The Noise Factor

To make the situation any worse for the Toronto Blue Jays would be seemingly impossible.  Last night they achieved the impossible after a report that J.P. Ricciardi claimed to have talked to Adam Dunn over the telephone to squash any hard feelings stemming from comments they have made towards one another.  Dunn claims he never made a phone call to Ricciardi.

The situation reminds me of a politician who decides to make up a story which would have no real effect in his or her political campaign.  Regardless of what story you believe, whether Ricciardi was tricked or whether he made the story up, J.P. should have been the one to go out of his way to make the phone call.  He did start the fire.

Here in Toronto it has been difficult to give Ricciardi the benefit of the doubt.  We have seen some baffling changes over his 7 years as General Manager of the Blue Jays - considering he is in year 7 of a 5-year plan.  Here are a few quick points…

- What was once a proud franchise that use to have one of the best minor league systems around has now become one of the worst.  That comes to no surprise when Ricciardi got rid of most of the scouting department that had ties with the organization dating back to Pat Gillick.  Since the changes, few of Ricciardi’s draft picks have made any kind of impact at the major league level.  The 3 faces of the Blue Jays organization, Vernon Wells, Alex Rios and Roy Halladay, were all drafted by Gord Ash.

- Ricciardi was specifically hired to make a contender out of a team that was not going to spend a lot of money.  Coming from the Oakland Athletics organization, Ricciardi was brought in to be the next Billy Beane, his close buddy.  After the 2005 season, the Blue Jays decided to boost payroll since they had brought in more revenue after the franchise successfully purchased Skydome - now Rogers Center.  The problem is, Ricciardi was brought in to win without a huge payroll and he still can’t win WITH the boost in spending options.

- Ed Wade, the GM of the Houston Astros, offered Ricciardi Ryan Howard in exchange for Ted Lilly back in 2005 when Wade was GM for Philadelphia.  It was a deal that should have been made; Howard was ready for the big leagues after tearing up AAA for a couple of years and Lilly was just an above average pitcher at best.  Lilly was Ricciardi’s guy, he liked Lilly from his Oakland days and felt he was going to accomplish big things.  Lilly walked after 2006 and signed with the Cubs while Howard won an MVP and hit nearly 60 home runs.

- In 2002 the New York Mets were interested in Jose Cruz Jr., then an outfielder and soon-to-be free agent for the Blue Jays.  Ricciardi was looking to deal Cruz and the Mets could only offer a Single-A player by the name of David Wright.  Cruz was not traded and signed with San Francisco after the season.

- That same year, Orlando Hudson called Ricciardi a “pimp”, which Ricciardi did not take kindly.  He sent down Hudson who had a great spring training.  In AAA, Hudson was having a great year but as punishment, Ricciardi did not call him up to the big club.  Meanwhile, Homer Bush was battling injuries, Felipe Lopez was not adjusting to the major league level and Ricciardi decided to call up 1st round draft bust Joel Lawrence, who couldn’t hit in the minors, let alone the majors.  Lawrence batted a cool .180 in 150 at bats while Hudson continued to abuse pitchers in Syracuse.  Hudson deserved a shot months earlier.

- 2005 draft.  The Blue Jays looked up and down the list and Ricciardi felt the need to draft a pitcher Ricky Romero.  Although the next best prospect on that list was Troy Tulowitzki, Ricciardi felt no need to draft another shortstop.  Unlike basketball or football, you have to draft the best available player in baseball because they will take a couple years before they are ready to play in the big leagues.  Therefore, not drafting the best player in the draft was a mistake.  Tulowitzki helped Colorado get to the World Series in 2007 while Romero may not ever make it to Toronto.  Other notable players that were passed over by the Blue Jays: Cameron Maybin, Jay Bruce, Michael Pelfrey and Jacoby Ellisbury.

- After the 2006 season Ricciardi had agreed to a deal with catcher Rod Barajas - or so he thought.  Barajas apparently backed out of the deal and signed with Philadelphia.  Ricciardi was enraged and spoke out about how Barajas had given him his word on signing with Toronto.  A year later, Ricciardi signs Barajas.  Funny considering the way he laid Barajas out just a year earlier.

