Padres fire Towers; Jays fire Ricciardi

[Invader3K]

They were talking about this on MLB Network last night, and now it's on MLB Trade Rumors:

The San Diego Padres will part ways with general manager Kevin Towers, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter). Brock tweets that, while no official announcement has been made yet, the Padres will let the longest-tenured GM in the majors go.

The ownership transition in San Diego, from John Moores to Jeff Moorad, likely spelled the end for Towers. ESPN.com's Rob Neyer speculated earlier today that Moorad wanted to bring in "his own guy" for the position.

Towers has been San Diego's GM since 1995, and saw the team win four division titles during the stint. The Padres made one World Series during Towers' tenure, losing to the Yankees in 1998.

Edit: Added Ricciardi news to thread title --cc

[crewcrazy]

Rather than starting a new thread, I'll add it to this one: it looks like J.P. Ricciardi is getting fired in Toronto, as well, according to Jon Heyman on Twitter:

 

SI_JonHeyman: ricciardi fired as #bluejays gm. bungling of halladay shopping couldnt have helped. ass't anthopoulos elevated.

 

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised he lasted as long as he did. He's made a lot of costly mistakes over the past few years.

[Invader3K]

Tough 24 hours for GMs, it seems. Per MLB Trade Rumors:

 

"This was a tough decision and a difficult one for me personally as I have enjoyed J.P.'s friendship and his perspective on the game," said Blue Jays acting President and CEO Paul Beeston in a statement. "J.P. has put an incredible amount of effort into improving the team and he has brought along a number of great young players. However, I feel that it is time for a change and accordingly we have decided to move on."

I'm guessing the fiasco with Roy Halladay didn't help things.

 

 

 

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I'd take Ricarrdi as my GM anyday.

[mothershipconnection]

I wouldn't. Ricciadi has made some atrocious moves up there. Maybe he could be a better GM for a team with a tighter budget, but if you give that guy a big checkbook, history suggests that he'll waste it on magic beans.

[dadofandrew]

JP's only bad moves had to do with releasing costly vets, Reed Johnson, Frank Thomas(?). For a team running on a tiny budget with the Canadian dollar also hampering them most years, he did a heckuva job. His teams often would have been right in the mix if they did not play in the AL East.

 

I don't think Jesus Christ could have done much better given SD's budget.

[trwi7]

JP's only bad moves had to do with releasing costly vets, Reed Johnson, Frank Thomas(?). For a team running on a tiny budget with the Canadian dollar also hampering them most years, he did a heckuva job. His teams often would have been right in the mix if they did not play in the AL East.

Vernon Wells' contract?

[mothershipconnection]

The contracts given to Wells, Rios, Thomas, and Ryan are enough to doom you. Those are some horrible deals.

I agree on Towers, that guy simply had no chance to succeed recently. It'll be interesting to see who the new ownership wants to bring in.

[Invader3K]

I had heard the Wells contract was instigated more by the ownership, due to wanting to placate the fan base. If that's true, it's hard to hold it against Ricciardi. Also, he was able to get the White Sox to take Rios, which was considered a pretty good move for the Jays.

[endaround]

The Blue Jays don't run on a tiny budget. The last 4 seasons: $80m, 97m, 81m, 71m.

[SoCalBrewfan]

JP's only bad moves had to do with releasing costly vets, Reed Johnson, Frank Thomas(?).

 

Also, he was able to get the White Sox to take Rios, which was considered a pretty good move for the Jays.

 

So he got somebody else to take a bad contract that he himself gave a player? I guess that's like successfully applying a tourniquet after plunging an icepick into your thigh. Same with Thomas...who was to blame if he was overpaid exactly? Ricciardi had ups and downs as a GM...they have some nice pitching now, but have not done a good job with the position players at all. For a number of years the system there suffered while their draft was mainly lower-ceiling college guys...Aaron Hill has turned out to be pretty good, but they didn't really do much to stock the lineup until shifting gears with the Travis Snider pick. I like their recent drafts more, but it was probably already too late. Ricciardi also was a PR disaster...as the face of the team he was really awful, and if he's not a genius, it's harder to put up with that kind of crap.

