2008 Season, Commentary, Early, Toronto Blue Jays

JP’s Hands are Tied

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JP Ricciardi has Lost the Confidence of Jays Front Office

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JP Ricciardi has consistently tried to support his moves and has always stood by them. I cannot think of any ‘mistakes’ he has stuck by. He has pulled the trigger on certain deals. Personally, I can respect him when he has said, “This is the team I built, this is the team that I thought could win.” He has made excuses in the past about spending and this has been remedied. It has been proven in the last couple of years that money is not needed to compete with New York, Boston or LA Angels. The Twins, Indians, A’s and now Rays have had great success with a fraction of the Yankees payroll.

Now, JP made a big move last month, brining in a Toronto baseball legend in Cito Gaston and firing his own boy, John Gibbons. Was this JP throwing in the towel on this season? Is this damage control?

Here is what I think. The Jays brass, Ricciardi, Paul Godfrey and Ted Rogers had a pow wow at the end of a terrible April and thought they would stay the course with what they had. The Jays played well in May without really having their hitting turn around. I think they Jays said to Ricciardi, this is your last chance, they offered him carte blanche, threw down the gauntlet at the end of April and said, do whatever you want in regards to trades and money is not an issue. JP didn’t take them up on it and thought that “This team can win”. After a tremendously dull June, the inconsolable clutch hitting, JP had to can Gibbons.

JP has now lost the confidence of the Jays brass, he is the baseball genius they have brought in. They adopted a MoneyBall guy and there are no real MoneyBall teams anymore. JP will not be able to make a trade without first clearing it with other baseball guys a la Godfrey and Cito. This must irk JP and I am surprised he hasn’t quit. He has been notoriously tyranical with even his closest advisors. This is evident as Gibbons and Tosca managed by the MoneyBall book which made other better managers go crazy (Grady Little, Art Howe, Ken Macha, Phil Garner) as it gives the GM more influence on strategy decisions. Cito Gaston is old school in his approach and with his cronies Leyva, Tennace and Dwayne Murphy in tow he is not going to put up with that kind of interference. Hiring Cito spelt the end of JP Ricciardi. I see JP returning only if the Jays make the playoffs. This is quite a long shot but not out of the question. Even if the Jays turn it around and make a charge for the Wild Card and win, say, even 90 games JP will not be back.

So, don’t expect much to happen in Blue Bird land. Don’t look for the Jays to move Burnett for the sake of moving him. The Jays are not going to throw in the towel. They still have youngish pitchers that they do not want to hurt. This year expect them to drive AJ into the ground. This is maybe the most value they have got out of him. If AJ can start 35 games and then opt out it will burn up innings for injured McGowan and Marcum. Look for Casey Janssen to join the starting staff next year.

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  • JP did himself in in my eyes.

    Trading for Rolen was such a bad move for this club. Right now they would kill for Glaus’ HR ability. Rolen is over the hill and has a longer term deal that will be hard to get rid of. We called it here and many others elsewhere did the same.

    Assuming Stairs was going to repeat his career year.

    The whole Big Hurt fiasco.

    Eckstein added next to nothing. The Wells contract will hurt this team for years to come. Paying $10 million for Ryan isn’t a prudent move as well.

    JP’s biggest problem is that he tried to build this team with FA and young talent at the same time over the past five years.

    I’ve probably said this 20+ times in the past two years of this site but following a plan like the Rays is the only ways to compete in the AL East. JP has tried it his way and it hasn’t worked. Its time for him to go.

  • I agree with you. It is his own moves that did him in. Of course the deals could have gone either way but most of them were neutral. Had to trade Glaus, he wanted out, turf toe, steroids etc. He is a 40hr guy if he isn’t injured, maybe could have got more of a power hitter for him, I don;t know.

    But for JP, he tried it his way and it didn’t work. Building teams are long term plans and a mix of FA and youngsters has worked before (Bos, NYY, NYM, Cubs, Det, etc) but you need better and more reliable FA’s than Frank Thomas, Matt Stairs, Eckstien, Burnett etc. Maybe he just hasn’t been able to get the FA to put them over the top, Ryan was the biggest and he does shore up the pitching staff overall, having a bona fide closer is vital to the pitching staff. Anyways, he tried it his way, he stuck with his plan and it has flopped. Hopefully, his legacy will stand in re-upping Wells, Hill and Rios and those guys will become the stars that put the Jays over the top in the next few years. As of yet they have all been disapointments as soon as they inked to long term big $ deals.

  • Looks like Cito has seen enough of Stairs, PH for him with super stud Kevin Mench today.

  • I watched Mench down in Buffalo about a week ago. A nice fourth outfielder at best, which I guess isn’t all that bad.

  • He is a 30 yr old jouneyman. The injury to Stewart and Wells are hurting the Jays. Stairs should be the 4th outfielder and now they are using, Inglett, Wilkerson.

    I like how they are finally giving Lind a chance to play everyday. He hasn’t let them down in the field at all so far. They are playing him up as Cito’s boy huge. Buck Coats could be a 4th OF and hit .220 and be of more intagible value as thuds like Wikerson and Mench. At least with Stairs, a classy guy, young players can learn from them. Maybe Wilkerson could teach them how to avoid steriod detectors. Maybe Kevin Mench can teach them where to find late night burger joints in wonderful cities such as Richmond and Toledo.