Rumours of change hung over this Blue Jays clubhouse for at least the last couple of weeks. Should they be sellers? Perhaps longtime starter Kevin Gausman was going to be among those traded by the August 3 MLB deadline. After all, the Jays had been spinning their wheels in the standings, showing no real signs, either at the plate, on the mound or defensively.
Not even that they were inclined to, or, in fact, were even capable, of putting together a solid win streak over the next 15-20 games, one that would get them back in the hunt in a longshot attempt to defend their AL crown.
It was against this depressing backdrop on Sunday evening, following another bats-silent 5-1 loss to the Cardinals, that I sought out Gausman, walking the length of a near-empty home clubhouse at Rogers Centre to speak, perhaps for the last time, to the classy 35-year-old Colorado native before he headed to the team bus, for the charter flight to Houston for a series vs. the Astros.
During this chat, there were no questions about a potential trade, whether he thought he would be gone, but, nevertheless, his future was an unavoidable elephant in the room. The conversation was mostly about family, friends, his adopted city and his childhood hero, Roy Halladay. Like all pro athletes who have experienced the angst of a trade deadline week and have been traded at least once in his career, Gausman demonstrated no anger, no regrets. It’s a business and there is salary to be saved.
The first order of business was about family and the importance of being a dad to his two girls, Sadie (7) and Sutton (5). I reminded him of a sweet clubhouse incident in 2022, following a tough Game 1 loss to the Mariners. Gausman was to be the next night’s scheduled starter for Game 2, so, as is the custom, he was in the process of exiting the clubhouse quickly following the game, for some quality rest at home. Walking with him towards the clubhouse back door was then-three-year-old Sadie.
Off to their left was Alek Manoah, slumped in a chair in front of his locker, unmoving, head held in his hands. As starter in Game 1, Manoah had not pitched well. Sadie stopped on her own, left her father, went over and silently wrapped her tiny arms around Manoah’s head and held him close. Alek emerged from his trance, looked up for the first time at Sadie as she returned to her father’s side. As Jays’ P.R. man, that became my favourite memory of a lost series. Gausman remembered the moment.
“Oh man, she’s a lot like my wife (Taylor) and she really cares about the happiness of everyone around her … almost to a fault, at times,” Gausman recalled proudly. “But, gosh, she’s just like my wife. She really cares and she wants everyone to be happy when she’s around them. And if they’re sad, she wants to make them feel a little bit better.”
He was asked what his two girls and Taylor would likely take with them from their almost five years in Toronto.
“I think my seven-year-old (Sadie) – she’ll be eight in January – she’s experienced a little bit more of it. My almost-five-year-old (Sutton), all she’s known is Toronto. All she’s ever worn is blue, so it’s really cool, but it’s also kind of a little sad to think about the possible ending of that.
“At the same time, I think my five-year-old grew up here. She had her first birthday party in our backyard here. We took a picture today (Sunday). We had a picture that we took of our girls on our front step the first week that we bought our house here. We took (the same) picture today. It’s just surreal to see how big they now are and how much they’ve turned into people, you know.
“They love Toronto just about as much as us. They ask about when they’re home (in Louisiana), they can’t wait to come back. It’s moreso the relationships that they have with all the other kids on the team in the kids’ room, you know. They’re as close as they could be with the Hoffmans and the Scherzers. They’re all just great people.”
The Gausman signing as a free agent on Dec. 1, 2021 has been one of the best additions in the tenure of GM Ross Atkins. He had provided exactly 31 starts in each of his four full seasons and was a key member of one of the, consistently, most durable rotations in MLB. The fans in the city and across the country adopted him as an honourary Canadian and he had been clearly emotional as he walked off the Rogers Centre mound for what turned out to be the final time on Saturday.
“I think the Blue Jays when they signed me showed a lot of trust and belief in me and I felt the same way in the organization,” Gausman explained. “I’ve watched them grow as an organization, (John Schneider) as a manager, guys grow as players, humans, husbands, fathers now -- a lot of them. It’s just been really cool and I’ve been really lucky to have been in a place long enough that it’s sad to think about leaving.”
If pundits were to put together a list of the Top 5 Blue Jays starters of the 21st Century, there is no doubt that Roy Halladay would be at the top, but Gausman would definitely be Top 5. When asked about being on the list with Halladay, his childhood hero, a Hall-of-Fame righthander and fellow Colorado-native, he smiled.
“I think anytime you’re in any sentence or even a paragraph as that guy, you’re doing something right,” Gausman said. My time here has been great. I really see myself as a Blue Jay because I’ve been so consistent here. And I think part of the reason that is because of my family.”
Gausman never had the chance to meet Halladay and discuss their mutual experiences, but when the younger man was going to high school in Colorado and then to college at LSU, he observed from a distance with admiration. It’s why he started wearing No. 34, which was Doc’s number in Philly.
“If you’re from my area, you knew Roy was from that area,” Kevin explained. “There’s not many. And if you’re a baseball guy like I was my entire life, I knew the guys … even (reliever) Brad Lidge was from a high school near me. You just don’t forget those guys and Roy was a guy who was, obviously, among the best of the best. You’re not just watching some guy that happened to be in the big leagues. He was one of the best.
“So, for me being a guy from Colorado, I could watch somebody who came from the same environment with the same problems. Having to throw a bullpen indoors, not being able to play outside like when you play teams from Texas and California. It’s pretty eye-opening when you’re young. Watching a guy who was the best of the best do that and be from 30 minutes away was just really cool.”
Also really cool was Jays fans being able to watch Gausman take the ball every fifth or sixth day and lead by example. He wasn’t the vocal clubhouse/dugout philosopher like Max Scherzer or Chris Bassitt, but his leadership came in the form of having younger pitchers watch him prepare on a daily basis and see how he handled success and failure, treating those impostors just the same. In that way he was like Halladay and Jays fans can consider themselves lucky to have seen both men at their best for extended periods of their impressive careers.
Kevin, good luck with the Cubs and good health to Taylor and your family. The Jays were lucky to have had you.
Love ya, Griff.
For me Kevin is right up there with Tony Fernandes as my favourite Jay of all time. Kevin’s love for Toronto was like Tony’s although Tony was more soft spoken. And like Tony Kevin is a person of substance. One of his defining moments for me was when he plunked José Ramírez after Vladdy was hit with a pitch. It was gut wrenching to see him traded but what a great five years he gave us and that is something worth celebrating.