Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobblehead
Whitt was a coach on an imploding team, so none of the coaching staff can be called innocent. But from what I read, he wants to know what he did wrong and why he was taking the fall.
I can see this being the first shot
But he is right. And it is a statement of opinion on the job Ricciardi has done; while Ricciardi's rebuttal is nothing but how Ernie owes JP for Whitt's entire career. Does JP get 2 paycheques - one for him and one for his ego?
Interesting that the Sportsnet article is 1/2 of the Toronto star article.
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He's an MLB coach. He has to suck it up and realize you're going to be fired several times in your career. If the team is underachieving it's a stupid question to ask "what did I do wrong?". Especially for a guy that was demoted to 1st base coach last year. That spot seems reserved for whoever the new manager feels comfortable with.
I don't recall Riccardi ever saying "I'm responsible ... I put the team together." Even if he did, it should be obvious to see why the GM gets a second chance. It takes a hell of a lot more time for a GM to turn things around than for a manager to do the same. JP has had that time, but it's still a stupid statement for Whitt to make.
It's not JP's fault that nearly every hitter on the team and all of our core hitters are performing well below career averages at ages where there should be a mild decline at best (Joe Inglett has the 2nd best OPS on the team). The pitching staff has been great, but they were expected to be and it's not as if every player is overachieving. Burnett is underachieving big-time. Accardo was brutal before his injury. Marcum is overachieving, but Litsch and McGowan are about where you'd expect them to be (McGowan might even be underachieving).
All the GM can do is put the team together and hope for the best. As best I can tell, it's hard to blame JP for every good hitter on the team turning into crap as soon as they throw on the Jays uniform. I think that's a coaching issue which is why the changes were made now. If the team still stinks the rest of the way then I think JP goes.