- If Ricciardi does his homework on guys like Adam Dunn, why did he sign Shea Hillenbrand?

There have been other things during his 7-year tenure as GM of the Jays (calling out A.J. Burnett through the media, lying about B.J. Ryan’s injury last year, etc.).  What baffles me is how he still has his job.  He is down to his last few bullets after firing his friend John Gibbons, so he may be on the clock.  He has, however, established a great relationship with the media.  There have been very few people in Toronto that has taken a run at Ricciardi.  Whether it’s the newspapers, television or the pre-game and post-game radio host, Ricciardi seems to have been given a pass within the media.  From now until his run as GM is over, he’ll maintain a positive relationship with the media.

Otherwise his days are numbered.

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Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling announced he will be having a second shoulder surgery that will end his season and possibly his career. 

This, if you can recall, is the same man who has pitched through considerable pain more than once during his career.  I was reminded of this when watching Tiger Woods fight through the pain in his knee to win the U.S. Open - only to have season-ending surgery after the tournament.  Like Schilling, certain people felt Woods’ injury was fake or some bogus story.  Perhaps these people have never played through pain, or perhaps these people cannot stand these two athletes so much that they will say anything to tick them off.

Regardless, these ‘people’ don’t have a clue nor should they be taken seriously.

In fact, a lot of these people are here on this site on Foxsports blogging about it.  The same people who can’t get an All-Star vote right.  The same people who recently crapped on Ken Rosenthal for questioning the New York Mets decision to fire Willie Randolph in the middle of the night on the west coast.  The same people who hailed Kobe Bryant as the most clutch player in the NBA - who proved once again that he’s no more clutch than the next superstar.  The same people that call Chad Johnson selfish for celebrating a touchdown but applaud Brett Favre for throwing snowballs at teammates on the field.

So when I read about your comments regarding Curt Schilling as a (bleep) or a (bleep), my head shakes as I wonder how people can be angry at a man who’s played the game the right way, kept his integrity off the field intact and has come through in some of the most pressure-packed games of our time.  We are a culture that supposedly embraces athletes with guts, yet people seem so eager to cut Schilling’s guts out whenever they get the chance.  In case you haven’t noticed, he is the anti-Jose Canseco, the anti-Barry Bonds, the anti-Rafael Palmiero and the anti-Roger Clemens.  

He may go into the Hall of Fame.  He may not.  He may wear his heart on his sleeve.  Is there a problem with that?  No.

And I would not call pitching with 1 leg in the 2004 World Series selfish either.  I doubt Schilling cares about the self-glory more than he cares about beating New York and winning championships.  The guy is a true winner, a true bulldog, and a type of human we may not see from the new crop of pitchers coming up. 

Appreciate what he has done for this game and the memories he has brought on the field.  Although I am a fan of most of the things he says off the field, people seem to complain about it more than people complain about Ozzie Guillen. 

In a world where athletes get arrested, cheat the game, cheat on their wives, we’ve actually been able to put a guy like Curt Schilling in that category of an athlete that fans can hate so much.  Goes to show why organizations, sports talk shows and paid-writers on this particular site do not take you seriously.

Curt Schilling deserves better.

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The Dad is in Europe on business, so I hope he’s running shit and is safe.  Love you dad!

To sports we go…

- Tiger Woods does it again in perhaps one of the best golf playoffs I’ve ever seen.  We’ve seen some good battles with Woods before, and this one with Rocco Mediate with the U.S. Open Championship hanging in the balance has topped Tiger’s matchup with Bob May at the PGA Championship years ago. 

Personally, I enjoy the 18-hole playoff.  It should either be sudden-death or 18-holes.  Either go for it all or go for overtime.  A 4-hole playoffs makes it feel like a hockey shootout or Soccer penalty kicks.  I’m happy to say that I got to witness yet another major title for Tiger, who had to play 5 days in a row despite his knee not being 100% coming into the tournament.

- Willie Randolph was fired after a mediocre start to the season.  This is no surprise because when you have a meltdown like the Mets had last year you find yourself in a position to “win or go home” situation.  Randolph didn’t win and now he’ll be at home collecting cheques.

What will Jerry Manual do?  Maybe kick their butts but the team ultimately has to respond to wake-up calls, not interim coaches.

