Blue Jays’ John Gibbons should not be the scapegoat for recent struggles

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons should not be the scapegoat for the team’s recent struggles as the Jays dipped to 23-26 after a late-inning loss last night to the halos.

John Gibbons has done everything in his power to right the ship with limited resources this season. The team has remained competitive up until recently even though their starting staff is one of the worst in the league and the likes of Devon Travis, Russell Martin, Kendrys Morales and former MVP Josh Donaldson have resembled shells of their former productive selves.

However, the armchair quarterbacks calling in to talk radio shows want Gibby sent packing as if he is the reason the Jays sit three games under .500 after 49 games. It is a small miracle the Blue Jays are still in postseason contention with some of the awful lines on this team.

Marcus Stroman, Joe Biagini, and Jaime Garcia have been complete disasters thus far while Aaron Sanchez and Marco Estrada are teetering on mediocrity at best. The six starters have a combined 5.81 earned run average on the season with J.A. Happ the only bright spot in the rotation. Nobody else has come close to living up to their billing.

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Gubby has been forced to anoint Tyler Clippard the interim closer after Roberto Osuna had a well-publicized run-in with the law and is on administrative leave. The ineffectiveness of the rotation has forced the manager to rely heavily on his bullpen arms taxing them repeatedly.

Josh Donaldson has battled a sore shoulder that landed him on the disabled list after he was unable to throw across the diamond. The third baseman is batting a woeful and uncharacteristic .225 with only five home runs in 31 games.

Gibby has three everyday players batting under the Mendoza Line as Martin (.153), Morales (.185) and Travis (.149) have produced very little offensive clout up to this point in the season. That is one-third of the lineup barely batting their respective weights.

Throw in injuries to Troy Tulowitzki, Aledmys Diaz, Randal Grichuk, and Steve Pearce to complicate matters positionally for the manager. The Jays have run out a number of shortstops since Diaz went down but none have run away with the job.

The manager has done an admirable job with what he has had to work with thus far. Gibby has set the runners in motion more frequently, hit and run and even benched or demoted players failing to earn their keep on the diamond.

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The Jays without a doubt need a shakeup and quickly but it does not involve the manager, the ax should not fall on Gibby for the poor performance of others. It is time for the players to be held accountable for their actions rather than taking the easy way out and blaming the guy on the bench.

Keep being you, Gibby!