Oakland Scrap Heap

Despite the fact that J.P. Riccardi has, as of yet, been more warmly received than the Blue Jays last general manager, the deconstructive Gord Ash, I would like to argue that Riccardi has in fact inflicted a woeful disease on the blue birds.
This disease's title? Oakland Trashitis. Since Riccardi was instated as the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays he has, for lack of a better analogy, picked from the Athletic's plate. Hinske, Lilly, Kielty, Thomas and most recently the mediocre Marco Scutaro have all been brought to Toronto by J.P. from Riccardi's former home in Oakland, with mixed results. In Hinske we had a utility corner infielder who won the Rookie of the Year award in 2003 due to a lack of better options. In Lilly Toronto received a 15 win-a-year pitcher with limited faculties. In Thomas an aging slugger who managed to lead the club due to an absence of offensive prowess elsewhere. And then the worst sin of all; obtaining Marco Scutaro when another former Oakland shortstop, Miguel Tejada, was readily available.
J.P.'s merits include a fantastic eye for pitching talent but he seriously lacks sufficient sense to make trades and free agent deals. Aside from temporary success Riccardi's dealings often involve over payment and injured results. Glaus, Burnett and even Ryan are all great examples of this. It seems that in only the most accidental cases, see the case of Canadian Matt Stairs, J.P. manages to score on his off season dealings.
The most recent mistake, obtaining Scutaro when a deal for Tejada could have been made may be the final nail in the coffin for Riccardi and his now defunct and unmentionable 7-year plan. Let's look at how their stats match up over the last three years:




















Scutaro

2005 2006 2007
Hits: 97 94 88
HR's: 9 5 7
RBI: 37 41 41
OPS: .260 .266 .247

Tejada

2005 2006 2007
199 214 157
26 24 18
98 100 81
.304 .330 .296

Clearly, Tejada outclasses Scutaro in all offensive categories. Add in the fact that Tejada is a premier offensive player who can fill a defensive position such as short stop for the likes of John MacDonald and his Miguel's only real drawback is that he is right handed - while the Jays really need another lefty. I believe that his down season in 2007, where he only played 133 games, is an upside as he can be gained for less from Baltimore (it has been suggested that a package who's best player is AA Ricky Romero would have sufficed) and Tejada is still young enough to produce at a high level for the next couple of years. The bottom line is that Tejada is roughly a million times the player that Scutaro is and could have been had for next to nothing - so why not?

Alas J.P. saddled Toronto with a super-utility man to fill holes that should be filled with full time player of a high caliber. To compete in the AL East, a division that does not stand to ever get any easier, the Jays are going to have to make a move on a more aggressive general manager. Hope, a topic I address often in sports, is my faculty for wishing for a Gillick-like GM to return to baseball's Northern front.