- The Boston Celtics look to finish off the Los Angeles Lakers tonight.  After missing crucial free throws last game the Celtics will be looking to Kevin Garnett for a big game.  As their team MVP and leader, that is what you expect from him.  Defensively, he has been money in my opinion.  However, on the offensive side he has reverted back to his old ways of having his “grapefruits shrink during crunch-time”.  I used that phrase back in high school when I had to explain why Tim Duncan was a better Power Forward than Chris Webber and Kevin Garnett (I was a Wake Forest guy back then).

The other plot line is the fact the Lakers are now down 3-2 and their MVP, Kobe Bryant AKA “The Clutchest Player in the NBA”, can now step into the limelight and snatch the title away and take it home to LA with the “MJ” talk resurfacing if they infact pull off the near-impossible.  I am not sure what you all expected out of Kobe, but I did expect a bit more out of him.  As for his clutch play, I didn’t expect anything more than what he has shown during crunch-time.  As I have said before and I’ll say it again, you can call for his number to make the final shot but when has he EVER proved that he can hit it more often than the next guy?  He hasn’t and the whole “clutch” thing is a label and nothing more.  He is no more clutch than Tim Duncan, Steve Nash or even Allen Iverson, period.  There is nothing memorable about a game-winning shot in January - and even I can’t remember many of those.

- Question for all you Detroit Tiger fans: your bullpen sucks, so why do you send down your best bullpen pitcher, Aquilino Lopez, for Fernando Rodney.  Look, I bring Rodney back too but can’t you send someone with a 4 or 5 ERA instead of a mid 2?  You guys have a lot of pieces of shit beyond that left-centerfield wall that can’t get guys out so refrain from eliminating guys who can.

- Apparently the Toronto Blue Jays need to have a great road trip against Milwaukee and Pittsburgh or else the season is over.  Really?  These 6 games will determine if they are pretenders or contenders?  Seriously, what moron in this city came up with that idea? 

First off, the season was over once they got rid of Frank Thomas and obtained Brad Wilkershit and Kevin Mench-meet-the bench.  Secondly, what is the difference between a 4-2 road trip and 2-4?  2 games.  So to say this is the make/break point in the season is pretty ridiculous.  But that’s the way it is in Toronto.

- I think the Oakland Raiders need another running back.  Can they sign Travis Henry?  He can use the money. 

But the Chicago Bears may need to get a running back and if I am them I try to get one of Oakland’s 20 tailbacks.  Hey, see what you can get for Brian Urlacher.  Al Davis might give you a ton of picks, some game-ready players and his vintage sweat pants.  Not all of that sounds bad.

Well have a Super Tuesday and enjoy Game 6 everyone.

On behalf of the bloggers at RSB I’d like to thank Demon and company for allowing me to post at work.  Over the last couple of weeks the SPAM bugs have been biting away at our little home.  I almost felt like Brad Radke when he found out his house was infested with mould - allegedly. 

- Congratulations to Ken Griffey Jr for swatting number 600 this past week.  Of course I had to sit through all the crap about “what might have been if he were healthy” arguments but not one person used the “what if he played outside of the Kingdome in his first 10 seasons”.  If nobody wants to take it, I will.

If he had played in a ballpark that had a right field line over 306 feet and played on natural grass we are probably looking at a guy with 30-50 less homeruns in his career - meaning his career stats are still good.  However, Ken would not be a career .289 hitter.  He would probably be hovering in the upper .270’s as he had several years where he had a Ruthian-type batting average at home and a Scott Podsednik road average.  Does this tarnish him in any way?  Well, regardless of what I have said his numbers merit a Hall of Fame induction on the first ballot.  But let’s get a few things straight:

*Barry Bonds had every right to be angry with the decision to name Griffey the “Best player of the 1990’s”.  Put a pre-BALCO Bonds in Seattle in the 90’s and we don’t have an argument.

*Injuries happen.  He had them in Seattle and very few complained about it.  This does not compare to the players who missed years because of World War II and Korea. 

*Speaking of the injuries and the time frame of his career how do we know, you know, that…you know…do you catch my drift?

Overall, he was a great all-around player but I don’t think he was THAT much better offensively (away from home) than Bonds, Frank Thomas, Juan Gonzalez or even (wait for it…) Albert Belle. 

