Kevin Gausman discusses Blue Jays' disappointment, deadline deals and the joy of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. getting hot

In each of the previous three seasons, right-hander Kevin Gausman finished in the top 10 in Cy Young Award voting, hitting his apex in 2023 by placing third and winning his first strikeout crown.

Heading into 2024, Gausman and his Toronto Blue Jays, who had made the postseason in three of the past four seasons but failed to get beyond the Wild Card round, were again widely considered a likely postseason club.

After all, the roster was stocked with high-priced stars including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, George Springer and a rotation led by Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi.

A combination of injuries and disappointing first halves from nearly everyone on the roster, however, has sunk the Blue Jays. They’ve yet to have a winning month and, unless things turn around dramatically, Toronto is headed to its first last-place finish in the AL East since 2013.

Making matters worse, management decided to be sellers in July, dealing away eight veterans including Kikuchi, free-agent addition Justin Turner, homegrown catcher Danny Jansen and a trio of relievers.

The always forthright Gausman, whose mid-4 ERA is more than a run higher than last year’s, recently discussed what has gone wrong in 2024 for him and the Blue Jays, what it’s like to be on a deadline seller again and why he still has optimism for Toronto’s present and future, including getting to watch Guerrero daily.

This team was supposed to be a playoff contender again. How tough has this year been and how difficult was it to watch this club sell and not buy at the deadline?

Gausman: I’ve been lucky over the course of my career that I’ve been on the buyer side more times than this side. Picking up guys at the deadline and seeing someone walking into the clubhouse with a lot of excitement. And so, it stinks when this happens.

It brings back 2018 for me when the Orioles broke us up. Me, Darren O’Day and Brad Brach all went to Atlanta, Manny (Machado) went to LA, (Jonathan) Schoop went to Milwaukee. That was tough because we had all played together for a long time.

It’s been a little different in Toronto. I hadn’t been with these guys as long, but I was very close to Janno (Danny Jansen), and Yusei is an amazing human being and I love watching him pitch. He’s a pro’s pro, and I really enjoyed my time with him.

Losing those guys is tough. Janno had been here, drafted here when he was 17. He’s known as a Blue Jay. So, it is sad to see those guys go, especially because they were staples when I signed here. But it just shows you the nature of the business.

Any team, if you get yourself to this (losing) point, it doesn’t matter how much talent you have, there is a possibility of other teams wanting that talent and it being broken up. That’s where we were at.

In 2018, you were part of a dump deal, going from your original club, the Baltimore Orioles, to a contending club in the Atlanta Braves. Is that tough on a player?

Gausman: Yeah. For sure. Honestly, it took me a while to realize that it was Atlanta that wanted me and not necessarily Baltimore giving me away. But at first, that’s how I took it. It was weird. I was naïve.

Looking back, I just didn’t think I was gonna get traded. I remember guys literally saying to me, ‘You’re pitching pretty well. You’re not going to get traded.’ And now, looking back, I know I was traded because I was pitching pretty well. And that was fun, looking back.

I went to an exciting young team in the Braves. I showed up for my first game and I saw Ronald Acuña hit a leadoff triple and Ozzie Albies stole two bags before the third inning. It was just a different brand of baseball than I had been used to seeing. They had a lot of things for me to try, adjustments, that I did really well with in 2018.

But it was tough for a while. Because all you know is one place. And you get thrown into another clubhouse, another atmosphere that you are not really familiar with. You want to be yourself but you also, especially at the trade deadline, don’t want to come into a team and mess things up.

That was the first time I had experienced that. I came from Baltimore and that year we were really bad. It was rough. But to go to a first-place team at the deadline, it was like, ‘Don’t be the guy that messes this up. Just keep your head down.’ And I didn’t have to be the guy there, either.

I think it’s different when you are the only guy traded and you are the ace, obviously, they are expecting big things from you. That wasn’t the case for me then.

What about this team in 2024? Can you pinpoint what has gone wrong with such a talented roster?

