Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons watches from the dugout in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, in Baltimore.Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press
John Gibbons has a lot on his mind these days. The status of his future employment by the Toronto Blue Jays is not one of them.
Or so he says.
"To be honest, I've never been one of those guys to worry about it," Gibbons was saying here on Wednesday from the comfort of the manager's office in the visiting team's clubhouse at Camden Yards. "I live in the moment. I don't worry about the future. It doesn't take a lot to keep me happy, anyway. I came from very modest upbringing. Military family, you don't have a lot."
Gibbons's job security has been a hot-button topic of late, especially when it was the manager himself who dropped this little "I don't know what's going to happen to me" bon mot earlier in the week.
That, plus the fact that the Blue Jays are on the verge of wrapping up another baseball campaign in rather undistinguished fashion, always tends to shed a large spotlight on the back of a manager.
While the Blue Jays continue to pay lip service about their committed pursuit of a playoff berth despite long odds, the results on the field indicate otherwise.
Behind a two-home run night from outfielder Steve Pearce, the Orioles (92-60) spanked Toronto (77-74) 6-1 on Wednesday to sweep the three-game series and hand the faltering Blue Jays, who started the day five games out in the American League wild-card race, their fourth-straight loss.
Toronto now heads into New York to begin a series against the Yankees knowing that anything less than a four-game sweep will likely burn their playoff chances, at least what's left of them, once and for all.
Gibbons's comment was a little surprising given that, at the very least, he will continue to collect a paycheque over the course of the 2015 season, whether he is brought back as the manager or not.
Gibbons has an unusually structured deal that, in effect, will ever prevent him from becoming a lame-duck manager working the final year of a contract.
Unless he gets fired before the first day of the new year, Gibbons has an option that stipulates he gets a second year automatically tagged on to the end. It is like he is on a perpetually rolling two-year contract.
"New Year's Day is more important to me than a lot of people, put it that way," Gibbons said, when asked about his contact's structure. "I celebrate a little harder."
The rather lukewarm endorsement from general manager Alex Anthopoulos on Tuesday as to whether he was planning on bringing Gibbons back has also raised the eyebrows of some skeptics.
"He's always under contract, pretty much," Anthopoulos said when asked about the future employment of the manager. "I don't think there's anything to take care of and I think he has done a good job."
Gibbons was asked if he has paid any heed what fate might await him after the season has concluded on Sept. 28.
"No, I give it zero thought," he said.