With only a handful of games remaining, Cito Gaston’s time is almost up as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s about time that we begin a discussion on who should be the field chief in 2011 and beyond.

The 2010 Toronto Blue Jays club was full of surprises. Perhaps second only to slugger Jose Bautista, was the realization that the club is not that far away from contending. Pre-2010, many publications had Toronto projected as a fifth-place team with a terrible record.

With a club that is quickly positioning itself to contend in the near future, Toronto's field manager will play a key role in 2011. The position will require a person who can keep up that winning atmosphere, while also find a way to utilize the young, in-house-developed talent that will be key for this club to compete in the American League East division.

With current manager Cito Gaston set to step down as manager at the end of the 2010 season, the club is reportedly looking to have a new skipper in place by the conclusion of the World Series.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, the club is interviewing and/or considering a vast number of candidates and options that include former Rockies/Cubs manager Don Baylor, former Jay Juan Samuel, former Expos third baseman Tim Wallach, former D-Backs manager Bob Melvin, and former Indians manager Eric Wedge. To my way of thinking, the decision is an easy one. The perfect man for the job is former Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez. The 46-year-old Cuban would bring five key traits to the role:

1. He's a players' manager, who earns respect.

Gonzalez has been around the game for a long time, including as a minor league catcher in the Yankees system, as a minor league manager, as a coach with the Braves, and as a big league manager with the Marlins. Born in Cuba, he was raised in Florida. He's known for communicating well with young players, who enjoy playing for him. The club had the lowest payroll in both 2008 and '09 and managed winning seasons. Gonzalez was named the Sporting News Manager of the Year for 2008. His ability to manage and get the best out of young players was clear during his time in Florida.

2. He's not afraid to challenge players.

One of the reasons that Gonzalez (at least reportedly) was let go by Florida was the fact that he clashed with the Face of the Franchise shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Knowing it's easier (and cheaper) to replace the manager, the club let Gonzalez go despite some pretty good results by the manager, who was consistently given a small payroll to work with. Gonzalez is known for having a bit of a football coach mentality.

3. He has an appreciation for advanced statistics, as well as traditional baseball scouting.

Gonzalez is known to poke around websites like www.BaseballAnalysts.com. With a young, smart front office that utilizes traditional scouting and statistical analysis, it makes sense that the field personnel should be comfortable with both, as well.

4. He would bring a Latin influence.

This is important because the club is once again investing a lot of money into the international free agent market, with signings like Adonis Cardona and Gabriel Cenas. The club has also brought in key young players like Yunel Escobar.

5. Gonzalez would seemingly help diversify the offense.

The home run is fun and all, but let's be honest... it's not good baseball. The club has turned into a one-dimensional team. Gaston produced players with good home-run totals but many of the hitters regressed in other offensive areas of the game. Under Gonzalez, the Marlins club had to kick and claw for every win.

The Jays organization must act quickly to secure his services, though, as both the Braves and Cubs are thought to be interested in the former Fish skipper. Other than Gonzalez, my other choices would be Juan Samuel, although he’s mostly unproven as a manager, which could be detrimental to this club, and Eric Wedge, who handled a young roster in Cleveland but had a tendency to favor veteran (bench-worthy) players a little too much at the expense of young, unproven guys. My least favorite candidate at this point would be Baylor, who is similar to Gaston and always managed very one-dimensional, homer-happy clubs. He also had a tendency – in my opinion – to over-use and abuse his pitching staff... especially the bullpen.

So, what do you think?