Most people think Ricciardi screwed up by giving him too big of a contract. If he found a team to take it, it might be the best he could do with a terrible situation he created.
Who claimed him?
Well, if i understand it correctly, by letting him go “for nothing,” on waivers, they also get rid of his salary, which is the better part of $60 million over the next 5 seasons.
I’ve just been reading various articles on the internet analyzing this move, and there seems to be quite a lot of people who feel that this really wasn’t a bad move. One analyst put it like this:
I have to admit, I find payroll flexibility to be overrated.
Especially given Ricciardi’s track record when he has money to spend…
They also forego the 2 first round draft choices they’d get as compensation if they held onto him for the duration. Not that they’d get much use out of them.
The front office might not have put the friendliest face on it, but the A’s announcers (both radio and tv) went out of their way to talk him up, saying what a great guy he was, great teammate, list his oakland achievements, etc. They made a point of trying to sell him to other GMs, even though he is as washed up as Smoltz and couldn’t hit an inside fastball if I threw it to him.
Personally I am a little less charitable. He had some fantastic years for sure with the A’s, but he was clearly one of the cheaters, plus he spurned an extremely fair offer from the A’s to join the Yankees. Sure it wound up working out for us in the end because he was an overpaid turd for them, but it still stung at the time and was very telling about his character.
That’s five years away. J.P. Ricciardi will no longer be GM at that time. So in fact the picks might be worth something.
The decision to waive Rios is a staggeringly obvious condemnation of the Ricciardi regime, as if we needed any more; if Rios was expendable, then surely someone would have traded something for him on July 31? He is certainly a more valuable property than Scott Rolen, for whom they got some useful stuff; Rios is young, has hitting upside, and is an awesome defensive player. If Rios could not be traded, then in fact the contract given him was pointless. Rios wasn’t really THAT expensive, and he’s far, far better than anyone in the organization who can replace him. Anyone brought in via free agency will be pricier.
Furthermore, it means Ricciardi’s claim the team was getting ready for 2010 is obviously nonsense. The Blue Jays simply don’t have a full major league roster now; they now have only one genuine regular outfielder (counting Lind as a DH; if you put Lind in left then they don’t have a DH) don’t have any catcher who can hit, Don’t have a quality bat at first, have an anchor in center, and don’t have a third baseman unless Eddie Encarnacion surprises us. There is nothing in the high minors except Snider. If they can’t field a real major league lineup, then obviously they cannot contend, and it’s time to rebuild entirely - so trading just Rolen and waiving Rios is getting only a third of the job done. They’re effectively doomed to 72-90 in 2010 with less trade leverage for Halladay and Scutaro.
I’m not heartbroken to see Rios go; he’s a maddeningly immature fool. But this just shows what I’ve been saying for years; the team has no plan. For all the blather from fools about how Ricciardi is some failed “Moneyball” guy, he’s not a Moneyball GM at all, or else he wouldn’t have signed all these ludicrous contracts. He’s not really any sort of GM - he doesn’t have much of a scouting arm, either. The organization seems to just act in the heat of the moment, making whatever desperation move is logical based on the events of the last week. I haven’t been able to divine any sort of long term plan going on here for years. In fairness, they seem to have an intelligent approach to acquiring pitchers, but they can’t keep them healthy and the offense is so bad it doesn’t matter if they do.
I think Ricciardi’s a dead man walking. He’s gone as soon as a new president is appointed.
Vlad Guererro hit his 400th HR last night. I’m not a big advocate of setting benchmarks for the Hall of Fame, and these days, I don’t think that 400 would even be that benchmark. However, I think the accomplishment is significant in a great career. Vlad’s gone from being one of the best in the game, to an annual question mark now at the age of 34. He’s never known a pitch he didn’t like, and yet manages to sport a .322 lifetime average.
Games: 1803
AB: 6821
PA: 7634
R: 1154
H: 2197
2B: 412
HR: 400
RBI: 1293
SB: 175 (87 CS…)
BB: 675
SO: 845
AVG: .322
OBP: .387
SLG: .571
OPS: .959
OPS+: 146
And for those who care, he has 1 MVP, and 8 All Star Game appearances.