- Before I head over to basketball, I saw Greg Maddux was screwed out of another win.  My question is why hasn’t he pissed on the bullpen and the starting players rather than the rookies yet?  With the numbers he has compiled in his career there is no reason why he’s not closer to 400 wins.

- The biggest story in the NBA isn’t the Finals or Tim Donaghy; it’s the Toronto Raptors reportedly trying to buyout Jorge Garbajosa’s contract….ok I’ll stop pressing the snooze button.

The Finals has been a good duel so far.  What has bothered me since the beginning of the playoffs has been the lack of finish on the part of the Boston Celtics.  You would think this would come back to bite them in the backside eventually.  Perhaps the Lakers are the team to do it, but they have also shown their inconsistencies.  BUT, then I started to think that maybe we are seeing the good, bad and ugly from both teams because they are both very talented and match up pretty well.  Or that someone is pulling a Tim Donaghy to keep this series going, which brings me to…

- Tim Donaghy!  The name YOU know…ok maybe “Coming to America” references don’t fit well with this issue.  Donaghy is looking at a lengthy jail sentence and now that the NBA is looking to squeeze Donaghy out of about 4 million dollars, Donaghy is spilling his guts out about conspiracys that we the fans have suspected for a long time.  And how fitting was it to find out about the 2002 Conference Finals between the Lakers and Kings?  That is one series we have repeatedly alluded to when it comes to the argument of referees fixing a series to prolong it and dictate who will go to the finals.  Lets remember, the Lakers were on the verge of threepeating while the Kings were from Sacramento - not exactly a glamorous state with a huge basketball market like Los Angeles. 

There are other games, incidents and playoff series’ that we could debate about all night.  What isn’t up for debate is the suspicions we’ve had for years about the dark side of the NBA that we hoped did not exist.

- Phil Mickelson is already done in the US Open.  The question is can he shoot himself back into contention before the tournament has even started?  The only way he has a shot is if Tiger starts the tourney going bogey, bogey bogey.  If he does, Phil has a new life.  Otherwise, expect Phil to get tight and lose the tournament already because Tiger is paired with him.

As for Woods, if he can play close to his capabilities with that surgically-repaired knee then he will REALLY bury Phil on the first day.  But my prediction?  A non-US Open winner will win the tournament for the first time in their career, and it will be their 1st major championship.  Who will that be?  Who knows!?

- Although I think Bjorn Borg has an axe to grind, I do believe that Rafael Nadal has a greater chance of ending Roger Federer’s run at Wimbledon.  The problem is, I think the guy that will do it is Djokovic.  But he’ll have to go through Nadal first.

- Does Plaxico Burress deserve more money?  I don’t know these days.  What I do know is he’s being paid well, he’s probably being paid well in terms of his worth amongst wide receivers and he won’t come back to practice with the team that just won the Super Bowl until he gets more money.  So much for “team concept”.  He’s already gone out to “get his” money-wise.  Isn’t that why he left Pittsburgh in the first place?

- Leave the NHL story last: the Toronto Maple Leafs hire Ron Wilson as their head coach and Cliff Fletcher will remain as GM of the team this season.  When everyone is up in arms about the GM, few people are upset over the hire of Wilson; a guy who’s career resembles former Leaf coach Pat Quinn.  Both won gold in International competition and have been to the Stanley Cup final but never won. 

The whole purpose of firing Quinn was to get a coach who was better than him.  The problem is neither Wilson or Paul Maurice had a better track record.  I think the team needed a boot to the backside and the one guy who would have done that was John Tortorella.  He is also the best soundbite in Hockey - even better than Jeremy Roenick.

As for Fletcher, unless you are getting Bryan Murray or Ken Holland what will you accomplish?  Brian Burke gravy-trained off of Murray’s success with Anaheim and didn’t do any better in Vancouver after he replaced Quinn.  Fletcher is the safe move.

But one of the most disturbing articles I read a couple days ago was the Leafs interest in Wade Redden.  Why do they want to overpay for another defenseman?  Haven’t they done enough of that already with Bryan McCabe, Hal Gill and Pavel Kubina?  Come on guys, have a better game-plan than that.

