Light the Hot Stove fires

They finished second because the Sox ended the season in complete nosedive mode. And even with the Sox falling apart, the Blue Jays barely finished second.

I give Ricciardi credit for a move I'm sure I bashed last year: Signing BJ Ryan to that monster deal. He got the best closer on the market (yeah, Billy Wagner is so good his manager doesn't trust him anywhere near a close game) and he did so a year before a dry market for FA closers.

But as jagtrader points out, he hasn't done a whole lot else with that jacked up payroll. AJ Burnett will bite him in the ass sooner than later and he signed Josh Towers to a two-year deal. They had no depth behind Halladay/Burnett/Chacin last year, which torpedoed them when all three got hurt.

Plus, it seems as if that's a pretty dysfunctional team over there. It seems the team has been built with an impersonal touch, which of course is right in line with the Moneyball theories.

Ricciardi is solid, not great, and needs a playoff berth or two before he's in the three in the AL. For kicks and giggles, my top three would be Ryan-Beane-Cashman.

 

21's thoughts about the overloading of this thread has merit, which is why I made the MVP discussions its own thread. When all sorts of things get jammed into one general topic, some folks (who may be new to the board) don't want to read through 18 takes just to get an opinion. But hey, that's life, I guess.

 

In fairness, '06 was the first year where he's had any real money to go spend. Yeah, they only finished second because the Sox blew up with injuries at the end of the year, but the Jays had some pretty big problems of their own on that front earlier in the year. Burnett missed 15 starts (yeah, probably not a shock) as did Chacin. I don't think anybody thought Josh Towers was going to do his best Anthony Young either.

All in all, I think Ricciardi's been slightly above average. He's made some great moves (Overbay, Ryan) and some bad ones (dumping Felipe Lopez) but I think he's done what he said he'd do more often than not. People say he hasn't exactly built up the farm system like he said he would, and that's true, but Aaron Hill looks like a stud and two of his draft picks turned into Overbay.

 

i wonder if ricciardi overplayed his hand with such a big contract for the big hurt.

also, what do people think about bonds to oakland? i guess if they can get him at a hometown discount (say about $10 mil for a one-year deal) and he agrees at signing to be DH and not whine about it, the A's have very little to lose. other than $10 mil, of course.

 

Griffey's in 5 years from the day he retires.

And I think the Thomas signing was a good one. I bet they get a better year from him than from Overbay who you all seem to love.

 

Great call on Ryan and Beane, but why Cashman, BYH? Even Matt Millen or Randy Smith could make/keep the Yankees a playoff team.

 

He hasn't done enough to make up for the last few off-seasons yet (it's also hard to know how much was his fault), but so far he's having a great one this year.

What's interesting is that 12 months ago, Theo would have been in every list & atop half of them.

 

Moises Alou close to signing with Mets.

 

Oh I really hope this is true. When did Omar Minaya become Brian Sabean? Can Steve FInley be far behind? 3 years for David Wells?

 

Could be done by tomorrow. One year plus an option

 

Whose option, Alou's?

 

Team option