J.P. Ricciardi hasn’t been the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays for six years, yet his fingerprints remain all over the 2015 edition of the team.
Ricciardi, who now works in the New York Mets’ front office, brought in the likes of Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Cecil, manager John Gibbons and GM Alex Anthopoulos, all of whom have played key roles for the Blue Jays as the team inches closer to its first playoff appearance in 22 years.
“I’m really, really happy for Gibby as I am for Alex. We hired Alex, we brought Alex over. I’m happy for [assistant GM] Tony LaCava, I’m happy for [clubhouse operations director] Mike Shaw. I could go on and on,” Ricciardi told The Jeff Blair Show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Thursday. “Most importantly I’m happy for the fans. They waited a long time to have success. There’s a lot of things that have to go right, as we know, and it’s falling in place so I’m happy for them.”
Ricciardi hired Gibbons in 2004 and fired him in 2008. Four years later, Anthopoulos brought Gibbons back for his second stint as manager when John Farrell bolted to the Boston Red Sox. The rest is history.
“Gibby’s a good manager. They’re really lucky to have him,” Ricciardi said. “I still say to this day he’s one of the best guys at handling a bullpen I’ve ever been around…and that’s the key in the American League is just being able to handle your pen. Very seldom does he make a move and you say, ‘Why did you do that? What were you thinking?’ And if you do ask him that he’s got a pretty good reason why he’s done it.”
Ricciardi’s Mets sit comfortably in first place in the N.L. East at 85-67 and he believes the trade deadline was the turning point for his team.
“Very much like the Blue Jays, the trade deadline was our Armageddon,” Ricciardi explained. “We had to make a decision at that point: where do we think we are and what do we think we can be?
The Mets acquired Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe and former Blue Jay Kelly Johnson, while, as Jays fans know, Toronto got David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, LaTroy Hawkins, Mark Lowe and Ben Revere. The Mets and Blue Jays have been two of the hottest teams in the majors since those moves.
“We stepped up and we made tough decisions and so far it’s worked out just like it has in Toronto.”
Ricciardi added that it would be great if the Mets and Jays could end up meeting in October.
