Blue Jays should be encouraged, not discouraged, by John Gibbons' work this season

John Gibbons is used to this. Now in the third season of his second go-around as Toronto Blue Jays manager, the calls for his firing have been nearly as frequent as Jose Bautista home runs.

So it's no surprise that the hysteria around his job status is already kicking into high gear given the Blue Jays' mediocre record through six and a half weeks. According to the Toronto Sun, the organization has had discussions about the future of Gibbons and pitching coach Pete Walker with the club. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports also included Gibbons on his recently published speculative list of next managers to be fired.

Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos was quick to throw cold water on the Sun report during an appearance Tuesday on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. For his part, Gibbons seemed unperturbed by the talk that his time in Toronto might be up soon.

"I've been in this racket for a while now and really it goes with the territory," Gibbons told reporters Tuesday. "When the team is struggling, that's generally what happens. I don't think it's any different here than anywhere else, you just learn how to deal with it."

At the quarter mark of the season the Blue Jays are 18-23, five games below .500 but also just  4 1/2 games back of the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East.

Yes, it's been far from an ideal start in Toronto. No team wants to be in last place, even if they're a good week from making a significant jump in the standings. But for the early-season struggles to start costing jobs on the coaching staff? It's far too early for that.

The middling results to date can largely be tied to this: veteran starters R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle and popular breakout pick Drew Hutchison haven't just been bad – they've been atrocious. Among the 110 qualified starting pitchers in MLB, the three all rank in the bottom-20 in ERA. Hutchison has been the worst of the bunch (6.17 ERA, 107th), with Dickey (5.76 ERA, 102nd) and Buehrle (5.36 ERA, 95th) only slightly better.

Unfortunately for Gibbons the three underperforming starting pitchers have blemished his 2015 canvas, because even with a few injuries there's been much to like. Newcomers Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin have lived up the hype and excitement around their acquisition during the offseason. It sure seems like they haven't had an issue playing hard for their new skipper.

With starting shortstop Jose Reyes and left fielder Michael Saunders sidelined for much of the season so far, and Bautista currently restricted to a DH-only role because of a bum right shoulder, Gibbons has been forced to be more creative with his lineup. Batting Donaldson in the leadoff spot and Bautista behind him in the No. 2 hole is a novel concept that many big-league managers wouldn't even consider. Gibbons understands the benefits of getting his best hitters more at-bats and it's paid off, as even with a couple key pieces out the Blue Jays lead baseball in runs per game with 5.17.

Bullpens are an inexact science, both in construction and in-game management. There's no easier second guess in baseball than a relief pitching move gone awry. Gibbons has been burned by a decision before and will be burned again. What's most impressive is how he has trusted 20-year-old right-hander Roberto Osuna from the get-go, age and experience be damned, to get outs in critical situations. He's also shown a willingness to use his closer in high-leverage spots and not exclusively in save situations. These are both good things. So while the 3.93 combined bullpen ERA is a little underwhelming, that number is down to 3.63 for the month of May.

Last season Gibbons took the brunt of the blame for the Blue Jays' porous defence. By that logic he deserves credit for the significant improvement in the field this year. By Defensive Runs Saved, Toronto has been the second best defensive team in MLB.

Is it unreasonable to give Gibbons all the credit for the improvement? Yes, but it's just as unreasonable as the demands for his dismissal.

Gibbons deserves to have at least the rest of the season to work with what the Blue Jays have, or will have, because a move for pitching help would certainly be welcome. Could Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion be the ones dealt to make it happen? Perhaps. It's always good to deal from a position of strength, though Anthopoulos has been publicly opposed to moving the team's two most powerful bats.

As Donaldson said this past weekend "this isn't the try league, it's the get it done league." The rotation, specifically Dickey, Buerhle, and Hutchison, doesn't need to pitch like the 2011 Phillies. Merely performing at a league average level would get it done in their case.

That would help solve a whole lot of problems. The truth of the matter is that the manager is the least of those problems. If the Blue Jays don't get it done this season, it's the group that will have failed, not just Gibbons.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr