Blue Jays are all about winning now
Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008 4:45 PM
Do you envy J.P. Ricciardi? He has one of the great jobs in sports – general manger of a major league baseball team, the Blue Jays. He has longevity, entering his seventh season in a business that can chew up its young. He lives in the vibrant city of Toronto with a “national” team, Canada’s only MLB club for the last four years.
But he must compete against the Yankees and Red Sox in the American League East. For eight years, everything Ricciardi and the Blue Jays have done is measured against the two biggest money machines in the game. There have been some positives -- finishing second and ahead of Boston in 2006, the improving strength of the Canadian dollar, and new committed ownership. But still there is living in the same neighborhood as the Yankees and Red Sox and therefore they've gone 13 seasons without making the playoffs.
The Blue Jays are standing up and swinging with the big boys. Now they can’t match the spending of their two top division rivals, but in the last three years Toronto’s payroll has escalated from $45 million to $90 million. The Blue Jays have re-signed their “franchise” player, Vernon Wells, and successfully bid on the market for closer B.J. Ryan. They acquired the huge contract of Troy Glaus, a bust, and flipped it for the equally big deal of Scott Rolen.
Perhaps the biggest challenge, though, is their home. Toronto, not surprisingly, is hockey country. They have supported the Blue Jays well, particularly in their championship runs of the early 1990s. But the sports culture in Toronto simply can never be like that of a city in the Northeast with an MLB team, especially come the summer.
A mid-summer trip to Montreal (when the Expos now the Nationals played there) was always a shock for the uninitiated. The Canadiens would sign a fourth-line left wing and the news would dominate the sports page while the Expos, in the middle of their season, would be relegated to the inside pages.
And that culture can creep into a clubhouse. Just ask Roy Halladay. The ace of the Blue Jays’ rotation talked this week about a needed attitude change among the team. More urgency to win now has arrived with Rolen and David Eckstein and their winning heritage. Whether it’s keeping a team on track after a sluggish start or leading the charge in a race, proven winners like the pair of ex-Cardinals who will bring a new look to the left side of Toronto’s infield are vital to a team that hasn’t experienced success.
Unlike Baltimore, which under new boss Andy MacPhail is rebuilding under a different approach (pitching, defense and speed), the Blue Jays have acquired veterans, both bats and arms, to compete now.
But can they? Here are the key questions:
1. RYAN: He’s less than a year removed from Tommy John surgery, but the Blue Jays hope that he is ready on Opening Day. If not, Jeremy Accardo will be the closer. He was a find in the second half of 2007.
2. A.J. BURNETT: The oft-injured starter was healthy and powerful down the stretch last season. This year he can’t have more motivation since he has an opt-out clause after the season that could make him wealthier on the open market next winter.
3. ROLEN: He has flamed out with two good teams (Phillies and Cardinals) and two managers (Tony La Russa and Larry Bowa). The track record of Toronto skipper John Gibbons is clear on not coddling players (Shea Hillenbrand and Ted Lilly are examples of that). The Blue Jays got nothing from Glaus last year. Rolen should give them more.
4. WELLS: Big contract, but small statistical numbers last year. Turns out he had a bum shoulder that was fixed over the winter. He has to be the offensive force in the middle of the lineup.
5. ECKSTEIN: A former World Series MVP. Need more be said? If anyone can energize a team through actions, it is the classic overachiever. John McDonald gave this team sparkling defense in his 102 games at shortstop last year so Eckstein does have a high bar to reach.
6. THE AMERICAN LEAGUE: It’s fierce, and not just in the East. With the strength of Detroit, Cleveland, Seattle and Los Angeles, another year of the wild card coming out of the AL East is no certainty. Thus the Blue Jays have to target a division title, leaping over both New York and Boston.
Switching topics here to the Domino effect when it comes to baseball contracts. None of these deals exists in isolation. When Barry Zito signed his absurd contract in San Francisco in 2006, it effectively ended Johan Santana’s Minnesota career. Now, Santana’s deal with the Mets has signaled the beginning of the end for C.C. Sabathia in Cleveland.
Same in the bullpen. Francisco Rodriguez has been vocal in his sense that this will be his last season with the Angels. Why? Francisco Cordero’s insane contract with Cincinnati signed this winter, four years at $46 million. K-Rod has every reason to believe he can better than on the market.
