Jays GM Has Grasp on Reality.....Finally!!

I don't know why they would do it since he's no longer the GM of the club, but JP Ricciardi was interviewed on MLB Home Plate yesterday and asked what he would do if he were still the GM of the Jays. WHO CARES?? In perfect moronic fashion, he went on a rant about how it's all black and white, either you spend like the big boys at the $100 million or more level, or you try to have 1 or 2 players who are stars and a $40 to $60 million budget and get lucky once a decade.....phew, good thing you're no longer our GM JP. And who's going to hire you after hearing that? I guess the Twins, Rockies, Rays, Braves, and Marlins are doing it all wrong then. I repeat my opinion of JP, he may be knowledgable about baseball in general, but he has no clue as to how to build a winning team without a Yankee or Red Sox budget. A six year old could build a winning team with their budgets, so that's no great honour.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, as reported by Robert MacLeod of the Globe and Mail, Alex Anthopolous stated the following, in complete contrast to how JP would have described his team were he still GM:

“Right now, it's a 75-win club with a lot of good, young players that needs to get better,” he said. “And I think there's a lot of areas that we can get better. And I think it's a lot bigger than any one player.”

Thank you Alex "The Great" for saving us Jays fans from the repeated mistake of over valuing the Blue Jays. I feel that the new Jays GM evaluates players differently (maybe he actually likes Adam Dunn....lol) and has a better grasp on what it's going to take for the Jays to surpass the Yankees and Red Sox. This is further supported in a video report by Ken Rosenthal, where he stated that Alex wants to build a 95 game winner, not an 85 game winner as JP would do. Finally!!!

As for his take on the catcher position, he seems patient and willing to wait until the prices settle down a little. He described it as follows:

“We're going to have to find somebody one way or another,” Anthopoulos said. “And we have guys in mind. We've already inquired on some in respect to free agency. The price for us right now does not fit so it's one of those things we're letting the market play out.”

 Chances are Alex has a ton of irons in the fire and is doing it the right way, waiting until a team comes down in price.

Note: Jon Heyman reported yesterday  that Toronto officials gave the Yankees a list of players they like that is as obvious as can be: Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Austin Jackson, Jesus Montero. They did add that they may not be looking to land all four and that they're simply the players that they're interested in as a starting point. Well, they better be the ones mentioned. We need 2 of them at a minimum and more prospects to go along with those 2, imo. Jon goes on to say that nothing is expected to happen until the winter meetings at the very least.