There's a story today in the Toronto Star today stating that interim manager John Gibbons is the leading candidate to take over the full time manager roll next year in Toronto. According to the article, Ricciardi is expected to make an announcement about a week after the regular season ends. If that is true and Gibbons stays on as the guy, that should give everyone an idea of how the Jays view 2005. If the Jays are going to make a run at the playoffs I expect them to bring in someone a little more experienced. By experienced I don't mean some old-school retread like a Jim Fergosi or Art Howe. But, maybe a guy who has been a #2 on a winning team (Someone from the Oakland, Anaheim or the Yankees) or someone who was a manager but hasn't had a job in a while and will come cheap (Larry Dierker who used to manage the Astros comes to mind). If the Jays are going to use next year as a development year and really break in guys like Gabe Gross, Alex Rios, David Bush, Russ Adams exe. then I think Gibbons is a logical choice. I have not seen enough of Gibbons to get a good feel for him so I'll have to trust JP on this one. JP is not shy about making changes so if he really likes Gibbons I think he'll stay on.

This begs the question, how should the Jays view 2005? Well, that's an interesting question. One that needs a column dedicated to it and I will do just that sometime in the near future.