Jays manager Gibbons stands behind players
NEW YORK A New York-based reporter asked John Gibbons about his team’s “very poor start” prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Yankees.
“That’s an understatement,” said the Toronto Blue Jays manager.
“I was trying to be kind,” the reporter quipped.
Her point was: Given the fact that the Jays have stumbled through the first month of the season and were 9-18 heading into Wednesday’s game, is he worried that the word “fire sale” is going to start being used by reporters more frequently? There certainly has been talk that GM Ross Atkins will have to embark on a rebuild if the Jays fall further out of contention over the next few weeks. But for his part, Gibbons said it’s too early to start thinking fire sale.
“We’ll have a little better idea in the next couple of months (about that), but I don’t think anybody’s been swamped with those kinds of questions yet,” he said. “You get later in the season, I do think that becomes a hassle for the guys because that does take over. But it goes back to this particular group — and not all teams are like that — they’ve got a different mentality. Because they know they’re good, they’ve been successful and one of things that make them good, they don’t get caught up in all the noise.”
More and more Gibbons has had to defend his team and he’s more than willing to do that.
“This group as has been very successful the last two years. I know what makes them tick and I know what they’re made of, and one thing about this group, they never panic, they never tuck their tail or anything like that,” he said. “There’s no need to. I’ve always believed in baseball, if you’re good enough you’ll be there in the end. There might be a couple of teams every year that overachieve and a couple that underachieve.
“Because inevitably every team, good or bad, gets on some kind of good streak and everybody rides some bad streaks and we’re hoping we’ve had our bad one. But a lot of it has to do with the personality in that room and I know these guys, they get frustrated like everybody else, but they never shut down. I’ve heard some comments along the way, ‘They look flat.’ But ... generally in this sport, it can be a slow moving sport, if the pitcher on the other side is good, everybody looks flat.”
NEWS FROM SICK BAY
Third baseman Josh Donaldson (right calf ), shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (right hamstring) and LHP J.A. Happ remain in Dunedin doing rehab. Gibbons said the news is pretty good on every front. “Happ played catch yesterday, stretched it out a little bit, felt really good. But I mean, he’s a ways off still. Tulowitzki and Donaldson are taking their ground balls, taking BP down there doing a little bit of running. They’re both making progress, but I don’t know any more than that.”
Gibbons hopes they will be ready next Monday when the Jays return home to face Cleveland.
AROUND THE DIAMOND
RHP Mat Latos, who was pounded by the Yankees on Tuesday night, has left the team for personal reasons. “He had to go home and take care of some business,” said the manager. A Jays source said Latos is expected to join the team later in the week in Tampa (if he isn’t released) ... RHP Jason Grilli has surrendered five earned runs (including two home runs) in his last two outings, mainly because he’s having issues with his slider. “It’s hanging it or it’s backing up on him,” said Gibbons. “But I just think too many mistakes, middle of the plate too much is what’s costing him. You always hear that ‘you gotta throw strikes.’ Yeah, but you’ve got to throw better than just throw strikes. You got to throw good strikes, too” ... New York outfielder Aaron Judge, who hit two homers against the Jays on Tuesday, was named rookie of the month. He leads the majors with 12 homers. Gibbons sees the difference between Judge last year and this season: “My recollection he’d chase balls out of the zone more last year, and I don’t see him doing that this year. That compares a lot to Kevin Pillar with us, doing the same thing. But I’m impressed with his defence, too. He’s had an incredible month. And he seems like a good guy too. Humble.”