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« Oakland Designates Calero For Assignment | Main | Rosenthal's Latest: Athletics, Phillies »
Wondering About The Future Of J.P. Ricciardi
With the firing of Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, Richard Griffin of The Toronto Star speculates on the future of J.P. Ricciardi.
The Blue Jays GM has certainly had a bit of a rough week, from having to axe his manager and friend Gibbons to the Adam Dunn debacle. And Griffin thinks that his firing will be the next step. Griffin writes:
Make no mistake, the hiring of (new manager Cito) Gaston was not the embattled GM's idea. The statistics-driven, micro-managing Ricciardi likes his managers to be beholdin' to him – see Carlos Tosca and John Gibbons, two men never considered to manage elsewhere, but given the chance of a lifetime with the Jays. Gaston is not J.P.'s type: a proven winner more popular than J.P. himself. He is, however, nostalgic (team) president (Paul) Godfrey's type.
Griffin also mentions that Godfrey was "furious" about Ricciardi's unprovoked criticisms of Adam Dunn and that after giving J.P. nearly seven years at the helm without much to show for it, patience is running very thin. Seventy-five games into 2008, the Jays find themselves already 10.5 games out and in last place in the AL East. The team does have movable pieces as we near the trading season, but the question remains as to whether or not Ricciardi will be allowed to navigate those waters.
Paul Moro writes for UmpBump.com.
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Why is Ricciardi still referred to as statistics driven? I know he was mentioned in Moneyball and he cut his teeth under Beane, but it's been, what, five years since he operated remotely like a sabermetric guy? If anything, he operates remarkably like a guy with no philosophy whatsoever.
Posted by: aap212 | June 21, 2008 at 05:50 PM
Ricciardi has made sure that Toronto will be a losing team. The sad part is the Jays are a very talented team with exceptional pitching, but they desperately need power (they're 12th in the AL in runs and 13th in homers). Ricciardi released Frank Thomas (dumb move), passed on Barry Bonds (even dumber move), and refused to build Toronto into a power hitting club the last few off-seasons. If I were Godfrey, I'd get rid of his ass.
Posted by: fenderfanatic | June 21, 2008 at 06:49 PM
Just playing devil's advocate here..
But hasn't Riccardi suffered numerous injury-ridden seasons? B.J. Ryan out all last year, Burnett out from time to time (though he had t o know that was likely), Glaus hurt from time to time. He's never really had the benefit of a healthy starting 9.
Then again, neither do the Red Sox this year and they're still in first place.
Posted by: ReardenTech | June 21, 2008 at 07:34 PM
if the wound couldnt get bigger for jays fans, its that halladay gets hit in the head by a ball, marcum goes to james andrews, and they drop 2 to the pirates. it seems like this team is snakebitten.
JP has got to go. THe thing he never does is buy or sell...he always sits on the fence and that hurts them in a certain way. Too cautious. It's time for the team to be blown up, but I'd prefer if a smart GM would do it, like how Colangelo came to TO for the Raps. They could easily sell off a lot of parts though.
Posted by: Guitar Hero | June 21, 2008 at 07:41 PM
Holy crap, you know things are going bad when RICHARD GRIFFIN is quoted as the voice of reason. Sheeesh.
The funny thing is JP's actually built a club very similar to the current Oakland A's: high on run prevention, low on run scoring. (Only it's cost Rogers more than twice as much to it.) JP may not be playing OBP Moneyball, but then again neither are the A's. The Glaus for Rolen swap seems indicative that putting run prevention first is a deliberate strategy on their part. If they could have gotten average offense, it might have worked.
But to those playing devil's advocated, well, that's what Toronto is paying for. They couldn't attract premium free agent talent, so they had to overpay for marginal/injury-prone guys (Burnett, Ryan, Thomas) and pray that they didn't all fall down at the same time. Again, it's a legit strategy (it's what the Tigers did for a couple of years to turn things around), but to then whine when it fails is pretty disingenuous. You're only getting these guys 'cause their risky in the first place.
Posted by: Jurgen | June 21, 2008 at 07:47 PM
@aap212, fenderfanatic
I agree. I don't believe you can be labelled a "sabermetrics guy" if:
1. You don't see the value of a "Three True Outcome" player (Dunn).
2. You base decisions on small sample sizes (Thomas).
3. You pass on an OPS machine because he is a "clubhouse cancer" (Bonds).
4. You fall in love with "makeup" guys (Eckstein, Inglett).
@Jurgen
With the dollar the way it is, the Jays should be able to outspend the Yankees.
Posted by: jrfukudome | June 21, 2008 at 07:56 PM
Fire JP Retardi for god's sake. The man is an idiot. He wastes the Jays' money. A prime example of this is when he signed Tomo Ohka, John Thomson and Victor Zambrano. None of these pitchers are any good and they all ended up being DFA. He talks trash about other players *cough* Adam Dunn, which is way out of line. When BJ Ryan had his elbow injury which required Tommy John, what did Retardi do? He lied and said Ryan had a "bad back".I'm surprised he's not washing the toilets at Rogers' Centre.
Posted by: Jays Believer 92,93 | June 21, 2008 at 08:34 PM
Please fire J.P. Please.
I agree 100% with Jays Believer. Instead of getting an impact bat, he goes and gets Mench and Wilkerson, two bats who don't influence a team at all, and instead, insults a player who can positively impact a team in Dunn. He brings Lind down after 19 at bats, even though youth rejuvenation is exactly what the Jays needed instead of bringing in former stars in Stewart and Thomas.
Posted by: cyberzero_jays | June 21, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Letting go of Bengie Molina...
Posted by: GD31892 | June 21, 2008 at 10:46 PM
I think Wilkerson has been great for the team, everyones too focus'd on his current BA. the guys been hitting around 300 for the past month.
Posted by: Dev0 | June 22, 2008 at 12:09 AM
To be fair to JP, that pitching staff is pretty damn good - top to bottom.
And the have invested a lot into Wells that hasn't really had the outcome anyone saw.
And if they played in any division bar the AL East, they would have at least 3 division titles over the last 7 years.
Who are they going to get to do better?
Posted by: quintjs | June 22, 2008 at 01:21 AM
The fact so many people have picked them to be contending team each of the last few seasons shows JP is doing a decent job.
Posted by: quintjs | June 22, 2008 at 01:22 AM
quintis ... what division would the Jays have needed to play in to have won 3 divisional titles in the past 7 years?
Posted by: bjsguess | June 22, 2008 at 12:14 PM
I think that maybe if the Jays played in the Arizona Fall League, they MIGHT be able to win a few games, but I'm hoping for too much.
BTW, I think that Quintis was talking about the National League West, who have even less offense than the Jays, except for the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks and the Padres and the Rockies and the Giants.
Posted by: cyberzero_jays | June 22, 2008 at 08:21 PM