Tainted McGwire Named Hitting Coach by Cardinals

Tony LaRussa is a lawyer. But that doesn't make him the smartest man in the room. The Cardinals' manager thinks he is doing his friend Mark McGwire a favour by hiring him  as the hitting coach of the major-league team, replacing veteran instructor and noted non-steroid user Hal McRae. What is LaRussa thinking?

McGwire has been in self-imposed exile since his less than satisfying appearance before Congress in March 2005 where he famously refused to perjure himself, but also refused to deny past steroid use during his run at Roger Maris's single-seasoon home run record in a riveting, mano-a-mano duel with Samnmy Sosa in 1998. That waffling, teary, self-serving command performance on national TV not only cost him prestige in the eyes of baseball fans, but also cost him what likely would have been first-ballot election into the Hall-of-Fame when he became eligible in 2006. He's been stuck at around 25-percent of votes by eligible baseball writers, when 75-percent is necessary for enshrinement. That's not likely to change anytime soon, even as he tours major-league parks with the Cards this summer.

What were the Cardinals thinking? Yes they wanted LaRussa back as manager and one of the things that he wanted was McGwire as batting coach. Yes they need free-agent outfielder Matt Holliday back and he has had an off-season relationship as a pupil of McGwire's at his home batting cage in California. Yes, the Cards' hitting disappeared in the '09 post-season, posting a .133 average with runners in scoring position in the playoffs. That wasn't McRae's fault. By and large, once you get past Albert Pujols and Holliday, the Cards' hitting is just not that good. Blame ownership and budget not McRae. 

McGwire is not a beloved baseball figure, a guy misunderstood and merely needing exposure to rehabilitate his image. Maybe that might be the case in St. Louis, but it's not the case around the rest of North America. His image with the ordinary baseball fan is of a hulking, cheating liar. His testimony in March '05: "I'm not here to talk about the past..." was frustrating to fans looking to move forward and wanting to hear some remorse from its brawny heroes.

Make no mistake about it, McGwire was certainly smarter than Raffy Palmeiro, Miggy Tejada, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens who all pretty much looked into the camera and lied. McGwire just used his Fifth Amedment rights against self-incrimination...but what he wouldn't say spoke volumes to fans. 

This hiring of McGwire is not a good move for the Cardinals. Running a batting cage at home and helping individual hitters does not make you automatically a solid major-league hitting coach. There are the long hours that a good hitting coach has to put in. The best coaches show up before the first player at spring training and leave after the last. They hang around the cage looking for players to show up and ask for extra work. They work as well with the .190 banjo hitters as they do with the stars. They go to the ballpark early on road trips and wait for students to show up.

McGwire has not proved he is willing to do any of that. The proper way of going about this would have been to give Big Mac a season in the minors or as an organization roving instructor to gauge his work ethic and if young players respond to him and respect him despite the cloud that hangs over all of his personal accomplishments. But time is  one thing LaRussa doesn't have. He signed a one-year contract to manage the Cardinals and he wanted McGwire -- now.

Granted McGwire is not the same case as Pete Rose. He has never been suspended or sanctioned for using steroids. He admitted to using androstenedione when that powerful supplement was not on MLB's banned substance list. But wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Say no more. We all know, right? Right!!

In the court of law and in testifying before Congress, McGwire is innocent until proven guilty. In the court of public opinion McGwire by his refusal to testify, is already guilty. This was a bad hire and it won't take a full season before McGwire, LaRussa and the Cards all come to that same conclusion. 

This is a short term appointment for McGwire and a step backwards for the Cards.

              

  

Mail bag

The Jays have moved quickly under the new GM Alex Anthopoulos to re-structure the scouting and player development departments. According to a source with knowledge inside the organization, the more pressing question of the future of the major-league coaching staff will be addressed in the next few weeks before the World Series is over.

There are three options available for Anthopoulos to correct the obvious clubhouse dysfunction that surfaced on the final weekend in Baltimore: 1) Replace Cito Gaston and therefore, with him, third base coach Nick Leyva and batting coach Gene Tenace; 2) keep Gaston as manager and replace Leyva and, perhaps, Tenace; 3) Replace pitching coach Brad Arnsberg with someone from within the organization that knows the young starters.

