Ironic innit, that a couple of days after I write about how pitchers can’t hit, an American League pitcher hits a grand slam. This is the first time in 37 years that this has happened. Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again.

OK, I didn’t see that one coming. John Gibbons was fired today (that’s not the part that I didn’t see coming, though I disagree with it), and who do the Jays hire as their new manager? No, not Gary Carter, but former Jays manager Cito Gaston. I’m not sure how I feel about this. As much as I loved Cito (and how can you not love Cito?) when he managed the Jays to back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993, the Jays under Gaston were mediocre at best after that, and then he was fired in 1997, and hasn’t managed a team since. He was apparently on the short list for a few managers jobs, but never got them.

Right now it’s 0-0 in the 11th inning, so the change of management hasn’t done anything yet to fire up the hitters. However, it’s been less than 12 hours, so maybe we’ll need to give Cito and the new guys (other former Jay coaches Gene Tenace and Nick Leyva — hardly the “new guys”) a little more time.

I read an article the other day called “In Defense of the No-DH Rule”, where the author listed ten reasons why he doesn’t like the DH rule. Before I comment on this, let me say two things:

1. I like the DH rule in the AL.
2. I do not want to see the DH rule implemented in the NL. Call me a traditionalist or “old school” or whatever, but I’m totally fine with pitchers hitting in the NL, and I agree with the poster who says “It would be sad to see the rule that makes the NL unique disappear.”

The reason that I like the DH rule is simple: in general, pitchers can’t hit. They spend all their training time working on pitching (as they should), and don’t have time to spend at the other end of the batting cage. How does having an almost guaranteed out every nine batters make the game better? It does make managing more of a challenge (it’s more work to think about pinch hitters and shuffling lineups and when to make defensive changes and such) and that’s not a bad thing, but all they’re doing is trying to work around one player’s glaring incompetence in a vital aspect of the game.

Looking at the article (I won’t quote all ten points and address them individually, you’ll have to go to the article itself), of the 10 reasons in that article not to have the DH rule, five of them (1, 2, 4, 7, 8) boil down to “managing is harder because pitchers can’t hit”. Numbers 3 and 5 I agree with. Number 6 (“You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball”) isn’t helping his cause much — DHs only do one of those three, but pitchers only do two. The quote isn’t “You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you bunt the ball and hope to make contact and that the third baseman or catcher blows the play” (because pitchers generally can’t run, either). As for number 9, pitchers can and have pinch hit in the AL as well. I don’t understand how point 10 is an argument against the DH, but it also boils down to “pitchers can’t hit”.

Maybe because I’ve grown up a Blue Jay fan, I’m just used to the DH rule. But whenever I do watch an NL game, I shake my head every time I see the pitcher strike out on three pitches or weakly ground out. Forcing a player who’s great at one thing to go out there and do something else that he sucks at just doesn’t make the game better. You don’t force your punter to be a defensive lineman as well. You don’t force your goalie to take shots in the shootout.

I’ve said before that I don’t like the idea of a full-time DH because he only hits, and fielding is an important part of baseball. But I’ve changed my mind on that. Edgar Martinez was a great hitter who because of injury couldn’t play the field. Without a DH rule, you either force him to go out and play the field, or he retires. If you make him play, (a) his inability to play defensively hurts your team, and (b) his injuries probably get worse and he has to retire anyway. If Martinez had retired before becoming a full-time DH, baseball fans would have been robbed of watching him play and that would have been too bad.

I was listening to Prime Time Sports the other day, and guest host Mike Toth (who made the list of my least favourite sportscasters a while ago, and has since dropped even further down the list) mentioned a column he had written suggesting that not only should John Gibbons be fired, but that Gary Carter should be the next Jays manager. Now, I don’t think Gibbons should be fired (though I’d understand it if it happened at the end of the season, as long as Ricciardi was fired too) and I know nothing about Carter, so I listened (and later read the article) to find out Toth’s reasoning behind why Carter would be good for the Jays. I have still yet to figure that out.

Jeff Blair, who covers the Jays for the Globe and Mail, was also on the show and basically said that he thought that Toth must have been joking in his article (I believe his actual words were “you’re on crack”), since hiring Carter would be an immensely stupid idea. Blair has met and covered Gary Carter in the past, and says that Carter isn’t very smart and doesn’t have very good people skills. He’s currently managing in a semi-pro league, which means that not one of the thirty major league teams wants him to manage any of their major or minor league teams. Blair also said that the Jays problems driving in runs are not Gibbons’ fault, and asked Toth to tell him why Gibbons should be fired. Toth’s only response was that sometimes you need to do something like fire the manager to shake up the team. That’s it? Let’s fire someone who is not responsible for the problems because it might fire up the hitters, who are responsible? Toth has been saying for several months now that he thinks Gibby should be fired, and the best reason that this professional sports broadcaster can come up with “I dunno, ya gotta do something…”?

