That's what J.P. inherited, according to Richard Griffin, commenting on a previous batch of multi-year contracts for Blue Jays of questionable value, including Chris Carpenter, Homer Bush, Joey Hamilton, and Esteban Loaiza. The Star columnist (and I checked twice -- it's Rich, not Perkins) seems to like the Hinske and Wells deals, and there's nary a sarcastic barb at Ricciardi, even a bit of praise:
To his credit, Ricciardi made sure he approached starting ace Roy Halladay, assuring him he was next in line for the club's multi-year reward program.
Meanwhile, we're getting bored with spring training games (so are the players, I'm sure) but yesterday was a nifty little 4-0 blanking of the Tigers, if you ignore Scott Cassidy's meltdown. I saw Delgado's doubles on a TV recap, and the one in the opposite-field gap was a thing of beauty. Aquilino Lopez was good in relief of Hendrickson, who has a 1.50 ERA through 12 IP, but isn't in the September groove yet. Also impressive: Tam, Politte and Thurman, who is doing everything he can to pitch himself into a job with the big club, giving the brain trust another pleasant "problem" to solve.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030318074926999