At the risk of (once again) being labeled and apologist, we just don't get the inevitably angry reaction to everything and anything J.P. Ricciardi says or does.If Roy Halladay had been traded yesterday for the package that the Phillies were willing to offer (i.e. without Kyle Drabek coming back), J.P. would have been roundly criticized for not maximizing the return on Halladay. But now that the Phillies have decided not to overwhelm the Jays and instead went with a much more affordable option in Cliff Lee, people are accusing Ricciardi of...well, basically, everything. Not pushing hard enough to get a deal done; not having a plan; having too many plans; covering his ass; going back on his word...really, people just want to think that J.P. is either evil or inept (and probably both) and that this team is imploding becuase of him.
But really: Wasn't J.P. pretty clear about the possibility of a Halladay trade right from the beginning? Didn't he say that he'd listen, but he's have to be wowed? Because that is precisely our recollection, and it is pretty much exactly how things have played out.
Of course, with the possibility that Halladay sticks around through the rest of this year comes the knowledge that his inevitable trade out of the city or decision to test free agency is pretty much all that anyone is going to be talking about for the next 12 to 18 months. Any discussion of this team will pretty much begin and end with a discussion of what's going to happen with Halladay. Great.
To get ourselves through this prolonged transition period, we're going to drink a lot. And then we're going to talk about the remote scenario that Halladay comes back next season, the Jays go on a tremendous run, make the playoffs, and Halladay re-signs with the team to get his ring here.
It could happen. Now where did we put the Knob Creek again?
22 comments:
I was openly critical of Ricciardi yesterday for contributing to the Roy Halladay Circus yesterday, fanning the media flames with his many public comments.
I still don't know how I feel about his handling of the situation. Absolutely agree - he had to do his job and listen to what was out there. But along the way, it went from "we're just listening" to "it's 50/50" to "we're going to hold him and try to win next year."
Now, I understand things change as the winds of shit blow.....but now the org is going to have to go into full damage control mode over his "what's changed is we're gonna lose him after 2010" comment that really stoked the fires. Right or wrong (and from my perspective - wrong), all the major media outlets, fans in other markets, and asshat Jaystalk callers will now view the failure to strike a deal as just that - a failure.
The whole affair just doesn't reflect well on the franchise, and you have to wonder if the Jays have lost some currency with Doc as well.
JP is a douchebag, pure and simple. A lot of fans don't want Halladay traded AND they don't want JP to do it. JP has made a mess of this, like Omar has down in NYC. The Jays are seen as a laughing stock already and this plea of attention is a joke on top of it. Can anyone imagine if Doc goes to Boston or the Yankees? I think the Rogers grok that. JP might want to help Boston(a conspiracy theory only) or what not but to what end? Anyway, Screw JP and good riddance to him and I hope this is his last hurrah.
Whatever you think of JP any new president coming in is going to start anew by letting JP go. He assembled a nice core team for the Jays but his negatives have defintely outweighted the positives.
Above all; no meaningful games played under his tenure.
I think we might need something a little stiffer than Knob Creek. I think some good old fashioned Newfoundland Screech to numb the pain.
I say that by this time tomorrow, Halladay will be traded to the Red Sox.
I sort of like JP. He just talks too much. Which, while often embarassing, I kind of like.
I'd like to request You Talk Too Much by G.Tgood for the Friday rock out in honour of JP.
All I know is that JP did not settle. Love him or hate him, at least he didn't settle for garbage. Check out the Cleveland blogs or newspapers, everyone is outraged with that deal.
I'm getting sick of JP but at least he's not Shapiro.
Keith Law for GM, seriously.
I'm with JDot; I'm glad J.P. didn't settle. It says something about the asking price when the four prospects going Cleveland's way weren't even on the Jays' radar. Clearly Ricciardi asked for the moon for the best pitcher in baseball.
He didn't have to trade him, and he didn't. It's like there's a feeling of disappointment b/c Ricciardi didn't get the deal done. It's ridiculous.
J.P. is a PR fucking nightmare, that's about it. While I agree we haven't played meaningful games during his tenure, he's done more good than bad during his time in T.O.
Pennant in 2010. With Doc.
Big Papi and Manny on doping!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/sports/baseball/31doping.html?_r=1&hp
er, on doping list...
Weren't Cleveland fans also pissed when Bartolo Colon was traded for prospects Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and Brandon Phillips?
I'm thinking Shapiro's job is safe.
I'm just happy that Doc's staying (crossing fingers). If that means that people dump on JP, so be it. At least he's saying now what I've been wanting to hear throughout this fiasco - let's take a run at it next year. We're not that far away.
My position through this whole ridiculous circus has been that it may very well have made sense for the Jays to trade Doc, but that if it did then that was more or less an admission of failure from the front office. If JP can put together a winner for next season, I'll be the first to praise him. On the flip side, I don't think it's unreasonable, at this point, to want results.
The knob creek is in my mouth.
I am going to Baltimore to see Red Sox / O's game on Sunday then the Marlins @ Nationals on Tuesday. If Doc is a Red Sock by then I will be rocking his Jays jersey on Sunday.
Christopher, don't say shit like that.
Hey Ack, your boy Dopirak was RAKING last night.
Didn't Beeston tell the organization to shut up about this stuff last week? Why is JP still stirring the water?
@ Chistopher, you are persona non grata...enjoy being a lonely Red Suck fan... pun intended.
@ Gay Jays Fan...You stole my name. And your wrong teh Knob Creek is stuck up in your butthole!LOL
@ Anon JP is an attention whore. PERIOD! He can't keep his bleeding mouth shut. He would make a great carnival barker OR a worker or a gay peep show!I just had to throw that in there all y'all!
Seems people like to hate on JP just to hate on JP, whether it's out of frustration about not winning or him not being able to make moves because of ownership, I don't know.
But criticism of his handling of this Doc trade is just ridiculous. From the very beginning he's been consistent, almost boringly consistent, that they'd listen to offers but they'd have to be wowed. We got just about every possible permutation of that sentence over the last 3 weeks over and over. Of course, the US media took this to mean they were actively selling Doc and since big teams are involved, ESPN is all over it. I don't get how any of his statements have been "PR". And Ack, that "it's 50/50 we're going to trade him" wasn't his quote, that was reporters guessing. Like I said, all of JP's statements have been boringly consistent and yet because of Twitter, blogs, forums, even straight-forward stances can get nitpicked and over-analyzed to death. Isn't it possible that JP thought all along that this team could contend and he only put Doc on the block to see what he's worth because ownership told him to do so? That makes way more sense than a GM smoothly crafting public perception. How did he even get that reputation in the first place? The guy is incapable of filtering his opinions; he says whatever's on his mind the minute he thinks of it.
Not to quibble too much about semantics, SP, but:
"jays gm jp ricciardi, baseball's busiest man, just told me he pegs chances for a halladay trade at "50-50."
That's from Heyman - I know, I know - but he couldn't possibly lie about a direct quote. That would be fucked up.
Anyway, deadline can't come soon enough.
If he did say that, what's so incriminating about it? He IS trying to make a trade right? Otherwise he has maintained the "we need to be wowed", "we haven't been wowed", "I don't see us being wowed", "there is nothing going on right now" talk.
Regardless, nothing is going to happen today. It's too late in the game for something to get pulled together, I would think. The Halladay Saga is going to be the death of us all.
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