How long is J.P. Ricciardi going to get to keep his job? He’s had eight long seasons as general manager of  the Toronto  Blue Jays, and his record is nothing but misery and failure, culminating in this year’s 72-84 record, fourth-worst in the American League.

But instead of taking any responsibility for the state his team is in, the Toronto GM is whining about how hard the AL East is.  Boo hoo. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Ricciardi griped about his job:

“Let me make this clear: It doesn’t matter if J.P. Ricciardi is the GM, or Joe Blow is the GM. Two years from now, five years from now, seven years from now, the reality that we face in Toronto is the division is not going to change,” Ricciardi said in an interview this week. “The Red Sox and Yankees are not going away. If the Yankees want to, they can take their payroll to $300 million.”

Ricciardi seems to want people to forget that when the Blue Jays hired away from Billy Beane’s Oakland Athletics in 2001, he promised the Jays that he  would compete in the AL East, despite budgetary constraints. “The payroll [in Toronto] is fine,” he said back then.

That wasn’t the only time he claimed to be up to the challenge in the AL East. Back in the fall of 2001, MLB was looking into contracting some teams,and realigning their divisions. There was a possibility then that Toronto would have moved to the AL Central - MLB Commissioner Bud Selig presented Blue Jays management with that proposal in the owners’ meetings that fall. But Ricciardi was against the idea of the Jays leaving the AL East, saying:

“I welcome the challenge of playing the Yankees and Red Sox, I’d love to stay in the AL East and win this. I think that shows your mettle right there.”

So much for that mettle.

In his recent interview bemoaning his fate, Ricciardi also claimed:

“The biggest thing that people forget is that when Toronto won the World Series, they had the highest payroll in baseball. There’s a direct equivalent to that. If we’re going to play in the big man’s division, and we’re not going to spend that money, it’s going to be really hard for us to compete with those teams.”

But Tampa Bay has done it, with a much smaller payroll  than Toronto, and  the Jays aren’t just a poor team in their division, they’re a poor team, period. Besides, Ricciardi’s poormouthing of his own team’s payroll is a bit much, especially since he said this in 2004:

“With a $50 million US payroll we may never bump off one of the top two teams, but I think in a couple of years, if everything goes right, we can knock at the door, maybe sneak in and win a wild card.”

Yet even with increased payroll figures (their payroll has ranged from $70 to $97 million since 2004), the closest the Blue Jays came to competing in the AL East was in 2006, when they ended up finishing in second place after the Red Sox imploded that August.

It’s that that Ricciardi hasn’t had money - it’s that he’s spent it so poorly. Here are some of the worst choices he’s made:

* He gave closer B.J. Ryan a five-year, $47 million deal, then misled fans and the media about Ryan needing Tommy John surgery, at first claiming it was a back injury. Then, when Ryan struggled after returning, he released Ryan with $15 million remaining on the deal.

* Ricciardi signed the disappointing Alex Rios to a 7-year, $69.8 million extension. Fortunately for the GM, the White Sox picked up the underachieving outfielder on waivers this August, saving the Blue Jays the $60 million left on the contract.

* But the most horrendous contract Ricciardi  negotiated was the Vernon Wells one. He made the outfielder the sixth-richest player in baseball history with a seven-year, $126 contract extension. The Blue Jays stilll owe the declining outfielder an incredible $98.5 million over the next five seasons. All this, for a player who has yet to hit over 30 homers or drive in 100 RBI in any season since signing the extension. Unfortunately for Joe Blow or whomever is the next GM of the Jays, they are stuck with perhaps the most bloated, untradeable contract in baseball.

Ricciardi hasn’t exactly conducted himself with dignity and decorum in the job, either. He notoriously badmouthed Adam Dunn when a sports radio caller asked him to acquire the player, saying, “Do you know the guy doesn’t really like baseball that much? Do you know the guy doesn’t have a passion to play the game that much?”

And the GM made Roy Halladay, his team’s own superstar, the subject of  a trade-deadline sideshow by making outrageous trade demands for the home-grown pitcher.

Ricciardi looks a bit like Kramer from “Seinfeld,” but even that comic character could do a better job running the team than their current GM does.

If Toronto ownership cares about the future of this franchise, they’ll show Ricciardi the door. From lack of player development, to poor spending choices, to overall arrogance, the reign of J.P. Ricciardi has been an unmitigated disaster. Time for him to get the old heave-ho.

Photo by Mark Sardella

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