Top Blue Jays Manager #2: John
Gibbons
Years Managed: 9
(2004-2008, 2013—Present)
Win/Loss Record: 632-602
Division Titles: 1
(2015)
Best Season: 2015
(93-69, Won A.L. East)
Many people scoffed when the
Blue Jays hired John Gibbons as the club’s manager prior to the 2013 season.
After all, Gibbons had already had a shot managing the Jays several years
earlier and had compiled a 305-305 record over four and a half seasons before
being let go in 2008. When the team underachieved in 2013 following a flurry of
free-agent signings and high-profile trades, Gibbons’ critics seemed to enjoy
labelling Gibbons as a lame-duck manager and counting down the days until he
was fired by the Jays for the second time.
But Gibbons stuck around and
proved his critics wrong. In 2014, he guided the Jays to a nine-game
improvement and into third place in the A.L. East. It’s not easy managing a
bunch of millionaire players, yet Gibbons was able to keep egos belonging to
Jose Bautista, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Adam Lind and Colby Rasmus in check
and guide the team through the season.
Even bigger things awaited
Gibbons and the Blue Jays in 2015. Rasmus and Lind were gone and by the end of
July, so was Reyes. The Toronto skipper had David Price, Ben Revere and Troy
Tulowitzki join his club and make a charge towards the division title. And not
only did Gibbons keep the reigns on his high-priced talent, he was also
responsible—along with former general manager, Alex Anthopoulus—for finding
young, budding superstars (closer Roberto Osuna and second baseman Devon
Travis) as well as finding previous unnoticed talent in pitcher Marco Estrada
and first baseman/outfielder Chris Colabello.
Gibbons was rewarded when he
managed the Jays to their first division title in 22 years. And not only did
they win the division, but they came from eight games behind in July and ended
up winning by six games, a fourteen-game turnaround. A second comeback ensued
in the American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers. After Toronto
dropped the first two games at home, they faced elimination. But the club met
the challenge head on and charged back, defeating the Rangers three straight
games to advance to the ALCS.
Even now, a lot of people would
like to put Gibbons down, but he has proven he has the ability to manage a big
league club and have success doing it. He is one of only three managers to
guide the team to the postseason in the team’s 40 year history. He is second
all-time in wins by a manager for the organization. And he’s been able to keep
a team with different personalities focused on the most important goal a team
can have: winning.
While it’s been rumoured that
Gibbons will not have his contract renewed after the 2016 season—he was
Anthopoulos’ signing, and the new guys in charge would probably like to sever
ties to anything AA did (it appears, anyway)—Toronto would be making a huge
mistake in letting him go. Gibbons leaving would almost certainly guarantee
Encarnacion signing elsewhere, for example.
As for Gibbons’ playing career,
he only played a total of 18 games over two years with the New York Mets (10
games in 1984 and eight in 1986). He accumulated nine hits for a .220 batting
average, only hit one home runs and drove in two.
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