The End of the Riccardi Era

Over the weekend, Paul Beeston did what many Blue Jays fans wanted done a long time ago. J.P Riccardi’s record as an executive was a spotty one at best. Many have noted his lackluster draft record, his knack for signing players to bloated contracts that ended up biting the Jays in the ass and his inability to build a team that got passed the Yankees and Red Sox (even though the Rays did). But lets not give him shit because he passed on Troy Tulowtizski, traded away Michael Young, or gave long term contracts to Frank Thomas, Cory Koskie, BJ Ryan and Alex Rios. Let’s give him shit because he never knew how to handle being the front office voice for a major league team. It started when he traded Shannon Stewart to the Minnesota Twins the year Riccardi arrived in Toronto. Stewart complained that Riccardi handled the situation with little class, and since that day it seems that the most captivating stories around the Blue Jays (coincidentally because Riccardi hasn’t been able to build a team that can captivate us with their performance) have been J.P.’s blunders and mishaps. Remember when he sent Orlando Hudson to the minors for calling him a smooth pimp? Or when he publicly criticized Adam Dunn (and then lied about apologizing)? When Carlos Tosca was fired, many players were apparently forbidden from saying goodbye to him. What the hell J.P.? This summers handling of the Roy Halladay trade solidified the fact that J.P just couldn’t get it right when it came to handling the media pressures associated with being a general manager. But the one thing that chapped my ass most of all through the Riccardi years was J.P’s constant complaining about how hard it was to compete in the AL East with the Yankees and Red Sox. For eight years, he told Jays fans that they didn’t have a chance, always pointing to next year (and that was if things fell the right way). He essentially told us not to bother watching the team he put together. As badly as I want to be a major league general manager, sadly I am not. This means that I can look past Riccardi’s failings in terms of player development, free agent singings and the lack of on field results – I would probably do a worse job than him. But what I can’t look past is all the times he made Jays fans feel shitty about being Jays fans, by saying things that made the franchise look bad and by telling us we didn’t have a chance in hell. Here’s to hoping he handles his words with more care at his next job.