RE: My comments on July 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm. (Brendon)

It would seem the Jays share my sentiments….Listch was just sent down to the minors and I suspect will be looking at a more consistent replacement in the off-season (well, in truth, he has been consistent….either consistently good (start of season) or consistently bad…but the trajectory of his progress has been in the wrong direction!)

Quote:

Regarding JP (oh, no, not again). I don’t think he is a terrible manager but when you are in the eastern conference, when you have to compete with the Yankees and Boston, where they can burry a mistake by just signing another free agent, you need a genius GM, and I don’t think JP is one.

MW: Eastern conference?

~Unquote~

why do you have to do this? you know exactly what he’s talking about, yet feel the need to try and make the person feel stupid about a mild slip up…and then you wonder why people are quick to call in or write to correct you or catch you in perceived contradictions?

you’re forwarded as much respect as you give out, and for as great a job as you do here and on the radio, you really present yourself with an unwarranted sense of self importance…you’re not pat gillick just yet, so the condescending responses only make for good reading/listening for so long until they just turn you into a joke…

i apologize if the perceived tone of this post is malicious, but the habit you have of responding to ppl the way you did to #69 is simply rude and belittling…get over yourself and show SOME appreciation to the people that make your blog as entertaining as it is…

with all that said, when you engage in level headed dialogue with people, i find you very informative, so on that front, keep up the good work…

MW: Sorry, I’m going to keep doing that, just like I keep pouncing on the puckheads who call in and talk about “unrestricted” free agents. Know the game, respect the terminology.

I will give you what I think is a good, uncrazy, reasonable reason as to why I don’t think JP’s right for the job. And that is this: he can’t stop meddling. He signs Reed Johnson to a decent contract, gets a chance at Shannon Stewart, signs him, releases Reed. He gives John MacDonald a decent contract, gets a chance at David Eckstein and signs him as the everyday shortstop. Macdonald is benched. He has Greg Zaun as an everyday catcher, with a decent contract, but he gets the chance of Rod Barajas, signs him. And now Zaun is keeping MacDonald company on the bench.

Is he wrong to do any of these things? Barajas is proving to have more power than Zaun. In retrospect the Stewart for Johnson thing was a wash. Macdonald–and in this I agree with you–is a better everyday shortstop than David Eckstein. So two out of three of those moves didn’t work.

But worse, of those original players, maybe only MacDonald was a problematic starter and that was because of his bat. Before the season, we had Rios, Wells and Thomas as our big three batters al of whom could hit the ball hard. We had Stairs on the bench who had had an excellent year in ’07. We had Overbay who didn’t have a good year in ’07, but he was injured. In general he was a good hitter. We had Hill at 2nd base who had hit the ball well. You’re right when you say that Ricciardi had no reason at all to believe that the hitters would go south. We could have carried Johnson and MacDonald easily if the main part of the offense was hitting well. And Zaun is a better defensive catcher than Barajas.

So why did he make those moves? They weren’t necessary. And the message they sent to the other players was ‘no one’s safe’. That was born out by the unsurgical removal of Frank Thomas. It’s hard to play well when you think your job’s on the line every time you go out to bat. That’s what Cito Gaston meant when he said that some of the guys were not doing well because they weren’t sure of their position on the ball club. I’m pretty certain that all the stuff going on at the beginning of the season, from the Johnson ouster to the Thomas ouster, had a bad effect on morale, and that translated into a bad effect on the offense.

You might argue that Ricciardi was just trying to improve his team. I think that’s the case. But I would also say that Ricciardi is a hyper-reactive personality. We’ve seen evidence of that many times on your show and elsewhere. He sees something shiny and goes after it. If it doesn’t turn out to be so shiny, he’ll pull it down, throw it away and go after something else.

That’s not a good way to manage a baseball club. So I think he should be replaced by someone a little less hot on the trigger.

MW: I couldn’t disagree with you more. I think that a GM should always be looking to improve his team wherever and however he can, And I think that it translates into the clubhouse with players thinking, “wow – any chance to improve the team is pounced on, that’s awesome” rather than “oh crap, I might be the one to go next.” And if it is the latter, then it should be followed with “I’d better play as well as I possibly can.”

I am not a JP hater. He’s probably an average GM in my books. But for strictly marketing reasons, I think he will be let go. The team has underachieved two seasons in a row (pick your excuse) and the fans (at least the discriminating ones) are losing interest in this team.

I rarely listen or read your work but have noticed you increasingly refer to callers/writers as stupid or idiots. Do you think that is a very professional way to conduct yourself?

