!
Now, I know that you will say that the G8/G20 Summit that took place in Toronto this weekend was the culprit that forced your hand into making this decision, and with that point I cannot argue. However, your choice to give the Phillies 3 more games in their home park can be argued and will remain a point of contention (one in a long list by your doing) until you leave your post way up in the MLB Ivory Tower.
Were you not aware that the schedule – your office created – ensures that 16 professional baseball parks are empty at any given time? 15 of which were alternatives to be used as a neutral place to play for Toronto and Philadelphia.
Yet, you opted to favour the Phillies home park.
To make matters worse, you failed to grab hold of a rare opportunity.
You had the chance to give a neutral city – one without a major league team – a rare chance to see a professional baseball game being played at their home field!
Why not put the games in Las Vegas and sell the glitz and glamour of that city and attach some of that cache to the MLB? Or how about Louisville, that city is baseball mad, and similar to the pink bats for breast cancer, a connection could have been made where all players would use only Louisville Sluggers during the series!
And here’s a crazy thought – what about Montreal! Not only does the Expos brand still sell hats and other paraphernalia (despite being dragged to Washington), Montreal would’ve have been the closest and easiest destination for Toronto Blue Jays to get to. Not to mention a chance to reinvigorating the Montreal fan base and even gauge the response of the city to your product again – you know, in case one of the other failing markets needs to be moved.
At the very least, by placing the Jays/Phillies series in any of the three cities mentioned, you would have renewed acquaintances with fans that left after the 1995 lock-out and never returned, all while enticing a new generation of youth to follow baseball.
Now back to the Jays.
I can hear you saying – it’s only 3 games – well, Toronto just lost 2 of those 3 games and the Phillies looked relaxed and comfortable at home, whereas the Jays had to travel a few hundred extra miles, sleep in hotels and deal with a schedule that was tossed and turned – advantage Phillies.
Furthermore, I dare you to tell any team that misses the play-offs by 2 games or less that it wasn’t, in part, a direct result of the Phillies favourable extra-series home schedule…
Or, answer this hypothetical – what happens if a team gets eliminated by the Phillies by 1 game? The Phillies will have just squeaked into the play-offs, in part, because of the 1 extra home win that was a personal gift from you – Bud Selig.
One final question, when you made your asinine decision to allow the Phillies to play extra home games, did you account for the fact that Philadelphia would be more comfortable than the Jays, less tired without the travel and that they would be able to keep their schedules and superstitions intact? I didn’t think so.
Finally, Bud – yes three games matter, it all matters – and instead of thinking outside of the box, you and your cronies elected to take the lazy route. A path that played a part in two Toronto losses, and resulted in you screwing over the Blue Jays, their fans, the casual fan looking for a reason to become hardcore follower…oh, and every other MLB team not named the Phillies!
Blue Jays Vernon Wells to be Traded: Interest from the Yankees, Sox, Mets, Giants, Angels and Cubs?
Vernon Wells’ 7-year, $126 million contract isn’t going to run out until the 2014 season, however, now that his contract is nearing the half-way point and his bat has reignited, look for the Blue Jays to make a huge push to rid themselves of what’s left on the contract at that this year’s trade deadline.
Some may question if this is the time where Toronto can look to move this monster contract…I think it is, especially if the Blue Jays are willing to take a contract or two in return.
In addition, with contracts of lesser players escalating over the last 3 seasons, the Wells’ contract isn’t looking as ominous as it once did. Package that with Vernon’s renaissance play this year, his leadership and his Gold Glove defence - and you have to believe that the teams with money and a chance to make the play-offs will make a serious push to land the bat of Wells.
Here’s a short list of teams that should be in the hunt for Vernon Wells and the percentage chance of landing him (%).
