Gibbons won’t be back with the Blue Jays

John Gibbons wasn’t sure he had the energy to oversee a rebuild in Toronto, so he’s moving on from his job as manager of the Blue Jays at the end of the season.

“We are going to have a new voice. We are going to have a new approach,” general manager Ross Atkins said Wednesday.

The 56-year-old Gibbons has one season left in a two-year extension he received in April 2017.

“I’ve been here a long time and I agree it’s probably time for a change,” Gibbons said. “We’re rebuilding here, and actually I think I’m the perfect guy for a rebuild. But I don’t know if I have the energy, necessarily.”

Atkins said Gibbons can decide whether to take a new role in the organization. Gibbons didn’t rule that out, but also said he’d like to manage in the big leagues again.

Possible goodbye: More than 3½ hours before the start of what many expect to be his last game at Nationals Park as a member of the Washington Nationals, Bryce Harper stood at his locker and let his eyes linger on that familiar white jersey with the curly red “W” on the front and his last name on the back.

Then Harper, who can become a free agent at season’s end, put on his full uniform, right down to the stirrups – the only player ready that far ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled first pitch.

“It’s definitely crazy walking in today and knowing this could be my last game at Nats Park in my white jersey. It’s definitely something that you’re not sure how you’re going to react, and not sure what it’s going to be like,” Harper said.

The Nationals, who failed to make the playoffs, close the season with a three-game series at Colorado.