Gausman: I think it’s an organizational issue. I think depth right now, we just don’t have it. We don’t have much depth in the minor-league system. That might be a little different after the trades from the deadline.

I’ll have to look at it. But we put ourselves in a hole. We’ve had some injuries with our prospects. And some guys who were expecting bounce-back years haven’t bounced back. I, myself, am having a down year. I am part of that myself.

We kind of clicked on a lot of cylinders last year. Especially on the defensive side. We were one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, rotation-wise and bullpen-wise, and the best defense in baseball. We won the team Gold Glove. We were exceptionally incredible on the defensive side. And we kind of have seen some regression in that.

I say that, but I think Daulton Varsho has been incredible this year and George Springer has played exceptionally well in right, too. But we were just so good last year. And we just haven’t been consistent overall. We haven’t been winning as many series as we’d like. When we’re not hitting home runs, we’re not really scoring runs.

It’s where we are at, and we are trying to figure out, with the new guys we have on this team, the younger guys, what kind of team we’re gonna be going forward. We’ve been playing pretty good baseball for the last month and these guys have been fun to watch, honestly. We’ll see what happens. A lot of things can happen from now. We go 15-5 in the next 20 games, and it’ll put us in a different situation.

In your mind, do you guys still have a chance to make the playoffs or even go .500 and avoid last place?

Gausman: Well, you all have been watching Vladdy. We can all just hop on his back (laughs). We have the talent to do it. We get Bo back. There are some guys here that are making huge adjustments. Leo Jiménez has been incredible. I think he’s getting better with every at-bat. And Ernie Clement, and Davis Schneider, all of these guys. Spencer Horwitz has been incredible to watch. His at-bats every single game have been impressive for a guy that we didn’t necessarily expect that from.

So, I feel like we know we can do it. We have the same starting staff pretty much. It’s there, we just have to get it going. We haven’t hit our stride, and we haven’t rattled off a seven-game winning streak. We do that two times in the next three weeks, that would be nice.

We’ll see. I’m also an optimist and I’m not going to sit here with how many games left and say, ‘We’re done.’ I’m gonna fight until my last start and my last pitch. That’s the way I am. And I think we still have a lot to play for.

What about your own struggles this year? It certainly hasn’t been what you expected of yourself or reminiscent of your outstanding season in 2023.

Gausman: To be honest, I didn’t necessarily start the year on a great note. I had some shoulder problems in spring and, looking back, I probably could have benefitted from a rehab stint or maybe just missing a couple starts to get my feet under me.

The biggest thing is being inconsistent with my fastball. The book is out on me. Hitters know I’m gonna throw a split and I’m gonna throw it a lot. So, I’m finding out how teams are really trying to eliminate that and that has been an adjustment for me.

After the year I had last year, teams are ready and wanting to have success against me. That’s been an adjustment. I’m trying to make that adjustment and mechanically I haven’t been in a great spot.

But I feel like I’m getting there, and I definitely have been better in the second half than I was the first. Last year was only last year. It’s all still in there. I know what I’m capable of. I’ve just got to go out there and compete and win as many games as I have left.

You’ve had a chance to watch Guerrero Jr. for a few years now. He’s been on fire in the early second half. What is it like watching him when he is on one of his hot streaks?

Gausman: When he’s hot, you might as well not pitch to him. It doesn’t matter what pitch you throw to him. Recently, he hit a ball up and away for a home run down the right field line and then takes a pitch down and away dead center for a homer. He’ll do that on sinkers in. He doesn’t have many holes, so, yeah, he is really fun to watch.

When he hit that ball out to center, I’ve only seen a couple guys do that (at Camden Yards). Manny Machado was one of them. Those guys are just different. They hit the ball and it backspins and it just sounds different off their bats. When they are hot, you just get out of the way. They just take over the game.

OK, last question. Give me a prediction on the spot: Who wins the AL East this year?

Gausman: Tough one. I’ll say New York.

Why?

Gausman: Experience.

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