Posted by Brian Joseph on Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 10:52 am

Personally, I’ve never subscribed to the “never kick a man when he’s down” wisdom. After reading Bill Baer’s “Top Three Ricciardi Era Blunders” posted last night, I realized Bill’s top three were actually different than my top three. With so many to choose from, I’m sure another BDD contributor could come along and add their three but here’s the three that stood out from Ricciardi’s eight seasons in Toronto:

3. B.J. Ryan’s ludicrous 5-year, $47 million contract

Was B.J. Ryan a coveted free agent likely to make a mint for his one successful season as a closer with the Baltimore Orioles in 2005? Sure! Was he worth the largest contract for a closer at the time? Well, that might not have been the wisest move.Ryan was 30 at the time of the deal and spent most of his career as a set-up man before taking over the closer role in Baltimore in ‘05.

Ryan was very successful in his first year in Toronto and even made the All-Star team before he broke down in ‘07. He bounced back in ‘08 before washing out this season so badly that the Blue Jays decided to eat the last year and a half of his monster contract. The Jays are without Ryan’s services for the next year and a half at a cost of $15 million.

One might argue Ricciardi wasn’t much at fault here since Ryan was very successful when healthy but even the Mets only gave Francisco Rodriguez a three-year deal worth $37 million this past off-season. It’s not like the price of a quality closer didn’t go up since ‘06, it’s just that Ricciardi overpaid!

2. More ludicrous contracts to veterans past their prime

It’s tough to pick just one, so choose your favorite. Excluding the Ryan deal, here’s two of my faves:

- Corey Koskie (3 years, $17.5 million at Age 32) was so disappointing in his first season with the Jays in ‘05 that Ricciardi dealt Koskie in ‘06 and agreed to pay $7 million of the $11 million remaining on his deal.

- Frank Thomas (2 years, $18 million at Age 38) wasn’t the worst contract in the world if you leave out the $10 million option that vested if Thomas accumulated 1,000 plate appearances in the two seasons with Toronto. After a strong ‘07, Thomas started off slowly in ‘08 and the .167 hitting Thomas was benched. Thomas cried foul and accused the Blue Jays of benching him to prevent the option from kicking in.

1. The A.J. Burnett Opt Out Clause

How do you guarantee you lose by signing an injury prone starting pitcher to a lucrative deal? Add an “opt out” clause that says the player has the option to walk away after the third year.Think of the logic behind the move Ricciardi executed when he signed A.J. Burnett to a five-year, $55 million deal prior to the ‘06 season.

For Burnett, it guaranteed that if he ended up breaking down, his future financial situation was safe since it was his option — not the club’s — to walk away following the third season. For the Blue Jays, it guaranteed that if Burnett outperformed his deal and the market was there, their reward would be a bidding war to retain Burnett’s services for the final two years of the deal.

In the end, Burnett excelled in ‘08 and decided to test the open market where he was awarded with a five-year, $82.5 million deal from the Yankees and the Blue Jays were left with nothing. At least the club was able to save $24 million which covers nearly all of one of the remaining years on Vernon Wells’ contract. At least the Wells deal had the faint glimmer of an upside.