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New set of options for Blue Jays
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By Peter Gammons
Special to ESPN.com
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June 15
It wasn't supposed to happen this fast. When he took over the Blue Jays in November, 2001, J.P. Ricciardi was entrusted by Toronto owner Paul Godfrey to dismantle a fiscal wreck, reconstruct the organization and try to contend in 2005. And when this season began, part of the long-term included trading future free agents Shannon Stewart, Kelvim Escobar and Cory Lidle at the July deadline to further ensure the future.
|  | | Baseball has tried to attract fans from all over the world. |
Only it's mid-June and the Blue Jays are within two games of the Yankees and right behind the Red Sox. "What we do now is try to be prepared to go either way," Ricciardi said. "If we're in it, we want to be prepared to be able to get some players who can help us. If we fall back, we want to be prepared for all our options. Hey, what's happening now is much better than losing."
The Jays are doing what they're doing for two reasons. The first is that they mash. They lead the majors in runs and are second only to the Red Sox in on-base percentage and OPS. Carlos Delgado is the leader at the turn for MVP, leading the league in homers (22) and is on a pace to knock in a mere 178 runs. Frank Catalanotto, one of the offseason's best signings, is hitting .324 with 51 runs scored. Vernon Wells (14 HR, 61 RBI) is making a case for starting the All-Star Game. Orlando (O Dog) Hudson is pushing .300. Their catching tandem of Greg Myers and Tom Wilson gives Toronto the most production out of that position in the league.
The second reason for the success is the work and coaching ethics that manager Carlos Tosca has instilled with a staff that Ricciardi boasts is "the best in the business. These guys never stop working and teaching, and the players have responded to them. Delgado is a perfect example. He loves this atmosphere, and he's been a big part of what's happening because he's a hard-worker, he's smart and he's a great person. We tried to get some veteran players to surround these guys, and Mike Bordick (two errors in two years) has been a tremendous influence, not to mention a key player since Eric Hinske went down. Dave Berg has been tremendous. These are the kind of veterans we wanted around our young players, and they deserve a lot of credit for adding to what we're trying to accomplish. There isn't enough time in the day to talk about what Bordick does for us."
How far the Jays go will depend on the pitching. Beyond Roy Halladay, Lidle and Escobar -- who's come out of the bullpen to make six starts, the last two brilliant and so powerful that he was up in the high 90s late in both games -- the starting pitching isn't strong. "But," asks Ricciardi, "what teams don't have some problems in the fourth and fifth holes?"
Meanwhile, the Jays are edging closer in terms of talent. New Haven is one of the best prospect teams in Double-A, and soon will have four or five players from Ricciardi's first (2002) draft, including shortstop Russell Adams and right-hander David Bush. This June's top pick, LSU shortstop Aaron Hill, is likely to be a player who can move through the system quickly. Right-hander Jason Arnold, acquired from Oakland in a four-team deal at the winter meetings, is already in Triple-A.
"We'll be prepared for whatever direction needs to be taken in another month," said Ricciardi, although he now knows he couldn't send an Escobar to the Yankees at this time because of the message it would send in the clubhouse. "Either way, this franchise has moved forward. If we can stay in it, the excitement and interest in the club will hasten our return to the days when the Jays were the No. 1 show in this town."
O's buying into OBP philosophy
There are those who snicker at the on-base obsession of Ricciardi, Billy Beane, Paul DePodesta, Theo Epstein, et al, but there is another strong believer dating back to his Cy Young pitching days -- Mike Flanagan. "As a pitcher, I didn't have the stats we have today, but intuitively I understood pitch counts and on-base percentage and what it was like to pitch to guys who got it," said Flanagan, now the Orioles' VP. "As soon as (owner) Peter Angelos gave me the job, I tried to institute the culture. We had people in the organization who were skeptical and so were some coaches, but we made it clear that this is the way it's going to be."
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| Mora |
Now led by Melvin Mora, who Flanagan calls "the poster boy for what we're trying to do (.338 OBP last year, .465 this season)," the Orioles are on a pace to score 170 more runs than last year, and they've done it without adding any significant offensive talent in the offseason. "The whole team has bought into it," said Flanagan, "and those who didn't (i.e. Gary Matthews Jr.) are out of here."
Last year the Orioles' on-base percentage was .309, second worst in the league. This year, it's .344, fifth best in the AL. "We were looking to add 100 runs when we made our runs at Clifford Floyd, Pudge Rodriguez and players like that," said Flanagan. "We may have found those runs, in a large part because of a philosophy. Hopefully this is just the beginning, up and down the organization, as we try to bring back the Orioles."
