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Post by 85Jays on Aug 22, 2006 14:01:05 GMT -5
If Gibbons needs to go, you can always axe him and make Whitt the interim manager. Certainly a fulltime manager picked mid-season would be risky your options would be more limited. But if you do fire Gibbons now, it has to be because he really is a major problem, rather than because you think a managerial change would turn things around.
You know it's a bad day in Blue Jay land when I find myself asking the same thing. You asked the right question ... where the heck is he? I have no clue. Is he even in baseball anymore? He made a lot of rookie mistakes, but could have been a decent manager. And while the Vietnam lies were a large part of the reason he was fired ... were they such a crime that he can't be forgiven 8 years later?
I've often wondered if there was more to the situation than we ever heard about. It seems strange that he'd disappear like he did.
On the other hand ... the last Blue Jays manager to return to managing somewhere else later in his career was Jimy Williams, who was canned 17 years ago. Is Toronto where managers go to die?
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Post by ws1992 on Aug 22, 2006 15:46:12 GMT -5
Usually I would agree that Cito is a bad choice, but keep some things in mind.
This is not a rebuilding team anymore, even if they wanted to be. There’s nothing in the farm, and the only young pitchers that can be abused are in the bullpen. The core of this team is untradeable, other than Halladay and the soon to be departed Wells, and the core (with the exception of Rios) are all veterans. There’s not much Cito could mess up from a developmental standpoint. He’ll play Rios and Hill because there’s no one else to play. He’ll bring League and Accardo in the 7th and 8th innings because there’s no else to put in. And so on. The roster will most certainly need improvement though. Cito’s not going to turn water into wine.
Look what happened in Detroit. Jim Leyland was always an arm abuser and old school style manager. He came to Detroit (with young pitchers like Bonderman and Verlander) and has put that team over the top. I don’t know how he’s done with the pitch counts and what not, but there hasn’t been an injury or problem that I’m aware of. I know for a fact that Lou Pinella improved with pitch counts towards the latter part of his tenure with the Mariners (it was a big deal to Mariners fans). So it’s possible that Cito may have learned a bit in his time off, and if not, he can certainly be told to watch out for it.
There’s one thing Cito can do well, and that’s keep a good clubhouse. Sure, the early ‘90’s Blue Jays were able to police themselves for the most part, but Cito has a psychological way of approaching these things, much like Torre. It’s subtle, but effective. He’s likable and can command respect at the same time. That’s been missing from a Jays manager for a long time. He also has some credibility, which is important to a team that is losing credibility with each passing day (or each passing fight, whatever works for you).
Is Cito my first choice? No. But I don’t have a list of available managers handy and he was the first to pop into my head (naturally, since I’m a Blue Jays fan). He wouldn’t be that bad assuming this team adds more veterans to go for a serious run at the playoffs.
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axlsalinger
Registered Member
Power to the People
Posts: 20
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Post by axlsalinger on Aug 22, 2006 16:10:18 GMT -5
He would appear to be the obvious choice. Funny though to go from being a walking dead man to getting a promotion!
Last I heard of Tim Johnson was that he was managing in a league south of the US (can't remember if it was a league in Mexico or in Central America). That was several years ago, though. He was a good manager for us, it's too bad it had to end that way.
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MLBJB
Registered Member
The guy formally known as MapleLeafBlueJayBoy on Fanhome.
Posts: 39
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Post by MLBJB on Aug 22, 2006 16:53:57 GMT -5
You know, its funny, 2.5 months ago I called for Gibbons head due to the erratic way he was managing a 'contending' club over on Fanhome. I was nearly laughed off the board for it.
So I take a little comfort over here hearing people calling for Cito's return. He had his faults but the man knew how to run a veteran ballclub well. This teams needs that steady, calm influence over it right now.
I think that has been proven.
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