Shortly before they staggered out on the field to play professional baseball on Thursday afternoon, someone asked Blue Jays manager John Gibbons how soon he would be leaving town after Sunday's season finale.
"Saturday," Gibbons said.
After watching his team bumble around for three hours, giving up a sloppy 7-5 loss to the equally lethargic Seattle Mariners, the manager was asked what he had learned about his team on the day.
Gibbons sat there for a long while, considering.
"Is that a trick question?" he finally asked.
"No."
"Well … not much."
It's got very late in the day, and we are in the midst of packing up the tents. The circus hasn't actually left town yet, but mentally, the performers are already gone.
Toronto rested Jose Bautista and Jose Reyes, leaving what might be called a "differently abled" batting order. Rookie Dalton Pompey hitting leadoff; one-man party Munenori Kawasaki second; light-hitting utility infielder Danny Valencia up fifth. It seemed like thin gruel and it viewed even worse.
This was also an empty-out-the-bullpen day for both squads, as they try to coast into the off-season without breaking anyone. Between them, the Jays and the Mariners pushed 15 pitchers out into the light, blinking.
In his first big-league start, 21-year-old Daniel Norris was on a 60-pitch limit for the Jays. He managed to get into the fourth inning before wobbling.
You felt for the kid. He's been a little less than advertised since coming up to perform in an unfamiliar relief role. After the way Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman fired the imagination upon arrival, it must be a bit of a letdown for the third of this promising trio.
Norris's mid-90s fastball hasn't materialized. Increasingly, he falls back on his off-speed material, with mixed results.
"When I first got up here I felt pretty good," Norris said.
"But when I started throwing in the games, it just wasn't there … Not only is the velocity down, but just the command of it."Putting it in the right place, hard. If you can't manage that, you're not pitching. You're throwing.
It was more of a bummer because Norris was just about the only player who seemed to care. When he was pulled after 3 1/3, it took him about a half-hour to walk back to the dugout.
"I was just trying to control my emotions," he said.
A few innings later, one of the only regulars on the field, Edwin Encarnacion, hit into a double play. By the time the ball got to first base, Encarnacion was only just past halfway to the bag. Two very slow walks. Two very different rationales.
"It's been an unbelievable experience, although I've been frustrated with the way I've thrown," Norris said. "It's something I'll never forget."
Let's hope that's not true. At least, not in the short term.
If this is an opportunity to get a look at the homegrown future of this club, all it does is make you pine for the rented present. It is in our bones to oversell and fetishize any young talent that wanders along – Toronto-born Pompey, a rough-edged and physically tantalizing player, is a perfect example. He's been fun to watch. He's nowhere near ready to contribute regularly to a contending team.
Beyond the three big pitching prospects and perhaps outfielder Anthony Gose, there isn't much on display here in September that makes you think this Jays team has any high-ceiling aspiration in three or four years unless it goes out and buys it.
Since the team fell out of the playoff picture a few weeks ago, we've moved seamlessly into that typical Toronto off-season headspace – the tear-down debate.
This was a reminder of just how ugly that could look if the team is denuded of its highest priced talent.
There is an understandable emphasis on improvement and change. This team wasn't good enough. By the time it begins rolling into Florida in, oh, five months time, it may bear little resemblance to the one we're looking at now.
But whatever change there is to be made must be of the replacing like-for-like variety. There isn't anybody here ready to step from a rookie to a veteran role. There are no obvious breakout stars.
Thursday's game meant absolutely nothing in terms of another vanished season, but it was a very stark reminder of how close this team is to falling back from competence into desperation. Avoiding that trap has to be the first order of off-season business.
Cathal Kelly