As much as I like Cito, I believe Option 1, replacing the manager, is the best course of action for the Jays moving forward. Gaston has already indicated that 2010 is likely his final season as manager after which he wants to kick back and play more golf while maintaining some kind of role with the Jays. If they replace him, he still gets his $2.5 million salary for 2010 which is at least what he deserves as a belated reward for the two World Championships in the ’90s and the 11 years away from the game as manager. He could stay on as a senior advisor to Anthopoulos in whatever way he sees fit.

Make no mistake about it. Cito’s presence was important to the franchise in replacing John Gibbons back in June of ’08. He taught young hitters like Lind the importance of having a “plan” every time you step into the batter’s box. Lind ran with it. But after the key injuries to the rotation and the Vernon Wells and Alex Rios debacle seasons, the Jays in ’09 took a step back to 1997 levels of incompetence and we know how that turned out for Gaston. Not well. He works better with veteran players who are self-driven.

Option 3, getting rid of Arnsberg and keeping Cito would not work. Arnsberg is like a father and a brother to the pitching staff and by the end of the season, their relationship with the manager was only through Arnsberg. That explains the pitchers complaint of no communication with the manager. The replacement of their father-confessor in blue would mean an irreparable rift with Gaston and his pitchers.

Option 2 is not an option either because without his hand-picked coaches and good friends, Gaston would be isolated, especially on the road. He doesn’t need this gig that much.

So if they are going to replace Gaston, with whom should they make the managerial change? The perfect short-term candidate is Buck Showalter, currently an analyst for ESPN. Showalter in his career has shown an ability to turn teams around in a hurry. Of course, afterwards, he wears out his welcome and moves on – sort of baseball’s Mike Keenan. Showalter’s first gig was ’92 with the Yankees. The Bombers hadn’t been to the post-season since 1981. Following the strike in ’94, the Yankees went to the playoffs in ’95 losing to the M’s with a bunch of homegrown guys he had managed in the minors. George Steinbrenner fired him after the loss to the Mariners and brought in Joe Torre.

Buck was hired by the expansion Diamondbacks in ’96 to manage when they started play in ’98. The Snakes went from last place to 100 wins in ’99, but missed the playoffs in ’00 and he was fired. The D’backs went on to win the ’01 World Series with Showaltger’s team but without Showalter. In 2003 he took over the Texas Rangers who went from 71 wins his first year to 89 his second. They fired him after the ’06 season, following two straight sub-.500 finishes. Short-term solution? Yes. Effective in the short-term? Yes.

Anthopoulos, before he was named GM, acknowledged that he has talked to Showalter professionally in the past and mentioned him on the conference call when he revamped the front office. On that same call, he also mentioned Dana Brown who he has subsequently hired. Other connections? Brian Butterfield was a coach under Showalter with the D’backs and also worked with him in the Yankee organization. Jays’ minor league field coordinator Doug Davis worked with Showalter in Texas, as did Perry Minasian, Jays’ new director, pro scouting. If you want a quick turnaround using a guy you could sell to disgruntled fans in the off-season, Showalter’s the one. He has also been mentioned in the Nationals’ manager search.

The mailbag will be taking a hiatus for several weeks until free-agent season is underway in mid November - or unless there is a special need to answer some mail before that. In any case, on to the mailbag.

Q: Hi Richard,

First, it was a huge relief to learn about the much-anticipated end of J.P. Ricciardi's tenure. Now, what can we expect from Alex Anthopoulos? Is he simply the J.P. protege who was perhaps partly responsible for the notorious Ricciardi-era contracts, or do you expect different tactics from A.A.? Does he have the baseball knowledge, the business sense, the media savvy and the people skills to have a real impact in MLB?

Chris M., Collingwood

A: Not to be overly simplistic, but the difference for the Jays between the Ricciardi regime past and the Anthopoulos years to come is like the difference between two countries - one governed by a dictatorship and another by a parliamentary system. Yes, the Ricciardi statue in the village square has been toppled and democracy takes over, signaling the dawn of a new Blue Jays day.

