[superdude211]

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story.asp?id=94125

[Vinsanity]

he sucked anyways

[ballocks]

i'm not "glad" he was fired, i don't think it's ever a "one man problem", but i'm glad that ricciardi wasn't stubborn, i'm glad that ricciardi checked his personal investments at the door, and i'm glad that ricciardi acknowledged how poor this season has gone for the blue jays.

in this town, we are currently dosed with an unparalleled level of support for our GM- it's as if the fans have been fooled, and are now supporting the GM (and the team) out of habit. how many times have we heard "i love what JP is doing with the team!" this season, and yet are we not still one of the worst teams in the majors, one which has regressed noticeably and is suffering a lack of production from every star?

i think garnering support out of habit and not performance is when it gets dangerous for any team. it honestly feels like the blue jays were caught believing their own press clippings, and were living in some parallel, delusional universe this year as they continued to lose ballgames. i have, to this day, not seen a firey sense of urgency on the part of any player/coach, which is puzzling since the team is currently scraping the bottom of the standings after having planned (publicly) to compete for the wild card berth in april.

if nothing else, this firing indicates that ricciardi, the most important piece, has not been caught "reading his own press clippings", and will not settle for an underachieving, "building towards next year" paralysis. at the same time, who knows whether they fired the right man? given how they've performed this year, i'd probably fire vernon wells, roy halladay and carlos delgado ahead of tosca, since they're the players who have cost the team on the field- where it matters.

but that is not to say that this was not an important move anyway. the problems with this team seem to exist far beneath the surface, are ingrained, and it was important to do something- put differently, to amputate the limb in order to not spread the infection.

peace

[charlz]

it must be august - the dog days for a fledgling franchise which seems to garner less and less attention.

geez the hockey talks are the lead story....

[Turkish Delight]

It's sad really.. You look at this season if we stayed around 500 until the all star break we really had a chance.. This year their might not even be any teams that get to the century mark in wins.. The Yanks and Cards are the favourites for that though ofcourse..

[butr]

I'm not too worried about this year. Next year is the important year. Right now we are really a 30-33 million dollar club because of Carlos' 19 million. Although others will see substantial raises, we should have about 10 million to spend on pitching to build up the pen. With Halladay back and a couple of solid middle relievers this team is much better. They have not hit well at all, but I expect that to get better. Injuries really took a toll. If we are in the same area of wins next year, then there is a problem.

Hopefully a new manager will get these kids motivated.

Asside: I wonder if the moneyball approach, ie patience at the plate also develops complacency or lack of aggression elsewhere.