MW: It depends, but I think that sports is the “toy department” of journalism. I’m not here to be an old-time reporter, I’m here to provide opinion, and often, that’s my opinion.

1 – catch him in a contradition (which is very easy to do)

2 – call him a liar when he misquotes stats in his favor

3 – misquote him

4 – call aj a .500 pitcher

5 – criticize lyle overratedbay

6 – tell him that anton, terry, vito, and neil all have more baseball knowledge than him

7 – ask him if he is a believer in tbay yet

8 – tell him that obp is not the most important stat in baseball

9 – tell him that derek jeter is the greatest defensive shortstop

10 – call him JP’s lap dog

MW: I would say “be an idiot” is at the top of the list.

Is AJ not a .500 pitcher…or really cose to it?

MW: Yes, he is. But that doesn’t mean anything.

This was your response to Alex, and I agree with every word in his post. So let me posit a possible reason why Ricciardi isn’t already on his bike.

It’s very simple. They haven’t decided who to hire yet. They don’t necessarily want rookie phenom Anthopoulos to take over right now. The phone hasn’t been ringing off the hook looking for trades, so further mistakes haven’t been made. And there’s been enough drama to last everyone for months. The team isn’t likely to go to the playoffs. So I think they’re playing out the string until the end of the season, after which Ricciardi will be handed his hat and his box of photos and shown the door. If Godfrey survives, then JP will know finally at first hand what it feels like when the man above you shafts you to keep his own job.

As for this comment to me:

‘MW: Then you should look at the circumstances of the past seven years.’

I’ve looked. I’ve been there. I’ve had season tix for a lot longer than seven years. Yes, the team was in a mess from the Gord Ash era. Yes, he was told to cut payroll. So no, we didn’t expect too much in the first few years. But then the payroll was increased. A lot. And that happened three or four years ago I think. The bottom line on the past seven years is this:

3rd place+/- with one last place and a very possible second last place finish coming up. One 2nd place but nowhere near the wild card. On average over those seven years his club that he put together has finished down more than it’s finished up. And in the process he has iced three managers. Previously you could have made the argument that it’s impossible to dislodge the Yankees and the Sox. But as of right now, the Rays are proving that it can be done for a good part of the season at least.

MW: I don’t think you’re right on the first point. They could easily install Tony LaCava on an interim basis if they didn’t want J.P. around. He was one of the architects of the Colon for Sizemore/Lee/Phillips deal. If the phone’s not ringing off the hook, the Jays should be making some calls. The payroll was increased a lot pre-2005, but too late to use it that year, so look at ’06 (second place), ’07 (ravaged by injury) and ’08 (crappy year).

5th poster forgot to mention another thing that I’m sure p***es you off.

Ask Mike how he’s doing today on Jay’s talk!

MW: I have no idea what you’re talking about.

But, don’t you think it’s a stretch to give JP “credit” for Brian Tallet, John McDonald and Marco Scutaro? These guys are, at best, average players (McDonald is great defensively, for sure). By that logic – every GM deserves credit for anyone who steps foot on the field – whether they’re any good or not.

So, this is the comprehensive list of players who JP’s drafts have directly or indirectly contributed to the club:

Overbay
Hill
Marcum
Lind
Janssen
Accardo
Tallet
McDonald
Scutaro

I’m not trying to be difficult – but do you really think that’s such an impressive return for seven years?

You’re looking at an above average second baseman (maybe), a potential number two starter, a below average first baseman, a potentially good, but still unproven, outfield bat, a couple utility players and a couple middle relievers.

I’d argue that almost every team has amassed at least that type of return in the last seven years.

Independent reviews of the Blue Jays farm system seem to agree, don’t they? Baseball Prospectus refers to a “lack of talent in the Jays’” system counts only one Blue Jays farm hand (Snider) among its top 100 prospects.

I’m not sold. What am I missing?

MW: Do some comprehensive studies of some other teams that have drafted in the middle of the rounds most years. I’d be surprised if you came up with many that are significantly better.

My point was that the Jay’s core hitters need to take that extra step … and no one knows if they will. Maybe they will next year, maybe they won’t. Nothing in their history suggests a strong certainty (ie say 90%) that they will. If you look at Boston, they’ve survived Ortiz not being the Ortiz from the past few years for about 50 games, and then being injured. Boston has thrived because of guys like Youkilis and Drew taking a step up from last year. That’s what the Jays hitters need to do.

MW: Yes, they do. And thank you for not repeating the misplaced apostrophe.