The New Jays

Apropos of yesterday’s blog about what a last-place team should be doing, let’s look at the Toronto Blue Jays, in a similar situation as the Mariners, if not nearly as dire. In last place in one of baseball’s toughest divisions, the 38-43 Jays canned manager John Gibbons on June 20, replacing him with veteran Cito Gaston.

I’d listed Gibbons as one of my 5 worst managers in the other blog I write for, because the Jays always seemed to underperform, and he’s had too many on-field and off-field run-ins with his players, from the easily provoked Frank Thomas to Shea Hillenbrand, whom he allegedly challenged to a fight.

I don’t mind a manager with a strong hand, but you’ve got to produce results, too, and Gibbons never could. And for every Thomas or Hillenbrand (or Dave Bush or Ted Lilly, two more players who had public feuds with Gibbons) there are likely other players who simply chafed under Gibbons.

Now with Cito Gaston back at the helm—along with Bobby Cox, the only current manager to manage the same team twice—some of those players are getting a new lease on life. After all, if you’re in last place, why not look to the future?

Take Adam Lind, only last year listed as Baseball America’s top prospect for the team, who disappointed in his first chance at playing time in 2007, with a .238/.278/.400. That’s not a terrible line, but his 65:16 K:BB ratio reflected a lack of patience, and his OPS was 210 points lower against lefties. After a six-game stretch at the start of 2008 when he continued to struggle (going 1-19) Gibbons and GM Ricciardi demoted him to the minors.

Neither of these is enough of a reason to decide a guy’s career for him, but Gaston recognized this better than Gibbons. Knowing that Toronto is pretty much out of contention (11.5 games out of first, beneath three very good teams), Gaston knew he’d have to look at the future, and he brought up Lind, giving him repeated votes of confidence.

Calling him the “outfielder of the future,” Gaston chose to leave Lind in at the end of the game against Braves lefty closer Mike Gonzalez, instead of pinch-hitting for him. “I want him to have confidence,” Gaston said. “I want him to build some confidence and not feel like he has to look over his shoulder every time a left-hander comes into a ball game from the bullpen.”

Cito Gaston saw that they have a good thing in Lind and, instead of relegating him to platoon duties as the Mariners have with Jeremy Reed, he wanted to see if the kid could learn. After all, he’s only 24, which is the same year that Seattle’s management apparently decided that Reed was through trying to hit lefties (he’s only had 27 at-bats since, out of 304 total). Lind has done well in his brief time under Gaston’s confidence-building regime, going 5-17 with 2 home runs so far, and—no matter what happens—will at least feel like he’s being given a shot to prove himself.

Similarly, Joe Inglett has prospered since being given a shot by Gaston. With starting second baseman Aaron Hill on the DL with a concussion, Gaston could have gone the safe veteran route, playing David Eckstein and Marcos Scutaro up the middle.

In Seattle’s short-term outlook, where managers are apparently instructed to play the guy with the highest paychecks and not the best numbers, Eckstein (signed in the offseason to a one-year, $4.5M deal) would be the starting shortstop. Scutaro, a utilityman making $1.55M this year, would be behind him.

Instead, Gaston is letting the guy with the best numbers play, paycheck be damned. Eckstein’s offensive numbers are good, but not much better than Scutaro’s. But Eck has 9 errors at short, while Scutaro has only 3, in more chances. Fine, Gaston says: let’s put Scutaro at short so we can get a look at Joe Inglett at second.

Inglett’s response? He’s gone 10-24 with a homer, a double, 5 R and 5 RBI. Unlike Lind, Inglett is no prospect, since he’s 30. But if you’re playing for the future instead of the present, why not give the guy a shot? Maybe he’s a late bloomer, or maybe you can finally figure out if he’s got major-league talent or not.

Inglett’s only real shot was in 2006, when he saw 64 games and put up .284/.332/.383 with decent fielding numbers at second. He’s probably not going to replace Hill—if and when he returns from the DL—but starting Inglett gives his team a powerful message.

When you bench your starting $4.5M shortstop in favor of a career minor-leaguer, it says: We don’t care how much you earn. We only care how you play.

It’s a message that the moribund Mariners would do well to disseminate in their clubhouse.