Next let’s go down the list of Anthopoulos attributes in your question, “does he have…” Baseball knowledge? Yes, and in addition to his own knowledge (he skipped a few grades okay) he listens to his advisors and then makes the decision he thinks is right.

Business sense? No, but that is what the new CEO will bring and the Rogers people have plenty of business sense. If you doubt that, check your monthly wireless, cable, bundling statement.

Media savvy? Not yet, but there has already been a tremendous difference in confidence and attitude between the A.A. we saw on the final weekend in Baltimore when he sat at Paul Beeston’s left elbow at the podium and machine-gunned his way through an opening statement and the calmer, more in charge A.A. that announced on a conference call with passion and conviction the changes in scouting and player development and the direction in which he saw the Jays moving.

People skills? I believe sincerity and respect for your audience goes a long way in terms of demonstrating “people skills”. A.A. has a lot of that because he himself was a fan not too long ago.

As for making a difference, the innovative Aaron Hill contract is an example of what Anthopoulos can bring to the Jays. Even though it was similar in dollars to many others, it was the first of its kind in many respects and was seemingly lifted by the Rays months later when they announced their contract with Evan Longoria. The Jays have him locked up through the years 2010-14 for $4 million, then $5M, $8M, $8M and $10M. The final two years are the first two years of his free agency. The last three years are club options that must be exercised or rejected following the 2011 season. It’s not a player opt-out like A.J. Burnett and Vernon Wells. If the economy had changed for the worse, the Jays could have an option to get out from under the deal, yet the player agreed to the deal because it was all guaranteed and was fair to him financially throughout his arbitration years. Agents and players like it when they know that there is some wiggle room to sweeten a deal using imagination.

Q: Hi Richard,

Any thoughts yet on the location for the Jays' farm system clubs in 2010? It seems to me that the AAA team should be somewhere in North East North America in order to compete with the Yankee and Red Sox farm clubs. By the way, it's a great experience to attend a AA game in Manchester, New Hampshire. Newer ballpark, comfortable and affordable seating and a look at the up and coming players in the different organizations.

Dave McLeod, Sussex, NB

A: I’m pretty sure that they are still in contractual agreement with all of their farm cities, including Las Vegas. But I had a conversation with Anthopoulos several months before he got the new gig. He talked with a real sense of regret about the loss of Canadian cities in affiliated farm systems. I believe that at every level of the system, A.A. will at least explore the possibility of using a Canadian town as the farm affiliate. How about a Triple-A team somewhere in the Montreal area? How about re-converting Jarry Park from tennis back to baseball in the International League?

Q: Why doesn't Jim Balsillie buy the Blue Jays? I mean, if he wants to be a professional sports owner, why not step up and be a Canadian owner for Canada's only MLB Franchise. If he's willing to buy the Coyotes for $250 million, surely he can afford to buy the Jays. Plus, it's probably a good forum to move some Blackberry's.

Jordan Sharon, Toronto

A: Maybe he should, but there would be problems. When Labatt engineered the awarding of the original expansion franchise in 1976 for the ’77 season they made sure the team name BLUE Jays related one of their top products, Labatt Blue. Marketing and all that. So if Balsillie purchased the club, he would likely change either the name of the ballclub or the name of his signature product. It could either be “Black Jays” or else you would be surfing on your hand-held “Blueberry.” And they would have to reverse the recent Anthopoulos philosophy of de-emphasizing Pacific RIM scouting.

Seriously, I think you have to have a passion for a sport if you’re going to own it as an individual for anything other than a business investment. Balsillie clearly has a passion for hockey, but I’m not sure it translates to baseball. I believe if the Jays are ever sold, that Paul Beeston would be able to round up a group of rich guys that love baseball.

Mail bag

The playoffs start tonight and if that fabulous play-in game at the Metrodome was a preview, it will be great sporting drama. The Yankees look unstoppable but we’ve said that every time since 2001 when the D’backs stunned them in Game 7 as Mariano Rivera threw a ball away and Luis Gonzalez ended it in walk-off fashion. I called the Yankees earlier and I’ll have to stick with them. The Angels look deep and balanced but Boston always seems to have their number. As for the NL, none of those starting rotations is too impressive except for the top two in Philly. They are defending champs until someone takes their crown. The Dodgers looked great for most of the season, but there seems a certain negative karma going on when you go out and get a DH for the World Series in August (Jim Thome) when you’re still seven playoff wins away from even getting there. In any case this should be a fun month for baseball fans.

