We’ve got a [first baseman who's a good hitter], a second baseman who’s a good hitter, a third baseman’s who’s a good hitter, a centre fielder who’s a good hitter, right fielder who’s a good hitter,” Ricciardi said. “They’re just not doing what they’ve done offensively. So I find it hard that you can blame anything on coaches all the time when it doesn’t go well. You’ve played a lot of baseball, at some point you’ve got to figure out, ‘this is what I’ve gotta do.’ We’re just in a collective slump as a group, and it’s just not fun to watch, for anybody.”

or in other words Riccardi thinks most of his team are former roid users? How long til Ted Rogers wakes up and fires this guy? My bet is the day after the season ends.

I think it's cute that JP thinks he's going to have a 2009 to look forward to in Toronto.

The Blue Jays actually have a better pythag than the Yankees. The problems with the team aren't really the guys he's listed. They're all having seasons in line with what you would expect from them. Though none are having career years...

The big problems:
Relying on 2 40 year old DH's.
A 37 year old catcher, and another 32 year old catcher, who has never been good.
A 33 year old 3B, who hasn't been very good since 04.
A 33 year old SS, who was never very good.
A 32 year old utility infielder having played 122 games.

Having 4 guys on the entire team that are under 30 and have more than 10 games. (One of which is 29)

I think it's cute that JP thinks he's going to have a 2009 to look forward to in Toronto.


I think there's a very good chance he's back next year.

"I'm already making excuses for why I will completely fail to improve the team into a real contender this offseason!"

"Ricciardi contemplates next season’s moves"

*Get fired.
*Contemplate wreckage of wasted life.
*Get drunk on malt liquor.
*Get cited for peeing in neighbor's azaleas, pay fine.
*Spend next several days eating Cheetos on the couch, watching infomercials on cable.
*Pull self together.
*Start angling for Steve Phillips's gig.

*Start angling for Steve Phillips's gig.

Hey, I think he'd be great in Steve Phillip's gig. He smarter than Phillips (not that it's really a high standard), and he's also shown a willingness to shoot off his mouth. Honestly, if they're looking for controversy/entertainment, I think JP would be a pretty good choice.

Plus the reunification between JP and Klaw would be American Gladiators-good TV

Plus the reunification between JP and Klaw would be American Gladiators-good TV

I hadn't thought of that. What can we do to make this happen?

I thought this was going to be about what Ricciardi was going to be doing in his next job.

I thought this was going to be about what Ricciardi was going to be doing in his next job.


Someone mentioned American Gladiators

Plus the reunification between JP and Klaw would be American Gladiators-good TV

It took me a minute to realize that Klaw was Keith Law and not some Primernym for an ex-Jay player.

It took me a minute to realize that Klaw was Keith Law and not some Primernym for an ex-Jay player.

(1) It also took me a minute, it sounds like the name Keith would use a pro wrestler (2) "Primernym" is awesome, is that a GGC original? (3) The thought of JP and Keith arguing about something and calling each morons 5 nights a week for a whole season is fabulous.

Primernym is a neologism that I just made up. But I think that it does mean something in Russian.

For Rogers (who owns the Jays and is a publicly traded company) there is just one thing that matters - profit (very Ferengi like). The Jays attendance this year will be up slightly and their TV viewership is apparently up 15% according to at least one report. Given those factors, plus that attendance has climbed every year since 2003 with 4 straight years over 2 million despite a team that hasn't been in the playoffs since '93, I'd figure JP is fairly safe no matter what the newspapers and blogs say.

For good or ill JP is here for 2009. If season ticket sales drop or TV ratings drop then he will be let go, but until then the teams ownership will be quite happy to keep him around. Playoffs are a bonus, not an expected part of revenue around these parts.

Hmm. Wonder if that is part of why Godfrey (team president) is going to be gone this winter - he failed to convince MLB to shift to 8 teams per league going to the playoffs thus preventing it from becoming a part of everyday revenue.