The New York Yankees: Always a player, and loaded with the talented and aged that get hurt. Can they rely on Jorge posada to remain healthy throughout the play-offs? If Posada remains healthy, the Yankees will not play Francisco Cervelli; especially when the other option is putting Posada behind the plate, and adding a significant upgrade on defence with Vernon Wells in the field and shifting Nick Swisher to the DH spot. Setting all that aside, the acquisition of Wells may be a mere result of having the money and the ability to stop any competitor from improving. (35%)
The Boston Red Sox: They have the money to acquire Wells, and with Mike Cameron, Bill Hall and J.D. Drew currently manning the field and dropping the ball on offense, they would be wise to spend the money. Furthermore, Ortiz and Lowell are gone as soon as possible leaving the Red Sox with an offensive hole that will need to be filled. (30%)
The San Francisco Giants: Brian Sabean has a team with great pitching and real shot of taking over first place in the NL West and he has money to spend. Not to mention, with Nate Schierholtz not getting it done at the plate and light bat of Andres Torres scaring no-one, the Giants would do themselves a real favour by adding a real offensive threat to their batting order. Not only would Vernon add much needed defence in the field, his power could also help Pablo Sandoval see better pitches. (25%)
The New York Mets: Always the ugly cousin, the Mets are never happy just watching the Yankees improve. As of today, the Mets are showing a real chance at winning the NL East or the NL Wild-Card. Their odds would rise exponentially when beltran gets back from long-term injury and if they replaced the solid, but less spectacular Jeff Francoeur in the field and placing Wells in center to avoid an extra damage to Beltran’s knees. (20%)
The Los Angeles Angels: With Kendry Morales out for the year, Brandon Wood looking like a AAA player at best and Jaun Rivera doing nothing that would indicate last year’s 25/88/.287 season was anything but an aberration, the Angels will be buyers at the deadline. Look for the Angels to make a move to remain competitive in the AL East and the AL Wild-Card. (15%)
Dark Horse/Long-shot: The Chicago Cubs: The Cubs know three things. One, they have a lot of work ahead of them to get back into the NL Wild-Card chase or face becoming an irrelevant team in the NL. Two, in similar fashion to his 2008 and 2009 seasons, Kosuke Fukodome will crash and burn soon, and if the Cubs want to compete this year or in the future, they will need the defence and the solid bat of Wells. Three, the Cubs fans will not tolerate another losing season, especially one that may result in losing fan favourite Derek Lee among others. Look for a potential desperate push. (5%)
Brandon Morrow Masterful as Jays Win!
The Toronto Blue Jays were able to put it all together last night against the St. Louis Cardinals en route to a well earned 5-0 victory.
The win occurred on a night where Jays pitcher Brandon Morrow put together another solid performance on the mound, his fifth quality start in a row.
The bats of Vernon Wells (2 homeruns) and Adam Lind (1 homerun) generated the majority of the offense via the long ball; while Fred Lewis collected his 20th rbi of the season by driving in Lyle Overbay via a sacrifice fly.
What was most impressive last night was the Jays ability to get to the Cardinals staff Ace, Adam Wainwright. Wainwright is not only the top Cardinals pitcher, but he is also one of the best National League pitchers and one of the best pitchers in the major leagues overall, which shows that the Jays were on their game to achieve what they did. And what they did was capitalize on Wainwright’s mistakes from the on-set of the game and by the 4th inning the Jays batters had chased him to the bench.
Up next is three Blue Jays “home-games” against Roy Halladay and the rest of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Despite being played in Philadelphia, these games are technically considered Blue Jays home games, as a result of rescheduling that took place in order for both teams to bypass the G8/G20 meetings that are being held in Toronto.
Blue Jays Game Notes:
- Blue Jays stopped a three-game slide
- Vernon Wells hit his 17th and 18th homeruns of the season.
- Adam Lind hit his 9th homerun of the season, and first since May 31st.
- Jose Molina had his first multi-hit game since May 23rd, in limited play.
- Aaron Hill, Jose Bautista, Fred Lewis and Alex Gonzalez each collected a hit.
- Shawn Camp struck out one, on his way to pitching a hitless and scoreless 9th inning.
Pitchers from the Blue Jays Past and Present Show What Pitching is All About!
The Toronto Blue Jays suffered a heart breaking 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday after watching their past (Chris Carpenter) and their present (Ricky Romero) showcase their premiere pitching abilities.
The Batters from both the American League Jays and the National League Cards were unable to keep up with the starting pitching yesterday…until Cito Gaston opted to replace Romero after his pitch count hit 107.
With Romero out, Kevin Gregg entered the game to start the 9th inning and surrendered the winning run after a series of singles set the table for Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday.
Chris Carpenter was secured the win and Rich Franklin collected the save as the Blue Jays lost their second in a row to St. Louis and third in a row.
It doesn’t get any easier tonight for the Jays, even with the recent excellent pitching by Brendan Morrow (4-5), as the Cardinals Staff Ace, Adam Wainwright (10-4), will be on the mound.
Dustin McGowan’s Pain in the…Shoulder
Do you remember Dustin McGowan?
This is a silly question for some, but McGowan has been gone long enough that many young Blue Jays fans may actually not know who he is.
