THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — By setting the stage for Cito Gaston’s departure as manager and shuffling some faces in and out of the coaching staff, general manager Alex Anthopoulos believes he’s turned down the heat on the simmering discontent in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse.
Gaston will fulfil the last season of his contract in 2010 before moving into a consultant role on a four-year deal that begins in 2011, the club announced Friday, and that’s just the beginning of the changes.
Gone from 2009’s dysfunctional group are pitching coach Brad Arnsberg, who leaves for the same role in Houston after he and Gaston butted heads for much of the year, and hitting coach Gene Tenace, a close friend of Gaston who retires after failing to form a productive working relationship with most of the team’s batters.
Other changes will bring the well-liked Bruce Walton from the bullpen into Arnsberg’s old role, with the widely respected Rick Langford promoted to bullpen coach from a role as the organization’s roving pitching coach.
Player favourite Brian Butterfield returns to his old job as third base coach after being underutilized by Gaston as bench coach the past year and a half, while Nick Leyva, another of Gaston’s buddies, goes from third to Gaston’s side on the bench.
The quiet but effective Dwayne Murphy moves from first base to hitting coach, a job he was beaten out for by Gary Denbo prior to the ’08 season, while Omar Malave takes over at first base after managing single-A Dunedin for the past six years.
Anthopoulos, diplomatically navigating through his first minefield as GM, feels the new combination of new and old will placate players who complained privately at the end of the season about Gaston’s "constant negativity," poor communication, old-school approach and hands-off, in-game decision-making. Centre-fielder Vernon Wells would later say he’s never seen clubhouse problems so bad in his career while several of the team’s other important and influential players also confirmed that there were serious troubles without going into specifics.
The shuffle comes after the 32-year-old Anthopoulos held individual phone calls with every player and staff member plus lengthy discussions with Paul Beeston, who removed the interim tag from his title and accepted a three-year term as president and CEO of the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
"In speaking with all of the players, it was clear to me what the problems were, what the concerns were," Anthopoulos said on a conference call without going into details. "And sitting down with Paul, getting feedback on what his experience was with the meeting that he had, there’s no question there were things to work out, things to deal with.
"I think they were overblown slightly, because truly a lot of these types of things happen with almost all clubs every single year. … I was made aware of a lot of things, but overall it was very clear that these changes — this setup and this staff going forward — is absolutely the right staff for the 2010 season for us."
While Anthopoulos downplayed the severity of the problems, multiple sources from across the organization told The Canadian Press in the final weeks of the season that the issues in the clubhouse went far beyond those that would normally occur as team struggled through what would end up a 75-87 campaign.
In part, those problems were fuelled by the poor dynamics within the coaching staff, with Gaston, Tenace, Leyva and Murphy on one side, and John Gibbons holdovers Butterfield and Arnsberg on the other.
There was little communication between Gaston’s group and Gibbons’ group, bad news since the players were close with Butterfield and Arnsberg. When problems arose, players went to the latter two, but the matter often got stuck at the divide.
Factor in that some veterans felt Gaston wasn’t providing enough information about their roles while others scratched their heads over in-game decisions the manager did or didn’t make as the club struggled, and you have all the ingredients of a toxic mix.
The hope is new ingredients will make for a more functional solution.
"The thought process with this staff and with the layout that we have, it’s really in every sense of the word what is the strongest staff for us," said Anthopoulos. "There’s no question — chemistry, relationships — that’s absolutely part of it. I think any time you build a team, whether it’s in an office or on the field, you look at how all these pieces are going to fit together. Who’s going to work well together? How’s the communication going to be? That’s certainly part of it.
"These are good baseball men in the right roles who will work well together."
Gaston’s looming departure also provides a method for providing a graceful and dignified exit for the franchise icon who led the Blue Jays to their only World Series titles in 1992 and ’93. His status was always going to be the trickiest part of the deal, given his stature among fans and relationship to Beeston.
Once he leaves the dugout, he’ll advise the front office in all areas of baseball operations, spring training, minor league operations and scouting.
As for who takes over in 2011, Anthopoulos says all members of the current group will be considered if they show interest.
"I would certainly give them every opportunity to apply for the job," said Anthopoulos. "I think Brian Butterfield certainly as a bench coach, I would expect him to do so. Nick Leyva, the same way. At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, and this is so premature to talk about now, but going forward we’ll probably do a very, very thorough search. We’ll take our time."
