*smooooche*

Kiss of Death.


Nice knowing ya', Gibby

Just how many deals expire after the 2007 season now?

Seemingly all of them.

I don't read as much into it as everyone else does. I know JP has mentioned that is when his contract expires as well, but I think most of that is a coincidence more than anything else.

There'll almost certainly be some players under contract for 2008 at some point during the next offseason.

I didn't like that the team didn't have more of an interview process last offseason, and didn't like that Gibbons was working on a one year contract prior to now (I thought it showed that the team didn't have total faith in him and/or was being cheap) but he has seemed to run the club pretty well so far and apparently the club responds to him so I can't complain about the move.

Roy Halladay
Vernon Wells
Eric Hinske
Corey Koskie (2008 option)
J.P. Ricciardi
John Gibbons

In addition, no one is signed to a guaranteed contract for 2008. All of the following may be arbitration-eligible:

Orlando Hudson
David Bush
Reed Johnson
Jason Frasor
Josh Towers
Russ Adams
Alexis Rios
Gustavo Chacin
Brandon League
Gabe Gross

Here's hoping he stays that long and more. I'm one that believes that managers and head coaches in sports are too often the scapegoat of a panicky owner or GM or just a mediocre or poor team. If anything in this orginization we need a little bit of stability. John Gibbons has gone far beyond the expectations of a manager, so for goodness sakes can we just let the players play and only bring up firing the manager when it is absolutley certain that a new skipper is the answer.

I'm sure others were implying this already, but just to point it out, Mike Barnett got a contract extension this winter before getting fired...

I really dont see this as a "kiss of death" type thing at all. In fact it looks just the opposite to me.

Barnett being fired, with a guy Gibbons picked replacing him, and then two days later Gibbons himself getting an extension. The two moves seem rather obviously related and smell like long-term plan to me.

"Barnett being fired, with a guy Gibbons picked replacing him, and then two days later Gibbons himself getting an extension. The two moves seem rather obviously related and smell like long-term plan to me."

The cynic in me says they're related, however it also says that Gibbons extension was to shake off some heat from the people who think the Jays haven't been giving their coaching staffs a chance.

Given that you'd think contract extensions would be a long process, it's probably not the case. All the same I'm not sure why a 30-41 career record as a manager warrants an extension. The Jays actually did worse after Tosca was fired and Gibbons took over last year (a .423 W% with Tosca, .400 W% with Gibbons) and Tosca took on the brunt of the injuries. Not to mention that Tosca had a respectable 144-127 record with the Jays before coming into 2004.

I think you take the win-loss results for managers and throw them out the window. Dusty Baker wins but I wouldn't want him managing my club. Different priorities at this stage of development for the Jays. I think with player usage and lineup construction especially Gibbons has impressed me. I like the way he uses his pen much more than Martinez or Tosca did as well.

And remember Gibbons won practically everywhere he managed in the minors. With more talent on his team and more experience for the young players he will win more games but in terms of his process as opposed to results I think he's as close to a rational manager as I've seen the Jays have.

Although I still don't think Schoe should ever be pitching against righty hitters unless the game is out of reach! :)