Former Royals coach John Gibbons hired as Blue Jays manager

After he was fired by the Blue Jays in 2008, John Gibbons rebounded with a job as the bench coach of the Royals, a position which he held from 2009-2011.

Now, in a somewhat surprising move, Toronto has re-hired their former manager, who had spent the 2012 season as the manager of the Padres Double-A affiliate.

Gibbons will be overseeing a club coming into this season with big expectations after the Jays pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Marlins earlier in the offseason, picking up Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle.

Toronto, like Kansas City, has been starved for baseball success. The Jays haven't made the playoffs since 1993, when they won the second of back-to-back World Series titles.

In that time, they've seen every other team in their division make the postseason over them, even the Rays and the Orioles, neither of whom have more financial assets than Toronto.

It's a lot of pressure for Gibbons, but worst case, he's already been fired once before by the Jays.