Guys its late and the SPAM warriors are swimming so you have a great one and I’ll pop by to kill the spammers the best I can.   

You can’t even contain it; you will not stop it.  Time will continue to move forever and ever.  But it only took 21 years for the NBA to have another Boston v. LA showdown final.

This is not your typical match-up by any means.  These are two teams who happen to have Boston and L.A. on their jersey.  Not one single player has anything to do with the 1980’s rivalry.  Therefore I am not treating it like a “match for the ages” or taking a stroll down memory lane.  That was then, this is now.  Nothing is the same - time can do that.

- Time may be running out for Roger Federer who got rolled by Rafael Nadal in straight sets at Roland Garros.  Perhaps the greatest tennis player in history has run into perhaps the greatest clay court player in history.  Time will tell if they happen to be the best who ever lived under those specifics.

Let’s acknowledge that Federer, who is 27 years old, will not have a lot of chances to complete the Grand Slam.  Other players have had their problems at the French Open as well; Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe ran into Bjorn Borg, who’s 4-consecutive French Open titles were matched by Nadal today.  Nadal can win at least another 3 or 4 the way he is going.  He is only 22 and shows no sign of slowing down on the clay surface.  Has any tennis player dominated any surface the way Nadal has on clay?  The match records speak for themselves and he has time to improve those totals.

I can’t wait for Wimbledon.

- It’s time for the Detroit Tigers to start winning some ball games in bunches because they may go down as one of the biggest tank jobs in baseball history.

- It’s also time for hockey fans to take notice of one of the best franchises in sports today, the Detroit Red Wings.  After taking home the Stanley Cup earlier this week - their 4 cup in 11 years - they have proved once again that they are the class of the NHL.  This is a franchise who has won numerous division titles and have been a cup contender for the last 15 years (regardless of which round they have lost).  If they lose a good player, they replace that player somehow, someway.

The one player who may be deemed “irreplaceable” is Nick Lindstrom.  It’s hard to replace the best defenseman of our time - bar none.  But Detroit seems to find a way.  They always have.

The other interesting twist to this is Chris Osgood.  He just won his 3rd title.  Though Mike Vernon started in his first cup win, Osgood was the primary starter during the regular season back in 1996-97 when Detroit finally got over the hump to win the Cup.  All 3 Cup wins saw Osgood playing a significant role.  That, along with the 300+ wins he has during the regular season provides a recipe for a possible induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The problem with that is Osgood has never truly been regarded as a top goaltender at any time.  Guys he has played with who have been widely regarded as a better goaltender are: Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur, Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig and Nikolai Khabibulin to name a few.  But when Osgood retires, you will look at his overall career numbers and without ever watching him play you will say “Hall of Famer”.  Time will tell if he actually makes it in.

- Tiger Woods didn’t have enough time to fully recover from his knee surgery.  But he will throw on a brace and play anyway.  His intention is to win the U.S. Open regardless of the pain he has in any body part whatsoever.  I can only name 1 player on the PGA Tour who would believe that he can win a major title after coming off major surgery: Tiger Woods.  It’s an attitude like that that separates him and everyone else.

- I wonder how much time Marshawn Lynch will avoid doing after this hit-and-run episode.  Or how about Cedric Benson’s DUI?  I do know Odell Thurman will miss a lot of playing time in 2008 thanks to violating the substance abuse policy.  Glad the NFL bad boys are coming out just at the right time.

- You must have been a total bastard a lot of the time to have been banned from a building that you once help build.  But that’s no surprise when you are talking about overrated sports anchor and lifetime douche bag Keith Olbermann.  When he’s not treating co-workers like crap or not paying taxes, he throws on some faglasses (part fag/part glasses) and does a putrid news show somewhere.  Fitting that the jerk gets his ass kicked every night in ratings.  He’s the 2nd grader challenging a grade 8.  Not smart.

I saw him in the news for not paying taxes and all I kept thinking was, “He sucked on Fox Sports, his current show sucks, he’s a douche on Sunday Night Football…is he the worst person or what?”.  No pun intended.

…My apologies for taking a while to post something.  I’ve had trouble accessing stuff at work.  Now that I’ve finally had some time to write at home, I deliver a timeless piece to you.