August 26, 2008
End of an Era?
Richard Griffin makes the case for and against J.P. Ricciardi staying on as GM in Toronto. He has two years left on his contract. On the pro side:
Ricciardi has built a farm system that is about two years from producing some key major leaguers. He deserves to see his best prospects bear fruit and watch the young guns from recent drafts develop and reach the majors.
Well, it took him long enough. I received this email last night from Michael Hobson who writes at The Fan View.
Remember how the Jays said that were using older catchers like Zaun and Barajas as stop-gaps because the veterans were simply filling space and biding time until the organization's catching star was ready. That was the catch phrase a few years back when the position of phenom catcher was held by Guillermo Quiroz--now a serviceable back-up in Baltimore.
Next up was Curtis Thigpen. The organization promoted his value as the next guy until Toronto baseball fans were witness to a guy who looked like he swung a toothpick, and hit as such.
Lastly, there is Robinson Diaz. A player that was hyped as the best of them all. A player that was touted to take over the catching position perhaps as early as late this season--but most likely it would occur at the start of the next season. This was a player that was recently sent to the Pirates as compensation when the Jays acquired a mediocre major league third baseman from Pittsburgh.
JP needs the assurance that he is a smart baseball man in the mould of his major league mentor Billy Beane. It is certainly unfortunate for the Jays that the bright student never developed into anything more than a bright student.
My bet is that J.P. is gone at the end of the season.
Posted by David Pinto at
07:16 AM
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Management
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The Fan view? Please. Quiroz, cash, thigpen and now diaz. These guys had there chance, and they ended up not being very good. Diaz might be the best of that group, but none of them are even close to what barajas is doing, and he isnt doing that much.
Isn't that the point of the email? The first excerpt is from an article saying that Ricciardi should get a chance to see his farm system bear fruit, and the Fan View email argues that they've already had well-hyped prospects fail to materialize in the bigs.
I think JP has more than worn out his welcome there. If it weren't for Halladay already being there, there would be almost nothing of value in Toronto. Even Vernon Wells and Alex Rios aren't really anything special. The Blue Jays have only one player that they can point to as their star, and JP didn't have anything to do with that.
More to the point, while the last two drafts have been quite good, the previous 3 or 4 yielded very little value to the organization which is part of the reason they have to keep filling holes with mediocre veterans. It's never a good habit to reward someone for digging their way out of a hole of their own making.