On to the mail bag.

Q: Hi Richard:

Let me start out as saying I'm not a J.P. Ricciardi fan. That being said, I'm getting a little tired of 20/20 hindsight regarding some of his signings. People (and that includes media) should be remembering what they thought about some of his signings when they were made, rather than how they turned out. This is especially true in the case of B.J. Ryan. When he was signed I believe it was generally reported that the Jays had finally obtained a legitimate closer. I remember the first time he came in for the Jays he was awesome. It is not J.P.'s fault that Ryan got hurt and was terrible when he came back. Likewise, it seems that when Alex Rios and Vernon Wells were signed to their long term contracts, that there was a general consensus that the Jays should lock up their young stars. Should J.P. have predicted that a couple of years later that these two players would be awful? Should J.P. have predicted that Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan would be injured for more than a year?

Marv Rose, Toronto

A: The signing that I always have trouble getting righteously indignant over is the Rios signing. At the time, the Jays were rewarding a young player brought up in the organization and locking him up for a couple of seasons into his free agency. The money wasn’t outrageous even for the pair of free agent seasons – that is as long as he was producing. But for most of us when we’re discussing bad contracts it’s too easy to say “Wells and Rios” or “Rios and Wells” when lumping wasted cash. The bad thing about the Rios deal was the Jays feeling they had to dump him for nothing in August when two winters before, just prior to signing him to his long-term deal, Alex’s name was being mentioned in trade with the Giants for a very good starting pitcher (not Tim Lincecum). Even at this year’s deadline, there were two teams willing to take all of Rios’s contract and actually give back prospects but the Jays refused. Then the plan changed 15 days later when he was claimed by the White Sox.

“Plan? Plan? We don’t need no stinkin’ plan!”

And I may be wrong, but I don’t remember a universal outpouring of joy when B.J. was introduced at the press conference at the Rogers campus. He was given too many years and too much money for the role of closer, since they are notoriously short-term producers as a breed. At the time he was the highest paid closer ever, even coming off just one season of success in the role for the O’s. Plus he had the type of delivery that baseball scouts know can lead to arm problems (not back problems).

As for Vernon, Ricciardi had just spent a full season and a winter dissing him as a MLB player and a Jays’ leader to his friends in the U.S. media and trying to trade him to his friends in the U.S. major league front offices. After he could not trade Wells and after he failed to sign either Ted Lilly or Gil Meche he was embarrassingly left with a pocketful of unspent money. So Ricciardi spent it on Wells. That is precisely why Paul Beeston in his role as interim CEO for life to this day refuses to state a hard payroll figure for any season…because if the GM has a number on paper, he feels obliged to spend it.

As for predictions, in baseball it’s called scouting and those in the front office of a major-league team are supposed to know more about the abilities of their players than we do. As for Marcum and McGowan, all organizations have the same types of injuries and proceed.

Q: Hi Richard,

The J.P. firing is not at all a shock, but the timing of that, or specifically the promotion of Alex Anthopoulos, is confusing. Why would he be appointed, without an interim title, only weeks before a new President is named? I thought the idea going into next year was to give this team direction, an improvement over this lame duck year without a permanent President and a GM as good as gone. Wouldn't the best approach to restoring the faith of the fan base be to allow the President to call the shots and choose his GM (and potentially a manager)? Why couldn't the naming of a new GM wait? I understand trying to overshadow the Cito-lost-the-clubhouse story, but we continue to go in circles.

Shaun A., Toronto

A: I don’t see the confusion in the appointment of Anthopoulos as GM. It had to be done at the end of the season so that everyone in baseball could know who’s in charge and what direction the Jays are headed. The fact that there is no interim in the title means to me that either Beeston is retaining one of the titles, either president or CEO, or else he already knows who his new chief executive is and has run the GM appointment by him and the new guy is on board.

