Cito Gaston not a fan of Roger Clemens

[mweir145]

I just thought this was awesome.

In his book The Rocket That Fell to Earth, author Jeff Pearlman says Clemens, who arrived in Toronto the same season the Jays fired Gaston as manager, influenced the club to bring in Gaston's replacement, Tim Johnson.

Gaston, it turns out, hadn't heard the news, but it's not like hearing it changed his image of Clemens. That's been entrenched for more than a decade.

"He's an a-----e himself. A complete a-----e," Gaston said with a chuckle. "And I'll say that loud, right in his face. It was all about him. Ain't about nobody else but him."

"When he's pitching, everyone's in the dugout pulling for him, but when he's not pitching he's not in the dugout," Gaston said. "I didn't feel like he supported his teammates as much as he wanted support."

He also challenged Gaston's authority in front of the team, once questioning the manager's refusal to pull Pat Hentgen from a game. Gaston says Clemens never brought those criticisms to his face, and he regrets not confronting him over it.

"He wouldn't (confront me). One of us would have had an ass whuppin' that day," Gaston said. "It might have been me, but he still would have known I was there."

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/612591

He's the next John Gibbons!

[silverZ]

I love it. Cito's just telling it like it is. I wonder if Cito would have kept the job if Clemens didn't get him canned.

[mweir145]

I love it. Cito's just telling it like it is. I wonder if Cito would have kept the job if Clemens didn't get him canned.

He probably would have kept the job for a few more years until Rogers bought the team and named Ricciardi general manager.

[The Mighty Trow]

everything i've heard says that cito is a really chill guy, so for him to speak out like that after all this time, it must be really special

good for him, sing it loud i say.

[Yoda]

Seems pretty classless to me but oh well.

[mweir145]

Seems pretty classless to me but oh well.

Classless is getting your own manager fired when you're a player, not responding honestly to a question.

Gaston did raise the issue with Clemens and when he asked him about it, Gaston said Clemens responded: "What do you want to do?"

"And I said, 'What do you mean what do I want to do?'

"And he said: 'Do you want to stay? Or do you want to leave?"

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/column ... 6-sun.html

[Yoda]

Seems pretty classless to me but oh well.

Classless is getting your own manager fired when you're a player, not responding honestly to a question.

Gaston did raise the issue with Clemens and when he asked him about it, Gaston said Clemens responded: "What do you want to do?"

"And I said, 'What do you mean what do I want to do?'

"And he said: 'Do you want to stay? Or do you want to leave?"

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/column ... 6-sun.html

There is more than one side to every story. You should know this better than anyone else.

[mweir145]

There is more than one side to every story. You should know this better than anyone else.

Sure, I bet Clemens made a valid criticism concerning Cito's management of Hentgen that game, but I'm not sure what that has to do with an argument about class. Clemens was disliked by his peers practically everywhere he went during his career for a reason, and if he had a hand in getting Cito fired (and there's no reason to believe he didn't), I can see why Cito would be pissed.

Would it have been better if Cito just kept his mouth shut like he usually does? Probably, but the fact that he didn't just tells you how strong his feelings actually were about Roger.

[Yoda]

It just seems weird that Cito would hold a grudge for this long before coming out to say these things only after Clemens was accused of doing roids.

[mweir145]

It just seems weird that Cito would hold a grudge for this long before coming out to say these things only after Clemens was accused of doing roids.

He didn't "come out to say these things." Reporters asked him what he thought about Jeff Pearlman's book and what was written inside it (that Clemens influenced Gaston's firing). Cito hadn't heard about that or read about that before saying what he did, but he was justifiably pissed at hearing it from the reporters. It wasn't like he called the reporters over so he could bash Clemens.

Would he have said anything if Clemens wasn't accused of doing roids? Well probably not, but that's only because Pearlman never would have wrote a book about Clemens. Which obviously means Cito would have never been asked questions about a book that didn't exist.