The Untouchable Cito

In his first go 'round with the Blue Jays, Cito Gaston could never get reasonable credit for his work, even when it resulted in two world championships. For years, the call-in shows featured caller after caller lamenting Gaston's managing abilities and wondering what the club would be capable of if Tony LaRussa, say, was in charge.

It was terribly unfair. Never really made much sense.

Curiously, however, what we're hearing and seeing these days is the reverse juice of those years and the way in which Gaston is regarded in the Toronto sports culture.

Now he doesn't win. And he can do no wrong. Caller after caller on the radio shows skewer J.P. Ricciardi, with Vernon Wells a close second, yet Gaston remains untouched.

Speculation is rampant over whether Ricciardi will be back, or whether Paul Beeston will translate his interim presidential status into something more permanent.

But there's little debate on whether Gaston should be back, or is the right man to lead this franchise. The closest we've heard is Cito himself suggesting he might like to have more time to play golf, but hardly ruling out another year in the dugout.

Since winning the '93 World Series, Gaston's managerial record is less than scintillating, with a .463 winning percentage in parts of six major league seasons with no playoff berths. Gaston's Jays winning percentage from '94-today is worse than Jim Fregosi (.515) and John Gibbons (.500) during their respective terms in office.

Yet both Fregosi and Gibbons were chased out of town, while Gaston has gone from No. 1 scapegoat in the winning years to Mr. Untouchable in the losing years.

Never an unkind word is said any more about the manager who once never got nearly the credit he deserved. He is part of the corporate Rogers program to sucker Blue Jay fans into focusing on the past rather than the current state of affairs, a program that includes Beeston, the ugly blue "vintage" uniforms worn on Friday nights and the recent "anniversary" celebrations of the '92 and '93 champions.

Gaston's classy, laid back demeanor has something to do with his teflon status in his second stint as Jays manager, as does his obvious affection for the city compared to Ricciardi, who prefers not to live here. But perhaps it's more about the fact that every unsuccessful team - and even some successful ones - have to have a lightning rod for criticism.

On a team blessed with talent, Gaston was that lightning rod.

On a team mired in mediocrity, others get that dubious honor. And he just cruises, with essentially no ongoing examination of his work and it's results.

Comments

[Geoff Read]

Gaston cruises because people realize, rightly so, that the team he has to work with stinks. Managers get blamed when teams underperform. The Jays seem to be performing at about the level you'd expect them to given the (lack of) talent on their roster, so people give Cito the benefit of the doubt.

On the other hand, general managers get blamed, as they should, for consistently failing to field a good team.

[Tyler]

It doesn't sound like you listen to Wilner's call-in program often enough, as I listen to as many as I can and there are several instances where callers are questions Cito's tactics. Given the complaints are far less than those of JP and Vernon, there are still many people questioning the moves and non-moves that are/aren't made during the game. There is constant questioning of Cito's bullpen management, as well as his insistence of leaving his platoon players in after a pitching change which would call for the switch for the better batting percentages.

[eyebleaf]

You don't read the blogs. You should. The Jays blogosphere is passionate as they come, and they are extremely hard on the Cito.

[chris]

I would imagine that if the Jays didn't have either Ricciardi or Wells, Gaston would become the fans number one target for criticism.

[Dan Daoust]

You're definitely on to something, though it's not quite that cut and dry. Plenty of fans -- maybe on the blogs more than the call-in shows? -- question the continuing presence of Millar in the clean-up spot, the screwing-around-with of Accardo, the persistent refusal to pinch hit in the most obvious of situations, all of which is laid at Gaston's feet.

[Gary]

Damien, why not just save the negative crap for hockey. This article is pointless.

If you have a problem with Cito's work, say what you have to say, preferably with some specific weaknesses in his managing.

[Adam C]

Cito gets a free pass because there are so many targets, and people like to remember the days when the Jays were good every year. But if he keeps stuffing Millar into the cleanup spot and playing Encarnacion every day, he's going to lose a lot of fans quickly.

[Nick Martin]

It's not so long ago that I was reading stories about how the Jays could possibly find room in the rotation for all those incredible arms. McGowan, Marcum, Litsch, Janssen, as well as Ryan --- is anyone asking how the Jays could have such problems with their pitchers, and whether anyone is responsible? I don't remember Stieb, Clancy, Key being injured more often than they were healthy.

[Mark]

So if Cito is gone, will Vernon Wells start hitting? Will Ricciardi make better deals? Will pitchers stop getting injured? Will the owners open up the wallets for big free agent signings? I don't know. I think it's fair to ask how Cito could improve. He should be asking that of himself, but I also think that baseball is a team sport and the team is the sum of ownership, off-field management, on-field management and players. Cito should be evaluated not just in isolation but in relation to the performance of others with whom he has to work.