Even Branch Rickey was a young GM at some point in his career. Many teams have come to the same conclusion, before the Jays, that you don’t necessarily need an older guy that has done the job before.

As for Gaston, I’m still not convinced that he is a sure-thing as manager for next season. He has a contract, but if the Jays feel that moving forward they would be better off with someone else, it still might happen with Cito moving upstairs as one of the Jays’ senior advisors.

Q: I get the feeling Riccardi may have been thrown under the bus owing to this “rebellion” by malcontented players. I'm sure he was scheduled for termination at a more fitting time and I’m assuming he had little to do (or gain) by instigating a rebellion, hence his departure was a heave-ho onto the freeway to serve as the bait to switch the topic from “Bad Gaston” to “Bad Ricciardi” or “Lousy players” or a vision of what to expect in the next few years. They are really sticking by Gaston. Are the problems he's having helping explain why he had trouble getting a job until last season?

Frederick Duquette, La Mirada

A: Ricciardi was scheduled for termination on the weekend in Baltimore so that he did not have to fly back to Toronto and hear the news there and then fly home. Of course that situation would have been more flexible if Ricciardi actually had a home in Toronto, but he didn’t and so Beeston and Tony Viner from Rogers flew to Baltimore to talk to him there. Ricciardi had a real inkling about it because he did not come to the ballpark on Friday night, or, if he did, he was not on the field or in the clubhouse or the pressbox.

As for the clubhouse insurrection, this may have been the weakest mutiny in history. As soon as the news was leaked and players were forced to go on the record on Friday night with accusations of “negativity”, “old-school-ism” and “lack of communication” Beeston met with a panel of representative mutineers on Saturday afternoon, listened to them, refused to agree with them and then moved on to his clubhouse meeting with the entire group. By that night, the players were making fun of their own situation with Gaston, downplaying it and trying to make it sound like it never happened – which it did. Since Beeston did not let it be known how he felt about the players’ complaints, it leaves it open for him and Anthopoulos and the new chief executive to make a managerial change. All they would say in Baltimore is “Cito has a contract for next year and we expect him back.” Not the strongest vote of confidence.

Q: Hi Richard,

How much does an organization's reputation matter in attracting free agents or other talented personnel? It seems like it matters much more in baseball than it does in other sports. Is that so? It seems as if Toronto has completely missed the boat with this one (citing many prior GM muck ups) and the problem may be heightened by the fact that we live in the Great White North.

Joshua Grant, Toronto

A: An organization’s reputation matters a lot. It used to be in the early days of free agency in the mid-’70s and all through the ‘80s that money talked. The guys with the most money had the final word on the distribution of free agents throughout the game. Now there is so much money out there for the premium talent that a player can think about final location on a par with total dollars. If one organization has a bad reputation for dealing with players, for dealing with player agents, for a bad clubhouse environment, for a bad manager, word gets around in a hurry. They are all union brothers and many have the same agents. Toronto has always had a good reputation as player-friendly and family-friendly but had recently been getting bad word-of-mouth because of recent circumstances, many involving the ex-GM.

Q: Hi Richard! Look forward to your column every Wednesday! There have been a lot of retaliation pitches lately, where the batter is hit, for whatever reason.

My question is how this pitch is communicated between pitcher and catcher. Do they have a quick chat about it between innings? Does the catcher call it or does the pitcher somehow signal to the catcher that he is going to throw at the batter? Or does the pitcher just go lone wolf and hit the batter with no signal? Thanks!

Terry Fallat, Espanola, Ont.

A: No conversation is necessary. Pitchers know the best time and game circumstance to get the job done without risking the game result. It actually does not happen that often and pitchers will never admit it. Pat Hentgen was prompt and reliable in his retribution for teammates and would always just say later that the pitch got away. It was never a loopy breaking ball either. His body language after an intentionally hit batter was always the same. Three steps off the front of the mound, mouth set in a frown, glove up to receive another ball from the umpire or his catcher. Next! Many hit batters are the result of the pitcher-catcher approach to a hitter. With an 0-2 count the pitcher tries to come inside and back the hitter off the plate. The hitter’s guessing outside. Boom! Or some guys dive across the plate to cover the outside corner and be able to drive it hard. The pitcher comes inside, just off the plate by a couple of inches. Boom! You hate to see head shots or leg shots, but body shots should be part of the game.

