Next manager is a crucial decision
Front offiCe wAs fACing plenty of pressure Before GiBBons’ exit, writes
TORONTO Perhaps unwittingly, Toronto Blue Jays centre-fielder Kevin Pillar nailed it when describing what lies ahead with the rebooting baseball team’s pending managerial search.
“Sometimes new can be great, sometimes new can be scary,” Pillar said about the future without John Gibbons. “I guess we can wait and find out.”
Now that team president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins have gotten rid of one of the most popular managers in Jays history, they are tasked with a massive hire.
With goodwill among the fan base running thin and two disastrous seasons in the books, it is fair to say the new regime is on the clock. Attendance is down notably (almost 10,000 per game) and without an uptick in performance, it’s not a stretch to suggest TV ratings will soon follow with a decline of their own.
But from a baseball perspective, if the farm system is as loaded as management suggests it is and the Vlad Guerrero Jr. era is to begin on a good note, the pending job search is critical.
What will they be looking for? Well, Shapiro was nowhere to be seen during Gibbons’ final home game Wednesday afternoon at the Rogers Centre and Atkins preferred to keep that to himself for now.
This much, we can surmise, however:
The Jays will look to hire someone with major-league experience, though not necessarily extensive time in the managerial role. Understanding how to survive and thrive in the spotlight of the unique national market the Jays hold will be a factor.
In keeping with the buzz word of the management group, they will want someone who is collaborative, a personality trait that will fit in with the overall philosophy the team is trying to indoctrinate with its players and their development.
It would make sense to have the new manager in place by the end of the World Series to have his voice heard in what will be a busy off-season in which several crucial decisions will be made. It will be absolutely necessary that the new manager is on staff well before the December winter meetings in Las Vegas.
Atkins told Postmedia that the Jays’ rather large baseball operations department has spent the last couple of weeks gathering information on potential candidates. It’s expected top brass will compile a large working list to start with and an interview process to cull that list will begin as soon as possible.
If there isn’t recognition from the management level at Rogers Centre that this team is a steaming public relations disaster, there should be. The team has methodically been shredded of much of its character over the last two years with the jettisoning of the popular Gibbons the latest example.
With that in mind, the team will want to hire someone who can present a good front for the team in dealing with the players, public and media. Of course, they just sent one of the best in that department packing, but the outpouring of affection for Gibbons had to be an eye-opener.
Given the youth movement and the promise of youngsters such as Guerrero, Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and more, it will be a must to have a manager capable of working and grooming young players. The player-development arm of the organization is large and aggressive and a legit source of optimism.
Accountability. Remember all those bumbled plays in the outfield by Teoscar Hernandez this season and what seemed like out-and-out laziness from Yangervis Solarte in running the bases? Don’t be surprised if the new boss has a hard edge and is perhaps more publicly demonstrative in that regard.
(As an aside, Gibbons despised any sniff that he was lax in this area. His management style was to take care of such matters behind closed doors rather than make a public scene. Gibbons was intensely loyal to his players, but that didn’t mean he would accept mediocrity or lack of effort).
Like any of the big leagues these days, baseball is a copycat sport. It’s apparent that the Jays will want a manager to be collaborative in the analytics arena, much like last year’s World Series combatants in Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers and A.J. Hinch of the defending-champion Houston Astros.
There was an almost comical example of this on Tuesday night when Justin Smoak came in to pinch-hit in the ninth inning. In the Astros’ dugout, you could see one of the coaches scrambling to find a cue card with Smoak’s tendencies on it. Once found, Hinch took it to the mound to instruct the reliever on the best way to attack Smoak.
In some cases with new-age teams, the baseball operations department has as much say in the day-to-day running of the team as the dude who fills out the lineup card.
Was Gibbons too old-school, then? Well, he wasn’t shy about telling you how he didn’t like Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash’s tactic of using relievers to start some games, but he wasn’t closed-minded to change.
So who will the new manager be?
Atkins won’t comment on any name presented, but all signs point to it being a progressive hire. When names start to surface over the next couple of weeks, don’t put too much stock into a predictable retread, the been-there, done-that types who are recycled around the sport.
For the biggest hire of his young career as a general manager, Atkins wants to be progressive. His future may depend on who he gets.