A Pint of the Black Stuff, Barkeep

Eight years. Eight years of utter mediocrity. And one very, very mediocre year to recognize the other seven for what they were and J.P. Ricciardi for what he was – a very, very mediocre General Manager. Let’s be honest – we never made the post-season under JP, never finishing better than 87-75 and second in the AL East, which they accomplished in 2006. J.P. never had a really good draft record (name one superstar player drafted under J.P Ricciardi), his free-agent deals have always been piss-poor; ponder with me his dealings regarding Rios, Burnett, Thomas, Ryan, and Koskie. We still have 5 years remaining on Vernon Wells’ 7-year, $127 million contract – a contract that will continue to cripple this club financially despite Ricciardi’s departure. Thanks J.P. If that wasn’t enough, this season saw a number of bungles on the part of the Blue Jays’ GM. The aforementioned instances of Alex Rios and BJ Ryan aside, there is the fact that the transfer talk that created so much buzz this summer regarding Jays’ ace Roy Halladay came to naught; largely as a result of Ricciardi’s clumsy dealings. At the moment 32-year old Assistant GM Alex Anthopoulos has taken over on an interim basis — interim President Paul Beeston insists that the split with J.P. was amicable and has backed Anthopoulos to take over on a permanent basis.

The other major Blue Jays news this weekend is that the clubhouse has apparently turned on Cito Gaston, with players releasing public statements decrying his ‘old-school’ managerial style – rumour has it that Vernon Wells, Kevin Millar and Aaron Hill are amongst the leaders of this clubhouse rebellion. For my part, I find it hard to understand what they would have to complain about: Wells has performed well below his potential (and what his salary would entail) all season; Kevin Millar, World Series Champ though he is, probably shouldn’t be cracking the starting line-up of any MLB team, and Aaron Hill was allowed to leave in the middle of a game in order to be with his wife in Florida as she gave birth to their second child – a fact which Cito noted in an interview, with an air of  ‘what more do you want from me?’ This uproar is no doubt due as much to the frustrating and disappointing season that the Blue Jays are wrapping up as to Cito’s managerial style. Sure, the guy’s not a great tactical manager, but he’s a legend in this city and it’s a shame to see a clubhouse full of under-achievers rise up against him. Goodbye, baseball season. Goodbye, J.P. Good riddance to you both!