Ricciardi Gone: Rumblings of Rebellion Mean Gaston's Next

Even the expansive Paul Beeston, who never met a microphone he didn't like, is relatively tight-lipped; you get the impression that even the Beest doesn't quite know how things are going to shake out during this off-season.

So that means that, no matter what ANYONE writes, they're guessing - pure and simple. So - deep breath - I'm going to jump right in the deep end and tell you what Blue Jays fans should HOPE for, since there are some great (if unknown) candidates out there for both the GM and manager's position.

Yes, there you go. I said it. The manager's position will be vacant.

It HAS to be. When one listens to the players, you hear things like;

"There are some things that need to be addressed, yes," (from second baseman Aaron Hill)

"When you have a younger group in here, it kind of hit us a little harder. It kind of caught us off guard, more than anything." (first baseman Lyle Overbay)

"This is not about winning and losing. This is about family issues." (outfielder Vernon Wells)

This ordinarily wouldn't be that big of a problem. The veterans would lead the rookies through it, and Gaston would get an honest chance in 2010, except for the fact that the manager wasn't aware there ever WAS a problem.

Gaston was a "fan-friendly" hire; unfortunately, no matter HOW much we love the man, his style is, apparently, just NOT a match for the current clubhouse. The Jays need to pay attention to that going forwards; to quote the play, "Half measures avail us not" at this point, he's already gone.

Cito's got his pride, and he's very "old-school"; he will see any grumbling as an example of the inmates trying to run the asylum.

Unfortunately, on a major-league team, the players MUST be listened to; the manager DOES run the place, but ask John Gibbons what happens when the players turn on him.

When one listens to Gaston, and team president Paul Beeston, you get a heaping helping of denial;

"If you got two or three or four guys that have a problem, you don't have to win anything back, do you? You might have to deal with those guys, but you don't have to win a clubhouse back." (Gaston)

"I would think I would have known if Cito had lost the clubhouse. I'm close enough to enough of those guys that they can feel free to talk to me. I can't believe the players would be talking to the press and not directly to me."

When you compare the two, obviously, management has been SOLIDLY unaware of the brewing problem.

It doesn't surprise me that Cito doesn't know; kids don't tell their parents that "hey, Dad, you've been pretty grumpy lately" until they move out of the house, and Cito's not much of a listener.

He may be soft-spoken, but Cito IS THE BOSS, at least in his own mind, and it's simply incomprehensible that players would ever even consider not doing What Daddy Says.

It surprises me GREATLY, however, that Paul Beeston didn't smell the first embers; The Beest can usually read the team leaves with the best of them.

Let's face it, having the stones to let Pat Gillick fire Bobby Cox (and replace him with an extremely untested Gaston, no less!) was no less than psychically predictive, a genius move, as it turned out.

Maybe Beeston misses Gillick, I don't know...but you've missed this one plain, Paul. The players just yanked the rug out from under Cito, and, if he's still here next year, we'll all have to suffer Gaston's embarrassment as he's forced to walk the plank.

To be fair, players do tend to complain to each other, and only go to the manager if there's a SERIOUS problem.

Unfortunately for Gaston, the players did it to the media. And it wasn't a couple of scrubs and a journeyman doing the whining ...it was starters.

Even Roy Halladay, Mr. Diplomatic, refused to comment, though he DID say that he had concerns, and that they would have to be expressed to "the right person".

Whoops. That's a close to a leak as Doc's EVER going to get.

The Jays' clubhouse, while filled with Major-League Type "A" personalities (you HAVE to be one to enjoy ANY success up here), isn't exactly loaded with Shea Hillenbrands; most of our players are pretty mild-mannered.

Let's face it; when Aaron Hill is musing, out loud, that there's a problem, and even Mr. Nice (Lyle Overbay), raised in "nice-people" Washington State, is raising his hands in frustration...YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.

I'm most worried about Vernon Wells' commentary: Vernon seemed pretty combative, citing Cito's "negativity" and generally alluding to an extremely unsupportive culture within the third-base locker room.

All in all, my three-year-old can see that Cito needs to go to the players, hat in hand, and say, "Sorry, guys. I'll try to listen better."

He's just NOT going to do that; he doesn't think he has to.

However, there just AIN'T no Dave Winfield to tell players that they'd better sit down, shut up, do what the manager says, and be grateful that they're here at all.

Now, I've been a solid fan of the Blue Jays since the start; there's a photo out there somewhere of me at a Blue Jays game in 1977 or 1978 (Dad's not quite sure) with Uncle Rick, four years old, wearing a Blue Jays bonnet knit for me by a grandmother or aunt.

That means that it wrenches my guts and tears at my heart to EVER say a bad word about the patron saint of Blue Jay championships. Cito, though I've only ever met him a handful of times, might as well be a favourite uncle.

However, if he's still here in October, it's (gulp) a bad move.

Sorry, Cito, but, barring a miracle, you'll be following J.P. out the door, if for no other reason than this;

IT'S A HUGE MISTAKE TO NOT CLEAR THE DECKS...RIGHT NOW.

I know it; you don't want to tell the players that they can get the manager fired any time they want. Right-o, Pollyanna.

They already KNOW that; you CANNOT force a group of entitled major-league athletes into line. This ain't the army, and that ain't some 18-year-old kid who can't wait to get off the farm.

