Alex Anthopoulos declined to discuss John Gibbons’ future in detail, but the general manager said he’ll ‘no doubt’ look to improve the Toronto Blue Jays’ roster before making significant changes to the on-field staff.
“We’ll mix and match with what we have internally, we’ll look to make some trades,” Anthopoulos told Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker on Sportsnet 590 The FAN Tuesday. “I think it always starts there no matter what.”
There’s only so much Gibbons can do when some of Toronto’s key pitchers are scuffling, Anthopoulos said.
While the GM didn’t directly address Gibbons’ status, he said he would never want to over-react to one rough stretch in the course of a long season.
“With respect to changes on staffing and things like that, I’m not trying to avoid the question, but I don’t want to give too much on this because I don’t even want to entertain that it’s something being considered or even talked about internally,” Anthopoulos said.
The Toronto Sun reported Monday that Anthopoulos and president Paul Beeston met Monday to discuss the team, including the future of Gibbons and pitching coach Pete Walker. Anthopoulos declined that any meeting took place Monday morning, but he said he respects the Sun’s reporting and speaks with Beeston on an ongoing basis.
“Paul and I talk all of the time,” Anthopoulos said. “When we’re on the road I talk to him daily, multiple times a day. We’re always talking about team, players, everything, ways to get better — especially when we’re not playing well.”
Anthopoulos said he updated Beeston on the status of injured Blue Jays such as Jose Reyes and Michael Saunders shortly before watching the Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Angels. The Blue Jays recently returned from a disappointing 1-6 road trip that included a four-game sweep by the Houston Astros.
The Blue Jays lead MLB with 210 runs scored, but they rank last in the American League with a 4.81 ERA. Only the Colorado Rockies have a worse ERA than the Blue Jays, whose struggles are closely linked to underperforming starters R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Drew Hutchison.