Bluejays need to fire the GM

[manitobashadow]

I know its way to early to give up on the season, but i really hate JPs moves. More negative than pluses. They are very frustrating to watch, some promise overall, but nothing there to compete with the legit clubs. You can not lose 4 in a row to TB and KC and think you will go anywhere..

John MacDonald is signed to a 2 year deal. He has tremendous range, saves many runs, not much there offensively, but a wow guy at short. So they sign Eckstein to take his place, and he hits what, maybe .260 if they are lucky, but they lose the great defense for a few more singles that mean little...

They drop Reed Johnson for Shannon Stewart. Johnson was a hard nose player, that when healthy hit for average and was a gamer. Reed is hitting over .300 now and Shannon s around .220. I know its early, but Steward is a downgrade defensively, and is singles hitter with ok speed. Makes no sense losing Reed for him.

Frank Thomas is signed to a 2 year deal. 20 mil. Plays just over a season. Overpriced acquistion, but he played ok last year, as year went on. He starts slow again, and is dropped(granted his bat looked slow and overmatched). And I see Rod Barajas as there DH, he s hitting what, below .200.


I think the Rolen trade was a good one though, Glaus was weak defensively and a big swing guy with little results for the Jays in key situations.

[cobra_king]

Riccardi keeps saying when this team hits like they should they will be ok. The problem is he's been saying that for 3 years now and it's obvious the team he has put together CAN'T hit, especially in the clutch where they are batting something ridiculous like .117 with RISP the last couple weeks. But worse is their inability to get runners over and in without getting an actual base hit. He's paying 8 million for Thomas not to play and somewhere around 3 million for Johnson not to play on this team. That's alot of money for what he has deemed "mistakes". Mistakes that he alone created. He believes this team will come around offensively. They will not. He created a complete mess of a team in Toronto and will eventually have to pay the price.

[manitobashadow]

Yeah I cant blame Gibbons too much on this team's terrible play, though he makes some idiot moves.

Accardo as a closer always made me cringe. He gets hit too hard. Why bring Accardo out, he always had issues, despite his early good ERA last year.

Once Eckstein is signed they gotta play him and to the bench Johnny Mac goes.

Its April 26th, and I think the season is done unless something drastic is done.

[OLGC_Slayer]

Gibbons and Ricciardi both need to go, stat. Gibbons makes some real headscratchers, atleast a few a week, and Ricciardi is all hat and no cattle.

[ryanXL977]

blue jays only have 2 major league hitters on their roster
i dont know whose fault that is, but they cant hit for shit

[manitobashadow]

Yeah the Bluejays have pitching, but still no offense. And how does Ricardi remedy the situation?

He signs and immediately starts Brad Wilkerson and Kevin Mench? These guys are better than Thomas and Reed Johnson? Pathetic acquistions.

When Wilkerson was signed by Seattle, I laughed, because I knew he was a crappy left handed hitter who whiffs way too much, especially against left handed pitchers. And as I expected, he was cut, but wow, how bad is Toronto that he immediately starts and against a lefty.

I dont like rooting against my team, but if they tank, maybe the GM gets canned.

[OLGC_Slayer]

Yeah, I have to laugh. Release Reed Johnson, who is now leading off for a winning team, and replace him with the likes of washed up has beens like Stewart, Mench and Wilkerson. It looks like JP is just grasping at straws here trying to come up with a formula by trial and error.
That isn't how you make champion ballclubs. He's just winging it.
And Gibbons is a nutcase.

[seaborneq]

I thought the Jays had a chance to win the division this year. I took them at 10-1 to win the East, because of the pitching problems of the Sox and Yanks. The Jays can compete with the big boys and routinely lose to the bottom feeders. Last place in the division today, past two days they give up 5+ runs in the 13th and 8th innings respectively of tie games. Fire the manager, the gm, the hitting and pitching coaches and you may have yourself something.

[manitobashadow]

Not that you can take much from one day, but Wilkerson went 0-4 with one error, avg at.222. Mench 1-4, hitting.167. The thing is, i dont see any or much improvement to come from those 2.

Stewart is hitting, .216.

Great moves JP....watch them slide and no this year, one can't blame it on injuries, they sucked before that point.

[chipski]

yes , title of this thread is right on for me . i would bet my life that since gambling is legal in canada that there are many a fix going on . in the last few years i myself have witnessed this many times watching bjay games with a microscope and a razor sharp brain , esp home games in tor . sho nough .
just when you think tor could / might play over the top it doesn't happen .

[OLGC_Slayer]

Why are they not playing Adam Lind? Jesus. Is he injured?

[willyback]

Toronto's a tough team to watch. Their pitching staff is arguably the best in the American League, but their hitting sucks. Toronto needs a better batting coach. Their offense relies too much on the long ball. If Toronto was better at situational hitting, the American League East standings would be upside down. They need to deal for better hitters (guys that hit for average and not necessarily power).

[cobra_king]

Why are they not playing Adam Lind? Jesus. Is he injured?

Sent back to the minors when they picked up the two new guys who can't hit

[cobra_king]

Toronto's a tough team to watch. Their pitching staff is arguably the best in the American League, but their hitting sucks. Toronto needs a better batting coach. Their offense relies too much on the long ball. If Toronto was better at situational hitting, the American League East standings would be upside down. They need to deal for better hitters (guys that hit for average and not necessarily power).

They just fired their last hitting coach at the end of 2007 in Mickey Brantley. Hitting coaches are the fall guys for the players who can't hit, or general managers who put together a team of players who can't hit.

[willyback]

They just fired their last hitting coach at the end of 2007 in Mickey Brantley. Hitting coaches are the fall guys for the players who can't hit, or general managers who put together a team of players who can't hit.

True.

They need to hold their players accountable. Reduce the "mega deal" upfront cash contracts and put production based incentives on the backend. Give a guy 5 million dollars in salary with an added 5 million if he produces 100+ RBIs and 20+ homeruns.

These franchises pay for the name too much. They should be paying for production. Andruw Jones should have received a very limited deal for his dismal 2007 performance.

[manitobashadow]

Tor has been shut out twice in a row now, 1 run in 3 games...

And game 2 of the doubleheader does not look promising, a team needs to score runs to win a game.