For those young fans, McGowan is a pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays who underwent surgery for a torn rotator cuff a couple of years ago just as his career was starting to take-off.
For the rest of us who do remember Dustin, his career mark of 20-22 and a 4.71 ERA in 56 starts and 75 games overall, makes it is easy to forget how the Baseball world, the Blue Jays and their fans were starting to envision a dominant top-three rotation that would’ve included Roy Halladay, Dustin McGowan and Shawn Marcum.
Now that rotation is only a memory.
Yes, Shawn Marcum is still here and is pitching like the leader of the rotation, but Halladay is now pitching for a World Series shot in Philadelphia and McGowan is becoming an afterthought due to injury.
Injury – this is possibly the single worst word for a professional athlete to hear, although I suspect Tiger Woods may know of a few other words that I can’t share.
Unfortunately for McGowan, injury is a word that he hears far too often.
Infact, Dr. James Andrews recently found an additional problem with the right- hander’s pitching shoulder and said that dirty word toMcGowan yet again, which means, McGowan’s shelf life has been extended – but not in the “I can eat this Twinkie from 1989” good way, but rather the negative way that will result in McGowan missing at least the rest of this season and the beginning of the 2011 campaign.
On the business side of Blue Jays baseball, their once prize asset (McGowan) is depreciating fast, and isn’t expected to resume throwing for about 4-to-6 months (if ever). Yet, the human equation of the Blue Jays organization is rooting for Dustin to simply stay healthy, and if possible, allow him to regain the form that enabled him to play the game that he loves.
All too often a player can get lost in an organization by never seizing their moment or by never realizing their abilities – and that’s a sad story – but what is happening to Dustin McGowan is so much worse. McGowan made it to the big show because of his hard work and by seizing his moment, but just when he was realizing his abilities – Dustin got lost in a downward spiral of injuries.
McGowan has the make-up of someone who will make it back (eventually), and when he does, he will not only remind fans of his abilities, but he will remind us all of the inner strength each of have to obtain our goals.
The Blue Jays Have a Tough Road Ahead
The Toronto Blue Jays are in a dog fight.
Sitting only 5.5 games out of first in the AL East and only 4.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for a wild-card pass into the play-offs, Toronto is still in the battle.
Now I realize that the season has not even reached at the half-way point and that between now and the fast approaching All-Star break, the Blue Jays have a very difficult 19 game stretch – but this is the time to prove what they are made of.
Yes, it’s true that this upcoming portion of games will pit the Jays against five of six opponents that are either division leaders or are in their own battle for contention – a tough road indeed, but Toronto has already proven themselves capable of beating top teams this season. so why would it stop now?
What it boils down to is this – this is potentially the stretch of games that will determine if the Jays are in the race going around the final bend, or if they are losing their youthful energy to only fade away down the stretch.
As for now, Toronto management is acting as a team in this fight and can win it. They have already shipped out a cog in the wheel (Edwin Encarnacion) that was defective and replaced it with a well made temporary cog (Jarrett Hoffpauir) to keep the Blue Jays machine running smoothly until Travis Snider is back.
If Toronto works through this 19 game stretch in good shape, maybe winning 4 of the of 6 remaining series prior to the All-Star game, look for a neck and neck battle for the wild-card spot right until the end of the season. However, if Toronto can’t make it through this next 6 series at .500 or better, the tough road ahead will only get worse.
Giants Five-Run Sixth, Sinks Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays tried, but lost an opportunity to extend their winning streak to four games last night after suffering a loss against the San Francisco Giants.
Toronto carried the lead until the fifth inning, on the back of Shawn Marcum’s pitching, but with a San Francisco rally in the sixth inning the Blue Jays lead evaporated and the Giants never looked back on their way to an eventual 9-6 win.
Blue Jays Game Notes:
Shawn Marcum was effective, but was obviously not having his A-game on the mound as he walked 5 in 5 innings, yet did manage to strikeout 8 and keep the Jays in the lead.
A big 6th inning got rolling against Brian Tallet (1-3), who managed to only throw 26 pitches, yet saw five runs cross the plate on his watch and saw his ERA rise from 4.99 to 6.39.
John Buck, Jose Bautista and Adam Lind each had multi-hit games, while Fred Lewis and John McDonald added to the Jays nine hit effort – with McDonald’s hit coming in the form of a 2-run homerun.
Next match-up for Toronto is a three game set against former Blue Jay Chris Carpenter, and his powerful hitting friends, Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday and the rest of the St. Louis Cardinals.
