Comments on: Alex Anthopoulos vs. J.P. Ricciardi Signing Comparisons

By: James

James — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:02:29 +0000

It is easy to pile up on JPR now, but he did twice sign Doc Halladay to very club friendly contract extensions. Wells mega mistake is more of JP’s boss fault rather than him.

How about signing Frank Catalanotto, enjoy a couple of offensively productive seasons and let him go as a type B FA? They drafted Lind using that sandwich pick. How about trading for JoBau?

I am not defending JPR and will agree with every nasty word anyone wants to say about him. But give credit where credit is due

By: hgjrklfsel

hgjrklfsel — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:47:07 +0000

Your standards for “elite” pitchers seems quite high. I think Romero is a pretty good #1 guy seeing as only a handful of teams ahve the luxury of a “true ace”…

Halladay
Lee
Felix
Josh Johnson
Weaver
Lincecum
Verlander
Greinke? (2011: FIP – 2.31, 11.9K/9, 1.3BB/9)

Thats about it i think?

I’d definitely put Romero in the “A1″ tier with guys like Price, Lester, Kershaw, Hanson, Sabathia…

By: Fan

Fan — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:11:04 +0000

Make no mistake, the point of that post was not to single out our lack of a POTENTIAL ace. Which is essentially what you’re saying – that Romero has ace potential. There are only 8-10 elite pitchers in the league, and i can almost assure you Romero will not be one of them. I’m not dumping on him, just that i’m saying the Jays will go out and spend the 15-20 million on that ace when the time comes, which has been my point. So either Romero becomes that guy (unlikely, and i dont count Price as elite), or we buy one.

By: aaforpm

aaforpm — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:57:37 +0000

Jays apparently offered Russell Martin the same money as the Yankees but he went to NY because he figured he had a better chance of winning.

I don’t like the EE signing but AA said he believed there was upside there…and it’s tough to argue that there is any with Damon.

I would have preferred Melky’s OBP over Rajal’s but I can see why they liked his speed and hoped that he’d get on base more.

I don’t care if they Jays don’t sign any big names because those guys are usually overpaid aging veterans (see Jason Bay, Chone Figgins, Adrian Beltre, Carl Crawford), I also don’t want to give up draft picks.

I think patience is key, until then hope that Kelly Johnson has a good year in 2012 when the Jays get him to take over for Hill at second base (educated guess)

By: David Robson

David Robson — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:43:44 +0000

Things could have gone different, before Wells and Rois signed long term deals they looked like the corner stones of the organization. And I remember as a fan wanting the Jays to lock up Wells before he became a free agent and he would have been the top free agent that year. I think the thing that made these deals bad was they were long and the production dropped off quite a bit after the signings. But if I could have Wells and Rois on a team playing the way they did before they signed the contrats I’d take that too two great defensive outfeilders hitting .300 with 30+HR and 100-130 RBI’s. I mean we seem to be getting that from Lind and Jose this year at a much better long term cost so AA does set out better contracts.

By: Mat Germain

Mat Germain — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:43:50 +0000

I don’t think we have to worry about that with Brett Lawrie manning 3B in July and beyond. I am really hoping his glove holds up. If it does, the Jays will have a terrific infield in 2012!

By: Mat Germain

Mat Germain — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:42:07 +0000

Somewhat. Like I said, J.P.’s a good talent evaluator, he’s just a horrible business man. I think he’s in the best position he could be in with the Mets. Not everyone’s equipped for the GM job, and from what I’ve seen from AA thus far, he was born to do this. I can’t see him going anywhere for a very very long time and do expect that he’ll bring a few championships to Toronto.

I doubt J.P. will ever be a GM again. If he is, it better be with the Yankees or Red Sox, because he needs tons of cash to do what he wants to do!

By: Mat Germain

Mat Germain — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:39:35 +0000

Completely agree Tom. Well said.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:31:37 +0000

I think that Romero is turning into an ace personally. Compare the season he’s having this year against David Price 2010 and it’s remarkably similar – Ricky’s numbers first

ERA – 2.98 vs. 2.72
WHIP – 1.198 vs. 1.193
BB/9 – 3.2 vs. 3.4
K/9 – 8.0 vs. 8.1

David Price was 2 years younger in 2010 than Ricky is now but he finished 2nd in Cy Young voting so was pitching at an elite level. Ricky is doing that this year so you have to at least consider him in the ace conversation.

The rest of the pitching (after Morrow) is less settled but has so many options for 2012 it’s scary. Romero and Morrow as 1 & 2 then for 3, 4 & 5 you have Cecil, Reyes, Litsch, Villaneuva, Drabek, Stewart, Mills & McGowan battling.

Looking further away there are to many names to mention with high ceilings that make the future look rosy.

By: Fan

Fan — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:45:03 +0000

So what you’re saying is to make the playoffs – that’s fair. But you think a Melky Davis switch in addition to a stronger DH via free agency last summer would push us into the playoffs? And if so, would we stand any sort of chance then?
Maybe you should get your head out from under the covers and revel in the masterpiece that is AA.
I dont need to outline his great moves – the Marcum deal is STILL pretty risky. Notwithstanding that risk, we are starting the most proper and correct ways of building a Major League Baseball championship caliber teams. Not with gat dang Melky Cabrera’s and Guerrero’s hitting 5th. We’re way thinner on pitching at the Major Leagues than we thought, ut who’s going to argue that we have keepers in Romero, Morrow and Drabek to represent the #2 #3 #4 in no particular order. Then, as the Yankees so often have done, we buy ourselves (or trade for, easily, given AA’s masterful work in prospect development) a #1 ace. We can also easily add one if not two veteran arms for playoff depth.