[HopeCaper]

I disagree. You can beat Cito all you want but what you are seeing now is what you saw after they dismantled the Jays' championship team. Not one manager subsequent to Cito did any better. No great manager ever brought a poor or average team a championship. People are always carping aboout the owners opening the wallet. After watching JP in action over the last several years I would be reluctant in opening mine if I were the owner. That don't change the fact that people go to watch games not argue management style. If the latter were true there would only be 5 or 6 teams in business in all of MLB. In case anyone hasn't noticed there are a lot of teams that don't play for the chmpionship every year....really.

[nugentmania]

I don't think these are bad questions to ask. Cito was a good caretaker with all that talent in 1992-93...sometimes you just have to let your horses run. In that way, Glen Sather was a good coach too, I suppose. So maybe it makes sense if you're going for it now with a "productive" Vernon Wells, a "productive" Alex Rios, Roy Halladay and several other healthy arms, a 50 million dollar closer in BJ Ryan, and some other "names" like Rolen or Glaus. Maybe Gaston is the guy to get that done.....but...this is obviously not what happened. So...Damien asks a fair question. Is Cito the right guy to handled a dismantled and rebuilt Blue Jays team? Patience can only carry you so far. If you let your horses run and it ain't getting er' done, sometimes you need to crack the whip. I don't think Cito has that in him.

[other mark]

Is this article supposed to make a point about Cito's shortcomings or about how incredibly shallow the Toronto baseball media coverage is?

[Jeff O]

Well, Richard Griffin writes great baseball stories and Chris Zelkovich is a fantastic sports media critic, but all Damien Cox does is play to his own ego by trying to create controversy and stir up issues that any Jays fan would know is beyond Cito's control. So why does Cox still get to write for the paper and website when he contributes no real journalism to The Star? It's consistently just a bunch of opinion pieces drafted for no other reason than to bring attention to himself. Maybe that's the real question we should all be asking.

[bob]

Cito never bunts late in one run games with none out - he lets his pitiful team swing the bat.

Consequently they jays lead the majors in 1run game losses. Co-incidence?

But Cox is wrong to say Wells/Ricciardi get too much of the criticism. Wells gets off EASY in Toronto. The guy never says anything about his poor performance - he is an embarrassment - 49rbi's starting all year and scheduled to make 17million. It is a joke. Baseball is the one sport where guaranteed money is out-of-hand, Wells is untradeable.

[Arthur Bailey]

I don't understand Damien. are you suggesting that Cito Gaston should be burdened with more blame for the dismal state of the team?

If so, I have never disagreed with you more, and I have disagreed with you many times.

IF Ricciardi had been replaced at the same time as Gibbons, and if next year, Gaston was still running a 4th or 5th place team in the AL East, then yes, he would be owed some criticism.

But you don't blame the cook when his Eggs Benedict taste terrible, if the restaurant manager is still buying spoiled eggs.

[Penguin]

Cito is, at best, an average manager. Not the worst in baseball and certainly not the best; his use of Millar and batting him in the four spot, is pretty good proof of that. We were at the Jays-Yankees game that Halliday pitched a few weeks ago. In that game, Millar started at first because the Yanks started left Andy Pettit and Cito insists on platooning Millar with Overbay (could Overbay really hit lefties any worse than Millar has performed). At the time, Overbay was batting fourth, when playing, and hitting quite well. So, the Yanks pull Pettit and in comes right-hander Hughes. The Jays get runners (I think it was first and second) on base and Millar is due up, batting fourth. Some would have expected Overbay to pinch hit for Millar. Nope. As usual, Cito sat on his hands and stuck with his man who then made the third out (can't recall if he struck out, but I think so). I agree, however, with other comments made. First problem is get JP out of town. Then I would add that we need Rogers either to provide an adequate budget or sell the team. Then, it's probably time for another and better manager. Meanwhile, Cito will do and I have not intention of going to any more Jays games until points one and two are addressed.

[AJ]

Sparky Anderson said it best. The key to being a great manager? Have great players. Very simple. I can't think of any managers who won with sub-par rosters, which is what the Jays have right now. You could change managers, sure, but until there's a talent upgrade...the job of the GM...the Jays will be mediocre. I remember at the beginning of the season thinking if the Jays were .500 they would have played above their heads. And here we are...

[Jim G.]

Until Riccardi is gone he will absorb the brunt of the blow.

And I like those baby blues!

[Paul]

Damien Cox, you are probably the worst sports journalist i have ever come across in my 20+ yrs reading about sports. It doesn't seem like you even like sports, which is just sad. All you seem to like to do is play the contrarian or devil's advocate for the sake of your pitiful ego. Everyone knows that Cito is the reason the Jay's had the start they did because he allowed the players to actually swing at pitches. You are a disgrace to the tradition of good sports journalism.

[g-man]

"On a team mired in mediocrity, others get that dubious honor. And he just cruises, with essentially no ongoing examination of his work and it's results."

Damien gets paid to write and yet he still manages to misspell "honour" and neglects to use the possessive "its" in the same sentence.

Why do or should we let this slide? Fire him immediately.

[Don Pettigrew]

I think Gaston is past his best before date and should retire this year.
His lethargic way of managing seems to have infected the whole team.
Time to get a manager who will kick-a$$ and set a fire under these pussycats.

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