Happy blue tears...

Where have you gone Bill Veeck? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

I have to admit—were I an executive of Rogers Communication I would absolutely cringe every time J.P. Ricciardi opens his mouth; I’m beginning to enjoy it as much as your average coroner does in opening a just exhumed casket from an eight year old grave that has been laying in groundwater.

I mean, it’s like a receptionist at a dentist’s office reassuring patients that not only is it going to hurt like hell, she hopes they had the foresight to put on Depends before the procedure. We know that the Blue Jays are going into Opening Day 2009 without A.J. Burnett, Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan plus the offense—that screamed that if ‘chicks dig the long ball’ there was going to be a nasty case of carpal tunnel syndrome afflicting the entire lineup—was not upgraded from last season’s slap-fest but is it necessary to remind us that the Jays are finished with next year’s roster while the Yankees are blowing close to a half-billion on the roster while the AL champs Tampa Bay Rays and two-time former world champ Boston Red Sox are looking for berths in October?

Wow—that was some kind of impressive run-on sentence eh?

But I digress … even when I can’t be bothered to catch a breath.

I’m amazed, but not in a good way, about how Ricciardi feels that Adam Dunn’s not having a passion for baseball is such a drawback yet is trying to inspire the same emotion among the Blue Jays’ fan base.

What precisely are they selling next year?

The fans have had high expectations since Ricciardi came on board and that has been heightened since year five of his five year plan has come and gone. The last three years have been exercises in “we would have won if [insert reason/excuse/general whining] hadn’t happened…” and even having the best pitching and (among the) defense in baseball wasn’t enough to reach 90 wins and now that the Rays have conclusively proven that it’s possible to best the economic behemoths in New York and Boston Toronto fans are wondering when it’s their turn.

It’s good to bear in mind that when the Jays were granted an expansion franchise in 1977 they weren’t allowed to participate in the re-entry free agent draft (where you acquired the superstar talent), drafted last in the amateur draft and didn’t receive national TV money in that span. On top of all that, unlike recent expansion teams, they didn’t have the opportunity to build a farm system before beginning play. It took seven years (1983) to build an 89-win club (something Ricciardi has yet to accomplish—in 1983 and 1984 89 wins would have won the AL West handily) and nine years to reach the post season.

Ricciardi is telling us that year nine might be, if things break right, for the Blue Jays to accomplish the same thing with none of the restrictions that they had back when disco was king.

When you consider that only the hapless Kansas City Royals are the only other AL team since the strike not to find their way into the post season it is hard not to understand why the fan base may start becoming disenchanted.

Despite this restlessness, when the fans need hope, reassurance and something to get excited about for 2009 Ricciardi goes out of his way to keep expectations low. Just how does this help sell tickets? I mean, can you imagine trying to sell season’s tickets packages to fans that follow the Jays’ offseason moves or lack of same?

At the very least, a savvy GM. (or front office) would be hyping the kids: Travis Snider, Adam Lind, David Purcey, Davis and Rickey Romero, Brett Cecil, Brad Mills, Brian Jeroloman, J.P. Arencibia etc. telling us that they’re ready, that these are the guys that will lead the team to the Promised Land against the big bad AL East and remind them early, often and repeatedly that this was how the Rays pulled it off.

Instead, we get to hear the excuses of October several months early.

Last year, a bunch of radio stations dropped carrying Blue Jays games—are J.P.’s comments going to help add radio affiliates? Sponsors are dropping the Blue Jays and this is going to convince new ones to come on board? These entities like winners, not quitters, not excuse makers, not promotional vehicles for Rogers Communication.

I just do not get it.

I honestly think that the Blue Jays will not make it under Ricciardi—he doesn’t have a winner’s mentality; he’s too busy looking to the future and excusing the moment to do what is necessary to succeed in the present. The only thing he does in the here and now is tell us why it (the current roster) is not going to the post season and what moves will not be made to change that.

I pray Paul Beeston realizes this—if they are punting on 2009 then it’s pretty obvious very few believe that Ricciardi is the man to accomplish something that he has been unable to do in the previous eight years. They need someone who can take the team to the next level and J.P. is content with the present one; always being a year away, having a promising future but never having to lay it on the line and be defined as a winner or a loser. Right now, he tries to portray himself as unlucky—therefore unable to be in that position where that definition can be made.

That of itself is a guarantee that playoff baseball will happen under Ricciardi—he had a window of opportunity in 2008 and did his level best to avoid having to commit to it. I think we’ve seen enough.

Best Regards

John