One thing that really strikes me about Vlad is that he never really dominated any one category. He never led the league in home runs, led the league in hits once, runs once, and that’s about it (other than things like total bases or intentional walks). He’s been a feared hitter, and a balanced player (though he was way too aggressive on the basepaths in his prime - he’s gotten much more selective and successful the last few years). He’s an incredibly fun player to watch bat, because you just do not know what he’s going to do. Will he tee it off the plate for a HR? Will he whiff on a pitch 3 feet outside the zone? Will he drill a double into the gap? Is his hand going to become permanently stuck to all that pine tar on his helmet? You just don’t know!
So…that was a threadkilller…
How about Lowell banging out 2 HRs after filling in for Youk after he got tossed for tossing his helmet at the tossing pitcher?
It was more than that. Youk ran out and tackled Porcello. The guy’s got a short fuse naturally, and this was his 10th HBP this year. Porcello has 2 all year - Youk both times. That was the inning after Cabrera got hit, and the day after another HBP exchange. IOW the usual gotta-get-even stuff in baseball - pitchers just can’t get credit for hitting a guy accidentally anymore.
I’d rather comment on Tazawa looking comfortable and effective out there, after the first inning anyway, less than a year out of the Japan Industrial League. The kid might be a keeper.
Big time. Tazawa has major league stuff all the way; his fastball is major league, his curve is nasty, and his slider nastier. I’d be a little concerned about his injury potential just because his delivery’s not ideal. But you never know about that.
He only really throws the three pitches, and if the big leaguers learn to stay back on the curveball (which is his off speed pitch) he may have to go through an adjustment period, but I sure won’t be surprised if Tazawa has a long career. It would help if he developed a fourth pitch, especially if it was a conventional changeup to make hitters honest on the curve.
Tazawa did have a nice, effective game out there. I agree.
Porcello almost hit Martinez in the first, which really sparked it.
What is the Japanese Industrial League? Is that like the minors over there, or more like the Independent league?
Similar to independent ball, except with even less money. Link
Considering Youk got tossed to the ground, you have an interesting definition of tackle. He tackled Porcello in the same way that the Lions defense tackled ball carriers last year.
Porcello sidestepped Youkilis’ lunge so that Youk pulled him down on top of him instead of under him. That is not “getting tossed to the ground”.
Porcello did show all the aggressive spirit that typifies the Lions, though. 
Well Youk is significantly bigger than Porcello, so a momentum based judo slam was probably the smart move on his part.
Well, the Dodgers are applying massive doses of aspirin to the pennant fever that was gripping the Bay Area. Stupid Giants. They better score a couple of runs for Lincecum today, or … I dunno. Stupid Giants.
On a side note, I wonder if any Dodger fan that so soundly (and deservedly) booed Bonds realizes the irony in cheering for Manny Ramirez. Not likely, of course.
I think there’s a significant difference in the two situations. When Bonds was playing, PEDs weren’t thought to be nearly as widespread then as they were now, putting Bonds in a much less favorable light.
Pffft. Youkilis was owned. His “lunge” consisted of holding on to Porcello for three or four steps, and then Porcello threw him down like a pair of deuces.
Porcello hitting him was bush league, though. The Tazawa HBP on Cabrera was unintentional. Retaliating for a simple accident is bullshit.
Ehhh, maybe.
On the other hand, Barry never failed a drug test – the allegations against him were based on a book, in turn based on leaked grand jury testimony. Manny has failed 2 tests (this season, and the slowly-leaking 2003 list).
The Giants had to decide what to do about Bonds’ record chase, and decided to embrace it with open arms. Similarly the Dodgers held a big Welcome Back Manny party when Manny came off suspension.
Our steroid abuser is a loveable home-town hero; your steroid abuser is a cheat and a disgrace to the game. Just human nature, I suppose.