When Kevin Gausman signed his five-year, $110 million US deal to become a cornerstone of the Toronto Blue Jays starting rotation back in December of 2021, he didn’t sign up for … this.
He didn’t sign up to be on a team that was out of playoff contention in mid-summer and in massive sell-off mode at the July 31 Major League Baseball trade deadline.
He didn’t bank on withering through a season of regression that cratered far below expectations to the point that the Jays easily secured the basement in the American League East for the first time since 2013.
And he definitely didn’t expect to be in such of a spot of uncertainty with just two more years remaining on a contract he banked on including playoff success.
With all of that has come frustration, a feeling prevalent among veterans in the Blue Jays clubhouse who following Sunday’s finale here against the Miami Marlins will mercifully see the calamitous downturn end. Gausman wants much more though – from himself, his teammates and a front office under fire.
“I’m sick of the ‘talent’ talk,” Gausman said in an interview with the Toronto Sun this weekend, a cardboard packing box filling up beside his clubhouse locker. “We’re so talented, this and that. We’ve got to start winning games. We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to do it quickly. I’m only getting older. (Fellow starter Chris) Bassitt is only getting older. If we want it to happen with this group, it has to happen soon. So what are we going to do?”
Even in Gausman’s phrasing, that question has layers. How much of it is on the players? How much of it is on the front office? How soon can it be fixed or can it? And yes, what are they going to do?
Thoughtful and seasoned as he is, the 33-year-old has some ideas. Gausman is a driven veteran determined to be a winner before age catches up with his best years. There were many reasons he settled on Toronto, a city and fan base he’s embraced and a franchise he truly believed was promptly destined for bigger things.
Sure the money was massive, assuredly the big-ticket contract of his career. But before he signed with the Jays, Gausman was meticulous in the research leading to his decision to go long term, big cash with a team that he believed was on the cusp of sustained greatness.
So now what?
Like many of those who follow the team, Gausman will wait to see what general manager Ross Atkins and his baseball operations brigade can do in this critical off season.
“Time will tell,” Gausman said. “Obviously we’ll see what the front office does. Listen, we need some veteran players, no doubt about that.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
“We’ve got some young guys who can really play, but we need some veterans to kind of show ’em how to do things and be there because even our established guys are still young.
“You could see that when we had (since traded Justin Turner) here. His level of presence he brings — those guys have been doing it for a long time for a reason, so bring ’em in.”
Credit to players like Gausman and Bassitt for being as transparent as they’ve been this season. Both have been the first to acknowledge and own up to their struggles factoring in this disappointing season, but have also been willing to share their views on the challenges and frustrations associated with a season gone careening off the rails.
“We banked on a lot of guys having bounce back years and that just didn’t happen,” Gausman said with his usual candidness. “We got bit by the injury bug a lot. Obviously the trade deadline just kind of depleted us. We lost eight guys, nine guys. Completely different personnel than what we started the season (with.) So with that comes a new culture a new kind of standard setting the stone.
“This has been a frustrating season for me, not just personally but as a team and as a teammate, watching guys struggle. We just never got on track.”
For Gausman, it’s not difficult to pinpoint where and when things went awry – basically at the beginning of the season, in other words. The Colorado native believes that, though unrecognized at the time, the signs were there at spring training, indicators that in hindsight led to a dodgy launching point to a season for which so much more was expected.
Perhaps that mindset of expecting things to be as good as they had been in the previous season were misguided?
“I think maybe we were just kind of expecting us to run it back (to the form of 2023),” Gausman said. “In this game you’ve always got to get better and I’m part of that as well. I had to make adjustments this season that last year I never had to. As you grow and learn in this game you always have to be getting better or this game is just going to run you over and leave you in the dust.”
The whole trade deadline and the buildup was excruciating for players, especially veterans who had to be in shock at a team that was almost universally touted to do so much more had lost its way so profoundly. Circling back to Gausman’s earlier comments, it was the last thing that was expected — from the players, the fans and the front office. And when things went south, there was no pivot to solutions, essentially because there weren’t any.
As the season frittered away, seeing players like catcher Danny Jansen traded and before that reliever Tim Mayza released added to the angst. What had been a close clubhouse just 12 months earlier was suddenly fragmented.
“These are people you care about,” Gausman said. “You care about them as people and you care about their families. That adds a whole other element to it.
“At the trade deadline, there was so much uncertainty and that is difficult for a player. Everybody’s name was out there. Am I even going to be here? What’s this team going to look like after this? That kind of thing. It was tough.
“Saying good-bye to (Yusei) Kikuchi was tough. Awesome guy and a great teammate. Losing guys like that is difficult but also part of the business.”
If it sounds as though Gausman is casting stones at the organization, that’s the farthest thing from the truth. Stand-up dude that he is, the veteran is the first to acknowledge his own shortcomings, particularly early in the season.
The inklings of those woes emerged at spring training where shoulder fatigue delayed his progress to the point where he only saw action in one Grapefruit League game. Gausman knew something wasn’t right before he arrived in Dunedin when he was diagnosed with capsulitis in his right throwing shoulder. The pitcher described the inflammation as essentially having a knot in his shoulder, a bothersome condition that hindered him.
“It definitely started in the winter, about a month before I went to spring training and that’s the tough thing,” Gausman said. “You want to keep your progression going. You don’t want to shut down because then you have to start back up. It was really that last month, when the intensity started getting a little bit higher, throwing extended bullpens, and I just wasn’t bouncing back the way I am when I’m healthy. At that point, I knew that something was going on and I was just trying to pitch through it.”
In retrospect, Gausman acknowledges that he should have given himself extra time in the spring. But the competitor in him could read and handicap the Jays somewhat dire pitching depth chart as well as anyone and his instinct was to push and persevere to be a contributor.
And here’s where player regression and front-office shortcomings collided.
“Unfortunately we didn’t have too many options, you know?,” Gausman said of the Jays starting depth, such as it was. “That’s why I started the last game in Tampa (in the team’s opening series). Just try to give me as many days as possible to feel stronger.”
The pitching depth issue has been dogging the Jays for a few seasons now, an indictment on the front office. It didn’t help that there was regression in the form of some starters — Gausman included — married to an implosion of the bullpen.
“Not as much this year, but since I’ve been here (pitching) has been a strength of ours, whether it’s the bullpen or starters,” Gausman said. “Realistically, in today’s game your pitchers are your difference makers and they can help get you get to the post season or they can help not get you there. This year, we’re maybe one of the reasons we didn’t get there, to be honest.”
So what happened?
“I think we were a little bit complacent in spring of saying the right things but maybe trying to protect ourselves maybe a little too much. I was part of that as well. I got off to a really slow start, made only one start in spring and that definitely carried over into the regular season. I’m at fault for that, too.
“We definitely didn’t pitch nearly as well as we did last year.”
As for what unfolds after Sunday’s Game 162, Gausman is hoping for the best. He’ll do his part with what he hopes will be a fruitful and healthy off-season while hoping ownership and management does it’s part as well.
“One thing I never try to do is play GM — I let them do their job and I’ll do mine,” Gausman said. “I don’t think the formula is ever easy. Every year you watch the team that wins the World Series and just about every year that team is constructed completely different than the one that one it the year before.
“We all need to get better.”