Delivering bad news a ‘tough’ job
ROSTER MOVES: Hutchison pitched well this spring, but he’ll begin the season in Buffalo
John Gibbons understands and occasionally dreads the final days of spring training. He lived the nomadic life of a minor league ballplayer for long enough — never quite good enough, never knowing where he would be starting any season. He came to hate that clubhouse tap on the shoulder that brings with it the news: “The manager wants to see you.” Only now, he’s the manager. “It’s tough from my end,” Gibbons said Monday. “You don’t want to be too callous about anything. Because you know you’re affecting people’s careers. Sometimes guys get sent out that should be in the big leagues, but that circumstances dictate otherwise. I feel for those guys. And I don’t take that lightly.”
Monday was a three-pronged day for Gibbons, three different morning meetings with players. One with bad news. One with good news. One somewhere in between.
The first meeting was the most tugging. It was with Drew Hutchison. About a year ago this time, Gibbons named Hutchison his opening day starter. That choice was partly circumstantial, partly earned. It wasn’t second guessed at the time: It was like that Jays team, all about possibilities and hope.
The meeting Monday morning was slightly uncomfortable. Gibbons had to tell Hutchison what most of us already knew: He was being sent to triple-A Buffalo.
He was being sent down after pitching well enough to be on the team: He finished the Grapefruit League with the most innings pitched on the Jays staff and a sound 3.26 earnedrun-average. He didn’t lose his job this spring — some weren’t sure he could pitch any better — he really lost his job and maybe his focus last season on the road.
What did Gibbons tell him he needed to work on — the usual conversation between outgoing player and mumbling manager?
“I don’t think he needs work on anything,” Gibbons said. “I told him to be consistent, pitch well. He’s going to play a big part for us this year. That’s my gut feeling. You never go through a whole season (without pitching problems or injuries.) You’ll always need more. He can turn out to be the key guy this year, who knows?”
Last year, after a season of winning at home and being terrible on the road, Hutchison made one last memorable start at Rogers Centre for the Jays. It came against the Yankees on a Sunday afternoon, with the Jays trailing the Yanks by a game and a half. Toronto had lost the first two games against New York.
Hutchison had a terrific outing. And that was it. He was later shuffled aside, first to the bullpen, off the playoff roster, now to Buffalo. And he’s only 25. “This year, it’s a good year,” Gibbons said of most of the decision making. “We have the personnel in place. Now we’re just identifying their roles. It’s not like we’re cutting a lot of guys.” Hutchison, that was the hard one. “That was tough,” Gibbons said. The meeting with Gavin Floyd was short and typical. First there was the handshake and the official news he made the team. Then the second part. Instead of being a starting pitcher, he’s going to start the season as a long reliever. The only thing that might change that is if Marco Estrada isn’t healthy enough to begin the season on the 25-man roster.
Floyd is the sixth starter on a team that will only use five. He showed enough in 12.1 Grapefruit League innings to earn a spot as a depth player. He came here wanting to start: Early morning, Gibbons had to tell him he might eventually start here, he just doesn’t know when.
The third Gibbons meeting was the kind that makes a manager smile. Telling the kid with all the credentials there is finally a place for him. The place he wants. Aaron Sanchez didn’t exactly hide his excitement as he all but skipped out of the manager’s office and over the next several minutes, proceeded to high five just about everybody in sight.
The team was pulling for Sanchez to earn a spot in the starting rotation. His buddy, Marcus Stroman, was ecstatic, his smile almost wider than that belonging to Sanchez. This is what they worked for, the two of them, maybe eventually being No. 1 and No. 2 in the Toronto rotation.
The Sanchez promotion was an executive decision, not a unanimous decision. Gibbons wanted him in the starting rotation. Others, wanting supreme bullpen depth, were not so certain.
“We put our heads together and came up with this,” Gibbons said. “I don’t think we can lose either way, if he’s a starter or in the bullpen. I totally understand both sides.”
The argument for: A better starting rotation and the potential development of a top of the rotation pitcher. The argument against: Having a lights-out bullpen.
“It’s not one day,” Gibbons said. “It’s not one month. It’s the whole season. It’s six long months.
“I totally understand how tough this is (for players),” the manager said. “They’re focusing on themselves. They’re thinking, ‘Where am I going to be?’
“A guy like Hutch. He’s had some success in the big leagues. He’s done a nice job for us. He wants to be here. He’s not going to be here. And it’s tough to tell those guys. It is. I totally understand their side.”
There are two days of Florida baseball left, a few decisions of twisting significance still to be made. Gibbons will be glad when the last of the morning meetings are over.