When asked about Carter’s qualifications for being the next Jays manager, Toth said that Carter has two things that John Gibbons does not: a World Series ring and a plaque in Cooperstown. When asked about Carter’s people skills, Toth said that a bunch of years ago, he was the MC at Gary Carter’s induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and Carter was so emotional about the induction that he gave Toth a hug. He also mentioned that Carter was Toth’s idol growing up. That’s it. He was a great baseball player, I idolized him as a kid, and he once gave me a hug, and that makes him qualified to be a major league manager. Get serious.

Sometimes great players make great managers (Ozzie Guillen, Joe Torre, Lou Piniella), but not always (in looking around, I couldn’t find any good examples because the players that this applies to were never hired as managers). It’s also true that sometimes players who weren’t that great end up making great managers (Tony LaRussa had a lifetime .199 average, Tommy Lasorda and Bobby Cox only played in the majors for a couple of seasons), but obviously being a lousy player doesn’t mean you’ll be a good manager either. In general, I think it’s safe to say that playing skills are no predictor of managing skills. Does anyone think Barry Bonds would be a good manager? Hey, he won Gold Gloves, several MVP awards, and hit more home runs than anyone! And I saw him hug his son on TV once! What about Roger Clemens? He won seven Cy Young awards, so he’s prime manager material, right?

Clarification: I’m not saying that hiring Gary Carter would be a bad idea, because I don’t know enough about him to have an opinion either way. But if you want to hire a manager at the big-league level who’s never even managed a single-A team, you better have a damn good reason. Toth’s reasons weren’t even remotely intelligent. His reasons were based on his idolization of Carter as a kid and the fact that he was a great player. Not the kind of intelligent reasoning I’d expect from a professional sports broadcaster.

Rogers Communications owns both the Blue Jays and the FAN 590, and perhaps they would be stupid enough to hire Carter. After all, they were stupid enough to hire Mike Toth to guest host when the incomparable Bob McCown (“Best in the business — just ask him” as the ads say) is on vacation.

A.J. Burnett said the other day that he would welcome “with open arms” a trade to the Cubs. He tried to backpedal a little by saying “As of right now I’m a Blue Jay, and I’m going to pitch to the best of my ability as long as I’m part of this club. But if something like that were to happen, … that would be awesome.” Maybe A.J. didn’t pay attention ten years ago when Roger Clemens asked to be traded from the Jays. Jays fans booed him out of town and haven’t forgiven him. This was after two straight Cy Young seasons. Now Burnett essentially says the same thing after 2½ seasons of injuries and mediocrity. Hey A.J., we know Roger Clemens. We watched him pitch here. We watched him win Cy Young awards here. A.J., you’re no Roger Clemens.

Burnett’s first two seasons with the Jays both ended up at 10-8 with an ERA just under 4.00. This year he’s 6-6 and 4.90. Overall, 26-22 and an ERA just over 4.00. Not bad, but is that really worth the $11+ million a year he’s getting? These days, I suppose it probably is, given what other second-tier pitchers are getting. His performance as a Jay shouldn’t surprise anyone though — he pitched for seven seasons in Florida, and in his best season, he was 12-9. He was one game under .500 for his career before joining the Jays, and he’s all of three games over .500 now. Burnett’s career is about the same length as Roy Halladay’s — Halladay pitched in 2 games in 1998 and Burnett was a rookie in 1999. Halladay’s career ERA is .24 lower than Burnett’s, he’s started 45 more games, has won 44 more games, and has lost 9 less. Oh yeah, and he’s won a Cy Young award.

Maybe a comparison to Halladay is unfair, since nobody considers Burnett a top-tier pitcher, as Halladay is. But $11 million a year is very close to top-tier money, and I would think that if you’re making that kind of money and obviously not performing to that level, you really shouldn’t go saying stupid things like what he said. If Ricciardi can trade Burnett (to the Cubs or anyone else) and get something decent for him, do it. Otherwise, encourage him to opt out of his contract at the end of the season and take the draft picks. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Mr. Burnett.

Speaking of the Cubs, former Jay Reed Johnson homered off of Roy Halladay on the weekend. Let’s compare how he and his replacement, Shannon Stewart, are doing so far this year:

Stewart, in about the same number of games, is hitting 27 points lower, has less home runs, less than half the RBIs, less stolen bases, and is currently injured. Nice move, J.P.

Brilliant idea: Trade Burnett to the Cubs for Reed Johnson! The Cubs want a veteran pitcher, the Jays get rid of someone who has a hefty contract and doesn’t want to be here anyway, and the Jays need a left fielder since Stewart is hurt! Everybody wins!