 

Towers did pretty well on the major league level, pulled off some real heists and build a good pen for cheap, but if you're going to run a team on a budget and hope to win you need a farm system to produce now and again. He got very little from players the Pads drafted or signed...a couple of decent starters like Headley, Kouz, Hundley, but so far those guys look like Corey Hart types (by which I mean solid regulars more than stars)...if that's all you get from the draft you have a lot of ground to make up.

 

I might think about taking Towers over Melvin, if he has somebody smart to run the draft...both are in a group of decent but not great GMs. I'd rather have Melvin than Ricciardi though. A sobering thought, in case the Hendry era were to end: either Towers or Ricciardi would likely be an improvement for the Cubs.

[Invader3K]

The Blue Jays don't run on a tiny budget. The last 4 seasons: $80m, 97m, 81m, 71m.

Yeah, but in the AL East that is like a pensioner's budget.

[Never Outhustled]

JP made a slew have terrible deals, ruined a once great farm system, and gave out terrible contracts like thet were lollipops. Despite a huge budget, and the fact that he inherited some great players, he ran them into a hopeless situation.

[Braminano]

Now what two GMs will we make a number of trades with?

[reillymcshane]

Ricciardi, like every GM, has his hits and misses. He's added some decent young talent, but missed on some high picks as well (again, what GM hasn't). But eight years is a pretty good timeframe to develop young talent, and I just don't think he's done what he needed (which was develop from with the farm system). His biggest mistake trying to play with the big boys (Boston and NY). The big contracts just killed him. And while Toronto's budgets weren't small, they weren't in the same league as the Yankees and Red Sox. He couldn't afford too many big mistakes - and he had them (BJ Ryan, Wells' contract, Rios).

 

I also think he fell into the trap many teams fall into - paying top dollar for very good (or even just good) players. In a smaller market, top dollar needs to go to top players. Guys like Wells and Rios were very good players - not great players. Paying these guys top dollar - $15-18 million - just ended up hamstringing the club. It's a lesson all franchises need to heed. For teams like the Yankees they can absorb these kinds of mistakes, but teams like Toronto (and Milwaukee) get stung badly by them. Every big contract is a risk, but you better be darn sure the guy you're paying top dollar to is worth it (and will be worth it for the length of the contract).

 

It's why guys like Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano - while still good players - will increasingly be seen as untradeable albatrosses as their play diminishes at the plate and in the field. It's why the Brewers need to be very sure with any big moves they do in free agency.

[Ennder]

One more thing to add to the anti Ricciardi bandwagon is that he has been very dishonest about things like injuries. Now every GM hides a little information since other teams can use it but he has outright lied about things.

I'm not sure the Wells contract is any worse than the Suppan one though. The Rios deal certainly wasn't worse.

[Team Canada]

Really? 7/126 isn't any worse than 4/42?

[Ennder]

I think Wells is a better player than Suppan and I think there was good reason to expect Wells to improve given his age etc, while there was good reason to expect Suppan to decline given his peripherals and age. They are probably pretty close.

[Invader3K]

That is a valid point. Plus position players are usually a safer gamble for long term contracts than pitchers are. But for a market like Toronto, that big contract really limits their ability to make further moves down the line, I imagine.

 

I still think you have to credit Ricciardi for getting the White Sox to take Rios off their hands. That move could help them re-sign Halladay or acquire another top player eventually.

[craigharmann]

Really? 7/126 isn't any worse than 4/42?

Aaahh, but was the 126 Canadian? That may make the deals a bit more even.

[hawing]

I'd think the 7 years vs. 4 makes the 7 year deal worse. Imagine seven years of Suppan, for example.

[Never Outhustled]

Imagine seven years of Suppan, for example.

Hawing, why would such an upbeat person say something so grotesquely morbid?

[hawing]

Imagine seven years of Suppan, for example.

Hawing, why would such an upbeat person say something so grotesquely morbid?

Oh, strictly to drive home the point. Though I suppose in this case it was like using a sledgehammer on a flea.

[Ennder]

Fair enough, I also didn't realize how much Well's defense has slipped. I can stomach his hitting a lot more if his defense hadn't become so bad. The combination of the two makes him about replacement level now for that salary. Suppan is still slightly above replacement level at least.

[Never Outhustled]

Suppan is still slightly above replacement level at least.

Suppan has been below replacement level for 2 years running.