Blue Jays’ players want Gaston gone: report

Toronto Blue Jays’ players are fed up with manager Cito Gaston and hope he is replaced for next season, according to online reports published Friday.

Citing anonymous sources that included players and other baseball officials, Fox Sports reported that Gaston long ago lost the confidence of his players.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports quoted a source as saying: "It’s nearly a mutiny right now. He has lost the entire team."

Gaston, 65, has a year left on his contract. He came out of retirement to take over the team in June 2008 when John Gibbons was fired. The Jays went 51-37 over the rest of the reason and Gaston was rewarded with a two-year deal, one year less than he asked for.

After the Jays’ hot start ended abruptly with a nine-game losing streak, Gaston has repeatedly said they were not expected to do well this year and recently has called on management to acquire players to beef up the offence in the coming off-season.

Before the Jays’ final home game last Sunday, Gaston was asked whether he was fooled by the team’s 27-14 start.

"No," he replied. "I always know where the cream’s at."

During that same media scrum, he was asked about "grumblings" among the players. His reply: "You know what? If guys aren’t happy with whatever happened here, then they’re looking at the wrong person. If they’re unhappy, they have to look at themselves because I certainly treated everybody in a way that I like to be treated as a player, as I’d like my manager to treat me. So if they’re grumbling, they’re grumbling because they didn’t do their job, because they had opportunities."