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Don't read too much into the Donaldson Gibbons exchange

Third baseman Josh Donaldson and manager John Gibbons got into a heated exchange during Wednesday's game against the Yankees. But don't think this means the sky is falling.

By eelliott29
Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Ever been at a job where you've had a disagreement with someone? I bet you have. I bet everyone has. On Wednesday afternoon, on his way back to the dugout, Josh Donaldson, the king of everything Blue Jays, did too.

In the moment it happened, this was no doubt not a good thing. Anytime you get into an argument with a superior over pretty much anything it's not exactly, "sunshine and rainbows." On Twitter, media outlets used the words, "had to be separated," to describe the verbal (I stress verbal) disagreement that occurred between Donaldson and his boss, manager John Gibbons.

That description is no doubt a little bit misleading as Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Thole didn't have to do anything. If they didn't step in, would the conversation or disagreement amplified into something more? Maybe. But then again, maybe not. Maybe one would have said to the other, "you know what you're right," and happily moved on. So no, they didn't "have" to step in.

Throughout social media, there were a number of dissenters who were concerned about the public display and I don't blame them. As a baseball team, the Blue Jays should be working full speed ahead, on the same page or whatever teamwork idiom you want to use to support the idea that the Jays need to collectively work as a unit. This is a blatant manifestation that, at least in a moment's weakness, this was not happening.

However, when thought about more clearly, it's probably more conceivable that this dispute was nothing more than 30 seconds of good television. As I said in the opening, this kind of stuff happens in everyone's workplace from time to time. Spend enough time with anyone and you're bound to make a mistake--or vice versa--and take up that dispute in a verbal fashion. Unless we have all the dialogue, you can only speculate at what exactly the two were arguing about. Many said that it was because Donaldson threw his bat upon entering the dugout but realistically, it could have been about anything including the final decision on what restaurant they would eat at post-game. Thing is, it's not our place to know and speculation is a dirty, irrational game.

The positive thing is that this dispute didn't go any further than a verbal disagreement--see Bryce Harper and Jonathan Papelbon last year. Whatever was said was said and by the time Donaldson scored the next inning on a Russell Martin single, Donaldson was high-fiving his manager.

The thing about these disagreements is that they probably happen a lot more than the public is willing to acknowledge or consider. The difference is this one happened in front of the cameras in the dugout for the world to replay over and over on social media. What should have happened, and typically does, is Gibbons would park the argument until after the game where he could have a discussion with Donaldson about whatever it is that they weren't in agreement on. Same with Papelbon last year when he didn't appreciate the actions or Mr. Harper. Unfortunately in this rare case, that didn't happen and the two had to answer questions after the game where they did what they should have done to begin with, deal with it in-house.

While Gibbons offered:

As much as we want it to be, what happened between the two of them is, "none of our damn business," as Gibbons would assert. It's between the two of them and the 25 plus other men that go to work in that clubhouse everyday.

At the end of the day, the thing fans should care about most is the scoreboard, which, on Wednesday indicated the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 7-4.

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