Can't believe we missed this, but many thanks to the shy, eagle-eyed lurker who passed it along. It's a reprint from Sympatico's "workopolis.com" of a piece by John Allemang of the Globe and Mail.
"You can't be a rigid thinker," says Gord Ash, who now works in the Milwaukee Brewers front office. "You have to be open to possibilities, you can't lock yourself in. These people who talk about thinking outside the box, you know what? They've just created another box. Look at the Toronto all-stars this year, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells and Carlos Delgado, none of whom went to college.
"Read Moneyball," adds the departed Mr. Ash darkly. "There's a lot of self-promotion and ego going on."
What an excellent attempt by El Gordo at deflecting notice from the simultaneous budget reduction and talent infusion. Sure, the Jays have inherited some superstars (and some brilliant prospects) who were drafted out of high school. The cupboard wasn't completely bare, thank goodness.
But what did you expect him to say? "Wow, nice job of stripping $30 million from my bloated payroll?"
Not all of this hatchet job is clumsy, but its agenda is obvious. Allemang mentions the "faltering" team, uses the unflattering tag "Captain Crunch" -- which couldn't be less appropriate -- and calls walks "a Ricciardi obsession." The Jays are portrayed as cheap, heartless and inflexible for the very reason that some of us believe them to be practical, visionary and smart: they spend less money on better talent than Ash. Gord's drafts were good, but he brought you Joey Hamilton and Raul Mondesi while paying gazillions to tie up the likes of Alex Gonzalez and Homer Bush. Nice research on Keith Law's "Harvard MBA"; you'd have to crack the media guide to know that his degree from Harvard is in Sociology and Economics and his graduate work was at Carnegie Mellon.
It's still worth reading; the parts about J.P. putting his family first at the trade deadline and his reaction to allegations of racism by a hysterical local newspaper are very good. I'm also glad that the oldest, wisest, most traditional baseball guy in the organization, Bobby Mattick, recognizes Ricciardi's "charisma."
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030810111842999