The air must be THOROUGHLY cleared...and that means removing EVERY trace of last year's management team.

I have NO idea who the new president will be, but I know this: disaster looms if we don't follow up the Ricciardi firing with a Gaston sendoff close on its heels.

Sorry, Cito - you're not to blame, but you're no longer The Man We Need.

Relax, Blue Jays fans. The club's not ready to move to Columbus. We're not going to swap teams with Las Vegas any time soon (even though one leather-lungs remarked, during a recent mausoleum-like game, "HEY, WAKE UP! IT SOUNDS LIKE MONTREAL IN HERE!")

Alarmist. Defeatist. (Insert choice propaganda slogan here). We're at least five bad years away from the fate suffered by Les Expos.

The question remains, though: what do we do now?

Here's the first easy hire; IT'S ALREADY DONE.

Upon firing J.P. Ricciardi, which caused most Jays fans to breathe a long-overdue (by at LEAST one year) sigh of relief, the Blue Jays immediately elevated wunderkind Alex Anthopoulos to the Big Job.

You might be forgiven if you first said, "Who?" then ignored him.

Ignore at your peril. The 32-year-old Anthopoulos has a few things going for him;

1) He's Canadian. Now, normally I sneer at people like SportsDesk anchors who feel it's necessary to always tell us that Larry Walker's from Maple Ridge BC or sprinkle in inferiority-complex Canadian references.

However, having a Canuck GM can only help the Blue Jays; the top dog MUST understand both the economy and the fans, and Anthopoulos, as a former Expo scout, crosschecker and even a volunteer with the erstwhile Montreal club, has been on the inside for long enough to know what he's doing.

2) He's young. Most baseball people get nervous at the idea of a kid running the place - but I'll just drop you two words that'll cure THAT argument for all time; THEO...EPSTEIN. Done.

Theo arrives? Boston wins...and it ain't a co-incidence! Theo leaves? Boston slides. Theo comes back? Voila, another championship.

New blood is SORELY needed in baseball, from the Commissioner's office down to the way clubs treat injuries - and the GMs control most of those strings.

A fresh approach is exactly what this club needs - and, for those who are worried about Antholoulos' age; AA has some serious backup - MLB veteran Tony LaCava.

LaCava's presence is a lot like providing a hotshot rookie goalie with a veteran backup: someone there to mentor him, tutor him, catch the occasional mistake before it's made, and generally teach the kid how to fly on his own.

(It's worth nothing, though, that the ever-positive LaCava has been mentioned as a serious replacement for the monumentally failed Jim Bowden in Washington, and I think the Nats would have to be borderline retarded to not hand LaCava that job.)

3) ANTHOPOULOS BELIEVES. HE'S A FAN!

J.P. Ricciardi wanted the Red Sox top job, and wore it on his sleeve. He was, at best, a lame duck for the last two years; and, truthfully, was much more of an albatros around our collective necks.

One might wonder if JP was covertly tasked to try and destroy the Jays - he certainly did his level best to quietly wreck every good thing we had going.

As mentioned above, Anthopoulos VOLUNTEERED for the Expos - that is, worked like a dog FOR FREE - just so he could be around baseball.

He likes to joke that he turned down "a real job" with an investment firm so that he could get handed the job of sorting the players' fan mail - and he's not joking - except about the "real job" quote, since he's EARNED his way into the "real job" here in Toronto.

He will soon earn his way into the hearts of Blue Jays fans - if the Jays have the wit to keep him and listen to him.

This is another easy one, and again, he's already here; Special Assistant to the General Manager Sal Butera.

Check out this guy's credentials; again, he's a former Jay, having caught for the club (1988); he's won a World Series (with the Twins in '87) and he was named the "top managerial prospect in baseball" while in the Houston Astros' organization.

Butera's another one of those "happy" personalities; low-key when he needs to, apparently able to find the words to motivate both veteran and rookie alike.

Now, I have NO idea if anyone's even discussed the Jays' job with Butera; I'd say that Anthopoulos, Beeston, et al, will wait until the fallout from the "players-only" meeting with Gaston (due in the next couple of days) settles.

However, I also think it would be smart if Anthopoulos QUIETLY sidled down the hall to his Special Assistant's office and said something along the lines of, "Hey, Sally - thought about resuming your managerial career?" even if it's just to plant the seed.

It all makes sense, if you're able to back off and take a look at the big picture, and Jays fans have a few things to look forward to; a clean sweep, from the logo to the GM to the field boss, is really the only tonic for the mental malaise that's infected the club for the last decade.

Even the merchandising folks started to show that they knew it was coming; the sale of "old" Jays-logo jerseys, caps, etc., was pretty much a fire sale at the end of the last homestand; the "retro" stuff was NOT on sale at ALL, and all the stylized logos, so emblematic of the Ricciardi era, were practically THROWN out the door.

Does this mean we can look forward to seeing Roy Halladay in the "old" duds? Will the Jays stop paying lip service to the 1990s champs...and get back to actually DOING things that way?

You know, fans, with a different pair 'o guys in charge...it just might happen.

There's hope here...for the first time in more than 10 years.

Come back. Buy the tickets. Let's get ready to charge - we can take these guys.