It’s an open secret that John Gibbons will not return next year to manage the Blue Jays, and though you count Gibbons among the strong majority of folks who don’t leave the managers’ fraternity by choice, two clear upsides emerge:
1. The former Mets catching phenom can do whatever he desires, and he’ll draw a $1.7 million paycheck.
2. He won’t have to worry about the Yankees and Red Sox anymore.
As Blue Jays manager from the tail end of 2003 through the middle of 2008 then from 2013 through this season, Gibbons has run up against the AL East superpowers for more than a decade altogether.