Q: Hi Richard,

Much as we all love to beat this dead horse, I want to borrow a line from the American presidential debates (introduced by Ronald Reagan) to bury JP (and not to praise him). The bottom line on JP's time with the Blue Jays is very simple: Did we emerge from the era in better shape, or worse than we started?

With dissention in the clubhouse, no visible monsters in the minors, a disaffected fan base, and no real savings in payroll, I think we can say he was a (mitigated) disaster. However, the big blame goes, as always, to ownership: Rogers is responsible, ultimately, for everything, including letting JP run a major league franchise as a personal ego trip. Class starts at the top. Rogers doesn't have it, although some of the people they've hired have. Labatt's had it, and it infused the organization. I love the Jays. I hate what has happened to them. I think you're dead right about following the Twins' formula, but it all starts with ownership.

Thanks for giving us the straight goods through the season. We do appreciate it, even when we snipe and second guess. And we'll look forward (with hope, as always) to February, and pitchers-and-catchers.

Best regards,

Richard Worzel

A: Amazingly, as Ricciardi leaves, his Jays of ’09 had 75 wins and a $80 million payroll. Gord Ash’s ’01 Jays had 80 wins and a $76 million payroll. Pretty close. But to Rricciardi’s credit, prior to this June’s disastrous non-signing process, his last four drafts had produced lots of promising arms on the farm, many of whom were forced into action ahead of schedule. His top position players, Aaron Hill, Adam Lind and Travis Snider have a chance to be around and star for a long time just like Ash for J.P. left Halladay, Wells, Rios, Shannon Stewart, Orlando Hudson, McGowan, Kelvim Escobar, Billy Koch and others. The disaster that Ricciardi left was not in the farm system, it was in disenfranchising the fan-base and damaging the front office reputation.

Click here to send Richard a question, and he'll answer a selection in his mailbag Wednesdays in this space. **Note: please follow the link above to send a question to Richard. Questions posted in the comments section may not make it to the mailbag. Thanks.**

Ricciardi Out; Anthopoulos In as Jays' GM

The curtain finally came down on the J.P. Ricciardi era as general manager this morning. The Jays issued a terse release at 10:38 a.m. announcing that Ricciardi has stepped down from his role that he had filled since November 14, 2001, eight seasons without a post-season berth.

"This was a tough decision and a difficult one for me personally, as I have enjoyed J.P.'s friendship and his perspective on the game," team president Paul Beeston said in a written statement. "J.P. has put an incredibe amount of effort into improving the team and he has brought along a number of great young players. However I feel that it is time for a change and accordingly we have decided to move on."

Replacing him will be 32-year-old Alex Anthopoulos, a native of Montreal. He joined the Jays in 2003 and was named an assistant GM under Ricciardi after the 2005 season. Anthopoulos attended McMaster University,  majoring in economics, getting his first job in baseball with the Expos in 2000, in  media relations. He moved into the scouting department in 2001, advancing quickly through the organization.

Ricciardi leaves with an eight-year record of 642-651, highlighted by reducing payroll in 2002, winning 86 games in his second season, 2003, winning 87 in 2006, 86 in 2008 and watching the development of draft choices Aaron  Hill, Adam Lind and Ricky Romero in 2009.

The change takes place immediately. Anthopoulos and Beeston will address the Jays in a clubhouse meeting prior to tonight's game at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The trend in baseball has been towards younger GMs with no playing experience but knowledge of running a farm system and scouting department. In the AL only Mike Flanagan (O's), Kenny Williams (White Sox) and Billy Beane (A's) are former major-league players.

-30-

Gaston Disparaged Anonymously

A Fox Sports report by Ken Rosenthal this morning claims that virtually the entire Jays' clubhouse is in agreement that manager Cito Gaston needs to go. He has lost everyone, says the source. Since Rosenthal is not around the Jays' clubhouse and has very rarely quoted any Jays' players directly in recent years, this "clubhouse insider" information has to come from someone in the Jays' front office.

