Club Gibbons no spring retreat
Lost season triggers fundamental change in camp game plan
CLEARWATER, FLA.— It was spring training of 2006 when the talented but troubled Shea Hillenbrand went on the record to suggest that Blue Jays manager John Gibbons allowed a “country-club atmo- sphere” and not enough serious work was being done to prepare for the season.
Whether true or not, that notion of unchallenging spring programs has followed him through two tenures as Jays manager. Fired mid-season in 2008 by J.P. Ricciardi and rehired prior to 2013 by Alex Anthopoulos, the laidback 55-year-old Texan has earned the loyalty and respect of his latest GM, Ross Atkins, who inherited him and now believes in his skills as a majorleague leader.
The bottom line is that in the five years since his return as manager, the Jays’ April record is 52-75 — including last season’s atrocious 8-17 start that put them in a hole from which they were unable to climb. In nine seasons overall with Gibbons handling spring training, they are 101-127 in April. For the entirety of his major-league career, they are 17 games above .500.
“Naturally it makes you think about things, but I’ve always approached it like I’ve got great respect for these guys, for what they do, for how successful they’ve been,” Gibbons explained of his philosophy on spring training.
“You treat them like men and you expect the same in return. The thing about baseball — and I just go back to my playing days, I was kind of a piss- and-vinegar guy: go, go, go — to me it’s always been if the guys enjoy being out here. You can get your work done. The days of driving everybody with a whip, that’s over.”
The Jays, like most other major-league teams in Florida and Arizona, have short days out on the field, but the players do much of their work — on fundamentals and staying in shape — in the early morning, away from prying eyes.
“They come in shape, but even the mentality,” Gibbons said. “It used to be, if you weren’t producing you were going (to the minors).
“It doesn’t happen any more. Just treat them like men. Be fair. Make sure they’re ready and to hell with the other stuff. My personality is what it is. If I change my personality, it’s a dead giveaway.”
Gibbons has had discussions with Atkins and his own staff about trying to improve the spring experience and avoid another deadly April. Fundamentals that have been executed more sharply in exhibition games this year. Players are taking the extra base, being aggressive and more athletic.
Gibbons promises that when the minor-league camp ramps up next week and he’s down to a core of roster players post-St. Patty’s, there will be more bus rides for his stars. Sometimes road-game lineups early in camp are embarrassing.
“We get some complaints from the league, too, if we don’t bring a good enough roster on the road,” Gibbons admitted. “A lot of teams do, but what’s always happened in my mind and when you’ve got an older team, a veteran team, you see everybody’s banged up at spring training.
“The ultimate goal is to get them healthy for opening day. Sometimes those guys ride on buses for two and three hours. Especially early on then, they go down there and get two, three at-bats, so sometimes it defeats the purpose. They’re better off getting a full work day in here. But saying that, really our location here (in Dunedin) — it’s no excuse, but it can make it difficult. That’s the way it goes.”
One of the 2017 weaknesses the Jays have been trying to correct is controlling the opponent’s running game. An example was Aaron Sanchez picking a runner off second on a timing play with shortstop Aledmys Diaz. It’s something they had been working on in the early mornings.
“We have to help our catchers out a little bit, things like that,” Gibbons said. “We’ve got some ground-ballers. We need to keep that guy at first base. Now he gets a ground ball, it’s a double-play instead of him sitting on second, the little things.”
Those little things can add up over 162 games, but especially in April when everything is fresh and players are excited to finally strap it on for real.
“Our mindset coming off this (Monday) off-day is, guys will start getting more playing time,” Gibbons promised. “Who knows why some teams start off better than others. If a team comes out hitting, guys are swinging, guys are pitching well, you’re probably going to get off to a good start.
“Even last year coming out of the gate, (Josh) Donaldson started the season but he wasn’t moving good. But what sticks in the back of your mind is the 1-9 start. It buried us. We salvaged May. You can survive a so-so start, but it’s hard to survive a bad start. It really is. We had to get on a serious role just to get to .500.”
Gibbons knows that he does not have the same explosive offence as 2015, but he believes — with the addition of outfielders Randal Grichuk and Curtis Granderson, and the new players in the middle infield — he will be able to be aggressive and manufacture runs that they missed out on last year.
“I can go back to Kansas City, because I was part of that at one time (as a coach),” Gibbons said. “You watch them those years they went to the World Series, they’d run you out of the ballpark. In a close game, they were going to win every time because they could manufacture better than anybody. They had some speed and they were really good at small ball, but that’s how they won.”