Posted by John Brattain on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 5:50 pm

One blog that I haven’t passed a lot of love on to is The Southpaw–mostly because it sucks chunky bilge water and WillRain has the brains of a developmentally-delayed lobotomized Irish Setter on crack that couldn’t scrawl graffiti on a bathroom stall without boring the daylights out of anyone under the age of seven

But I digress.

Had ya going didn’t I Will? (Congrats on the MVN gig BTW.) Seriously though, I often check out his thoughts both on his blog and on Batters Box and while I do not always agree with him, I do find he provides valuable counterpoints and food for thought.

Now back on January 8, Will posted a terrific piece entitled A Short Course in History and if you haven’t checked it out yet–I highly recommend that you do so…I mean it, right now; just right click your mouse on the link I provided and select “Open in New Tab” and you’re all set.

Not that difficult.

It has taken me almost a week of digesting the article (coupled with some good ol’ fashioned procrastination) before it really coalesced in my consciousness. Let’s assume the assertions are true: does this really excuse J.P. Ricciardi? The thing is, while the whole “five-year plan” may have been completely bogus it does beg the question of why–if the Jays weren’t in a position, or rather didn’t wish, to compete–Ricciardi didn’t use that time to position the franchise to be able to make the leap from also-ran to contender when the time was right?

Yes, some moves had to be made to dupe the fan base into thinking that the club was trying to win but at the same time, it would have been a perfect time to stockpile young talent. Why didn’t he go crazy in the Rule 5 draft? Why invest big dollars in mediocre quantities? Why not feign interest in guys like Corey Koskie and bid just high enough to lose and plow that money into player development? Why sign any developed players to long term deals when it wasn’t necessary?

Instead of releasing guys like Chris Carpenter and Woody Williams for nothing–why not take ten cents on the dollar and see if there’s somebody that has a B-prospect that he thinks might develop into something useful?

When Pat Gillick started building the Jays from scratch he adopted the old Sam Pollock method of talent acquisition that Pollock used in developing the Montreal Canadiens into a dynasty: talent is evaluated on a scale from 0-8 with eight being the best. If Pollock (and Gillick) could trade a “2” for a “3” talent–they did so regardless of the position played. If they ended up with a surplus, they packaged it for help in other areas. It required a team do its homework and a lot of teams might not be able to discern the difference between a “2” and a “3” or a “5” and a “6” or for that matter a “0” and a “2.”

This was done at all levels of the organization. It’s hard to pull an outright heist of talent, but a lot of small upgrades throughout (the organization) add up in a hurry. The Toronto Blue Jays had a good chunk of the 1985 division champs in the fold by 1979-80.

I weep when I think about what could have been accomplished in the years when the Blue Jays were faking their competitive orgasms. I mean, if the allegations are true, I don’t view it as an absolution of Ricciardi but rather an indictment–a four year window of opportunity to turn the Toronto Blue Jays into a player-development machine that would have had the Jays ready to take on the world (or at least the AL East) when it was time to get serious. When Rogers was willing to put some money into the roster, can you imagine the trade chits that might have existed in the minor leagues? Those two factors along with the best of the developed talent on the 25-man roster might have made the team formidable indeed.

It wouldn’t be hard (or expensive) to look like they were trying and by eschewing multi-year contracts they would have been in a position to go from the outhouse to the penthouse very quickly.

While I’m sure a degree of building went on, I think had Ricciardi decided to play good organizational soldier while simultaneously really ramping up the talent infrastructure those four years would have produced more fruitage than we have on hand at present.

To shift gears for a moment, probably the one thing that hamstrings the Toronto Blue Jays even more than J.P. Ricciardi’s inability to discern that it is time to lay it on the line is the fact that the franchise are (Bud) Selig loyalists. To be a Selig loyalist one must view players as an expense (something to keep to a minimum) rather than an investment (a vehicle that can be used to increase profits).

For example: right now, Manny Ramirez could be an investment that pays huge dividends to the organization yet Rogers, like Selig, thinks only in terms of what he might cost and not the revenue he could potentially generate. It’s a risk-averse strategy that rarely does well in MLB. Other examples of this is the slotting system of the amateur draft–yes, the draft needs work [fixing] but for right now for top talent a team generally has to choose to pay over slot or focus on players with lesser gifts and abilities.

Now, if you have a top-notch scouting department that is adept at consistently identifying diamonds-in-the-rough it’s not that big a problem yet nobody considers the Blue Jays to be such an animal–sometimes you have to bite the bullet and invest in the obvious stud.

If Barry Bonds was indeed the victim of collusion then again the team being Selig-loyalists hurt them in that Bonds would have solved an obvious problem at minimal cost. Part of the reason for this is that when the Canadian dollar was low a few years back, Selig provided equalization payments to the team to help out. On the one hand there would be a degree of gratitude but on the other hand there is the spectre of hoping for more of the same.

Nothing can harm a team in the Jays’ position (competing in the AL East) then hoping for welfare to generate profits rather than wise investment. Instead of trying to build up revenues by putting an exciting competitive club on the field, the risk-averse Selig loyalists put in just enough money to increase interest in the club without the heavy investment required to take on the big boys in the division.

So, from the lowest part of player development (the draft) to decisions regarding the major league roster, the Toronto Blue Jays are looking to stay on the good side of the commissioner’s office lest they upset the welfare cart. While Rogers Communication has money to burn, they aren’t spending it on the Blue Jays this year–partly due to the economy but chances are good that Selig’s non-stop proselytizing about being especially fiscally conservative this offseason has the club falling into step. There are bargains to be had in the free agent market where the team need it most (offense) but the Jays refuse to partake–oddly enough at a time when a plea for equalization payments may be in the offing.

Unless you have a terrific front office and player development and scouting system in place, there’s nothing that is more damaging to a team’s chances at post season baseball than fealty to Selig.

Best Regards

John