Here's a clue. Needing confirmation for the column, Rosenthal claims he was unable to reach GM J.P. Ricciardi for comment. If it's true that he was unable to contact the GM that would be a first. This has the feel of a Ricciardi scud missile on his way out the door.    

A Canadian Press piece by Shi Davidi followed up on the same theme, quoting unnamed players interviewed on the final weekend as being upset with Gaston and his "lack of communication, old-school approach and negativism."

That sounds bad. Let's see, if an entire team wants a manager out of the way, the usual strategy is that a team quits playing for him and virtually mails in the results. Unfortunately for the conspirators, the Jays have won six in a row and nine of 10 and have returned to the offensive juggernaut numbers of April and May - and even beyond that production. Way to deliver a message to management boys.

No, some significant discontent is definitely there towards Gaston, but it is far from as rampant as Rosenthal insists it is. When the New York Yankees visited Toronto September 3-6, they already knew about the clubhouse anger. The links are former Jays Josh Towers, A.J. Burnett and Eric Hinske, who heard about it from friends with the Jays. The knowledge of the discontent has certainly permeated the Jays' clubhouse. They have all heard it, but for young players trying to establish themselves and fit in, stating that position and adopting it as their own would be professional suicide.

So if guys like Adam Lind, Travis Snider, Aaron Hill, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Jason Frasor, Jesse Carlson and every one of the young starting pitchers has likely listened to the leaders of this revolt without offering comment that does not mean they are among those ready to burn Cito at the stake. For the most part, they are earning close to the major-league minimum salary and have long careers to look forward to.

The leadership of the revolt likely comes from the bullpen and likely started with the treatment of B.J. Ryan as he struggled to regain his form at spring training and was subsequently released.

At spring training Gaston threw Ryan under the bus during a trip to Orlando to play the Braves. He discussed the diminishing returns issue and scratched his head over Ryan's loss of velocity, even though he was healthy. The baton of explanation was immediately passed to a distressed pitching coach Brad Arnsberg, who while trying to defend his friend B.J., inadvertently backed the bus up over Ryan and moved forward, crushing him again. That was the beginning of the end.

The soap opera moved to Minnesota in April. After a failed Ryan appearance, Arnsberg snapped on the media, saying that he was never asked positive questions about his pitchers. It was always negative. That he had to deal with his pitchers every day and didn't want to comment on failure. He was still shaken by the spring training "loss of velocity" discussion.

The major-league bullpen is a virtual social club during every one of 162 games. They have six innings to sit and chat before two of them have to get up and start getting loose. The pitching coach is the father figure. Arnsberg treats all his pitchers like sons. When one of their bullpen family is mistreated by the manager, or anyone else, they all feel the pain.

Fast forward to Yankee Stadium in July. By that time B.J. Ryan had become an afterthought in the manager's mind. Despite what Cito had protested to me earlier in the year, that he "likes his own pitchers" but doesn't like other teams' hurlers, it doesn't fly. Gaston, a hitter, loves his hitters and is loyal to them. He allowed Alex Rios and Vernon Wells to bat third and fourth in the order this year until it was impossible to leave the underproducing pair there. He does it out of loyalty. That's old school. Pitchers see that loyalty. In the Yankee clubhouse, Ryan challenged his manager. He said he needed to pitch more to be effective but he understood that to pitch more he needed to be effective. He expressed frustration. When asked about it, Gaston scoffed and the next day the Jays released Ryan and ate his remaining $15 million.

Gaston is not patient with pitchers. Scott Downs, a good friend of Ryan's and another of Arnsberg's disciples, has been the latest whipping boy for Gaston. He took over from Ryan as closer, then got hurt and was replaced by Jason Frasor, came back and got hurt again. The last time he was hurt it was in leaving the mound to cover first, and he strained a hamstring. The manager and trainer George Poulis went to the mound to check on Downs. When Cito found out his pitcher was hurt again, Gaston strode back to the dugout, leaving the trainer and injured reliever to hobble off the field. It seemed strange at the time, but seems to be part of the mutual discontent that has clearly developed.

It comes down to this. There are many villains and few heroes in this Jays' piece. In hindsight, that's exactly the way their disappointing season has gone. Many changes will be made.