To-do list for Duquette, Mets
There has been rampant speculation about the future Mets GM job, but Billy Beane isn't going to New York; he changed his mind on $4 million a year to go to Boston. Gerry Hunsicker likely doesn't want to devote the time this job requires, and while Brian Sabean has long wanted to return to the East Coast, whether or not he would want to work under the scrutiny of Jeff Wilpon's enthusiasm is a matter for speculation. George Steinbrenner will give Gene Michael a six-year deal before he'll allow him to have a desk at Shea Stadium.
|  | | Having Jose Reyes around for a full season should be a huge positive for the Mets in 2004. |
Jim Duquette knows the Wilpons, he knows the organization, and if the PR spin can get away from the talk-show notion that somehow everything Steve Phillips did wrong reflects on his assistant, it could be that Duquette will get the job, especially if he is able to straighten out some of the organization in the next two months.
If the Wilpons wish to get going, Duquette has three main areas he has to address:
The top-level advisers. One legitimate criticism of Phillips was that he did not have a Stick Michael or a Bill Lajoie. If Duquette can go out and hire a couple of major-league lieutenants -- say Al Goldis and Fred Ferreira, to name two -- and get enough dissenting opinion, he may be able to avoid some of the Cedenos (bad decisions).
The scouting department. The Mets have not drafted well under the tenure of Gary LaRocque, be it his fault or someone else's. A general manager had better put his finger into scouting, because it is his neck on the won-lost record line.
Finally, the flushing of this underachieving team. The Mets this season have already established Vance Wilson, Jae Weong Seo and Ty Wigginton as major-league players. Duquette plans to orient players they may need in 2004 to New York, from Jose Reyes to Aaron Heilman to Pat Strange to Orber Moreno, as Duquette says "because we don't want these guys making their New York debuts next April."
As he explores the trade market for Armando Benitez (the Red Sox and Yankees to start with) and Robby Alomar, there are two ways to look at it: prospects and financial flexibility acquired. With the free agents, the Mets may have $15-20 million to spend in the offseason, plus the possibility of a $12 million insurance addition thanks to the Mo Vaughn contract. Last year, teams that got prospects paid for them in terms of picking up parts of the contracts moved. If, for instance, Boston is willing to eat all of Benitez's contract with Brandon Lyon or two mid-level prospects (the Yankees call, but can the Wilpons sit there and watch Benitez get postseason strikeouts across town?), that may allow Duquette to do a prospect deal for Alomar. Or, if he wanted to see Reyes and the Marlins' Luis Castillo in the middle of the infield and at the top of the 2004 order, he could trade for Castillo in late July and get him signed.
Trading Alomar may not be so simple. The Dodgers and A's looked and fear injury and age-diminished skills. There are those who strongly believe Alomar needs a change of scenery. Cincinnati and some other teams are interested.
There is a lot of work involved in rebuilding the Mets around a $110-120 million payroll, a lot which involved moving and re-investing money. The Wilpons may want a name to put on George's Back Pages, but to wait until October may sink them even deeper into the Flushing Meadows swampland.
Diamond Notes
The Rangers have the Yankees, Giants, Cardinals, Red Sox and, they hope even the Mariners, in on Ugueth Urbina, believing they're going to reload with this deal. Urbina has told the Texas brass to tell the Yankees that he's proven he can close and would be willing to set up for Mariano Rivera. The Rangers are asking for Brandon Claussen and a top second name. They keep throwing Nick Johnson's name out there. "He may be available," said one club official. "That hand's shut him down in three different seasons." Come on.
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No All-Star surprise
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Mike Scioscia is considering reliever Brendan Donnelly for the All-Star team. Why? Here are Donnelly's numbers since he came back up at the end of June last season (through June 14):
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| Donnelly |
IP: 84 1/3
Hits: 51
Earned runs: 13
ERA: 1.39
Walks: 30
Strikeouts: 95
Inherited runners/scored: 47/6
First batters: 6-for-70
Scioscia should name him now.
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The Red Sox have pushed on Benitez, despite concerns about being a right-handed flyball pitcher in a left-handed hitters' fly-ball heaven, and may put Casey Fossum in the bullpen. If they can't get a closer, they'll trade for a starter and put Byung-Hyun Kim at the end of the 'pen behind Lyon, Fossum, Alan Embree, Mike Timlin and Chad Fox. They worked out Chuck Finley in California last week. Incidentally, the Ramiro Mendoza trip to the disabled list was essentially an attempt to give him some time to get his head on straight and work on his mechanics with pitching coach Dave Wallace. Ramon Martinez has discussed returning to baseball when Wallace got his next job, so there is a possibility Ramon will go to work for the Red Sox.
