Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, right, and manager Cito Gaston chat during workouts at the Blue Jays' spring training baseball facility in Dunedin, Fla. Sunday, February 28, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren CalabreseDarren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
Cito Gaston has now released as many players as teams he's managed to World Series titles.
What's up with that? The Toronto Blue Jays yesterday released outfielder Joey Gathright, who has been a bust at the plate this spring (.167 in 42 at bats) and wouldn't have been guaranteed playing time even at Triple-A Las Vegas.
Gaston, the Blue Jays manager, was part of a group that broke the news to Gathright that included general manager Alex Anthopoulos, hitting coach Dwayne Murphy and assistant GM Tony LaCava. Gaston said afterward the only other player he has had to personally inform of his release was Bob Brenley.
David Wells was released by the Blue Jays when Gaston was managing, but it was G.M. Pat Gillick who did the deed.
"Boomer (Wells) is the only guy I ever came close to lying to," said Gaston. "You can't tell players everything, but you never lie. Gillick told me to get him on the bus to go to the Phillies camp. I don't know why they didn't do it here instead ... but Boomer, I think, was '(Expletive) that, I'm gonna play golf.' I said: 'Boomer, just come with me. I can't tell you why ... but come with me.'"
The move means Mike McCoy, claimed on waivers from the Colorado Rockies and described by Baseball Prospectus as a "cut-rate John Cangelosi," has all but made the team despite being hampered by a nagging shoulder injury sustained. A 29-year-old right-handed batter who had 40 steals at Triple-A Colorado Springs, McCoy can play the outfield and infield and is hitting .476 (10-for-21.)
"He is an excellent little player," said Gaston. "We still haven't said yes to him, but he certainly has a good chance."
Plenty of hockey talk elsewhere in these pages. Time for more baseball ... Atlanta Braves general manager Frank Wren was the Montreal Expos scouting director from 1987-91 and he sees some similarities between 20-year-old right-field phenom Jason Heyward (who developed shin splits yesterday two days after being told he had made the club) and Cliff Floyd.
"The difference is that Heyward's a ballplayer with ballplayer instincts; Cliff was one of those multisport guys," said Wren. "Plus, you could look at Cliff even as a teenager and see he was going to have a thicker body as he aged. Heyward's all lean muscle."
Cuba Libre
True story: LaCava and pro scout Jon Laonde are eating lunch with a reporter at a metal picnic table at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. Detroit Tigers assistant GM Al Avila walks over, shakes hands and says: "Congratulations on Echeverria."
The Blue Jays haven't publicly confirmed their $10-million (all figures U.S.) signing of the Cuban free-agent shortstop, but he could be in minor league camp as early as Friday once his visa's finalized.
The Tigers were one of several teams in on Adeiny Hechevarria when the price was $8-million.
Extra Innings
Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin (strained groin) won't play in a Major League exhibition game until Thursday night at the earliest, when they play the Cleveland Indians at Dodger Stadium. The club wants to keep open the option of putting the native of Chelsea, Que., on the disabled list retroactively … Jeff Francis of North Delta, B.C., has had inconsistent velocity this spring, but he will be the Colorado Rockies No.2 starter. Francis, who underwent shoulder surgery in September of 2008 and missed last year, has a 7.27 earned run average in 172/3 innings pitched and is still searching for his release point. "When I missed, I wasn't close," Francis told the Denver Post after his most recent start ... Yesterday's rainout of a game against the Baltimore Orioles cost Blue Jays third baseman Edwin Encarnacion - who is coming back from off-season wrist surgery - at bats but also time in the field. Encarnacion made 11 errors in 85 games last year and committed 23 the year before. "It's mostly footwork with him (Encarnacion,)" Gaston said. "When he throws the ball away it's because his feet aren't moving." Encarnacion's butchery at third is one reason Lyle Overbay's pitch-saving defence at first base still has some value for the Blue Jays.