Curt Schilling called a Toronto coach to tell him he'd like going to the Jays, but while Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo has to clean up his books this offseason, whether or not he'd trade Schilling (one GM rumor is to Atlanta) in July with Randy Johnson also coming back is questionable. It's hard for team like the Diamondbacks to win when they have $35.9 million on the disabled list, which is $2 million more than they have on their active roster. Of their current 25 players, 13 are making the minimum -- including seven of their 11 pitchers. Those numbers will make any manager look less than brilliant.
One potential free-agent pitcher who suddenly looks very good is Sidney Ponson, whose 9-3 record is the result of maturity and finally understanding that he doesn't have to go full-throttle on every pitch. At 26, his free-agent market price has skyrocketed.
Padres GM Kevin Towers had long planned to spend the extra cash he'll have this offseason (going into a new park) on a shortstop. But after watching 2002 No. 1 pick Khalil Greene in Triple-A, Towers is going to try to find a veteran shortstop to fill in until Greene is ready at the end of next season, and likely invest in a second baseman. Luis Castillo again would sure look good leading off in Padreland.
Morgan Ensberg has played so well for the Astros at third base his teammates call him "Joe D."
Cowboys quarterback Chad Hutchinson was in the Boston clubhouse this weekend, as Hutchinson is dating Todd Walker's sister. No, Hutchinson is not joining the Red Sox bullpen. "I am very happy with football and the decision I made," said Hutchinson. "It was the right thing at the right time." His friend Rick Ankiel has an 8.91 ERA in Double-A, so maybe it's the right time for Ankiel to move to the outfield.
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| Bagwell |
Jeff Bagwell insists his slump "is the result of a mechanical flaw. If you look back at my record, I do this almost every year. One season I was absolutely terrible for the first two months and still ended up with 120 RBI." Bagwell's shoulder will never be right because of his arthritic condition, but he notes that this year he's able to throw to the plate in the air. "Last year I tried four, and they all got to Brad (Ausmus) on the bounce."
Two other Bagwell-isms: "It's not coincidence that we started winning when Adam Everett took over at shortstop. He's made all the routine plays as well as the great ones." And, on Scott Rolen, "when you look out from the plate, he looks like the Green Monster. He looks that big, and he's so quick you can't hit anything by him."
This is no knock at Derek Jeter, but Edgar Renteria may be a better player right now, at least in the regular season. It also might be unfair this season because of Jeter's shoulder, but Renteria and Rafael Furcal are star shortstops. And if infield coach Perry Hill can keep the Marlins' Alex Gonzalez focused, he can be as well.
The Marlins are telling teams that they will wait until July, then make their trade decisions on Castillo, Mike Lowell, Derrek Lee, et al. The Cubs still believe they will in the end get Lowell, but there are rumblings that if the Mariners could swallow the $14 million Jeff Cirillo has coming in 2004-2005, they could get in on Florida's All-Star third baseman. Meanwhile, Chicago is looking for a stopgap infielder like Neifi Perez.
Florida's Double-A third base phenom Miguel Cabrera is now leading the Southern League in hits, slugging, doubles and RBI, while batting .366 with 10 homers.
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| Morneau |
So much for sympathy for Twins fans. Fourth lowest attendance in the AL with a team of superb young players? Come on. Incidentally, Justin Morneau's elevation and place in the cleanup hole is no experiment. "Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire never have been afraid of putting a young kid in the lineup," said GM Terry Ryan. "And this kid has a chance to be really special. He can hit."
Minnesota has Michael Cuddyer working at second base At Triple-A Rochester. That would be a potent middle infield bat, and light a fire under Luis Rivas.
Flanagan says that while this year's No. 1, Nick Markakis, probably will work as a hitter, Adam Loewen is such a good hitter he's going to suggest that Loewen be allowed to hit in the minors as if he were a National Leaguer. "Why take away something that could be to his advantage?" asks Flanagan.
The leader to purchase the Dodgers reportedly is former Mariners owner Jeff Smulyan, brokered by former minor-leaguer and agent Dennis Gilbert, who may have a substantial role with the club.
Red Sox GM Theo Epstein on Sunday announced plans to draft James Kennedy in 2024. James Warner Kennedy was born Sunday to Amanda and Sam Kennedy, the Red Sox VP for corporate marketing and Epstein's high school friend and teammate.
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