The Toronto Blue Jays are one of the most important things in the life of any Toronto sports fan. We were the first team to ever draw 4 million fans in one season. Sadly, it's been 15 years since the local 9 have been relevant in this city. After the disastrous Interbrew ownership, the Jays were in a terrible position both on field, and financially. Things have been looking up since local ownership, in the form of Rogers took over. The team has yet to sniff the playoffs though. By appointing me, Eric Hartman, as GM of the Toronto Blue Jays, that can change.

The first matter of business when Rogers bought the team was getting a man to cut the budget and maintain respectability of the team to once again make it profitable. As a disciple of Oakland As GM, Billy Beane, J.P. Ricciardi was hired to be the teams GM and Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations. Mr. Ricciardi has done an admirable job since taking over the team, including posting back to back winning seasons in the previous two, and allowing the Jays to no longer be a financial albatross for Rogers. He has provided several shrewd moves to benefit the team for minimal costs, (see J. Speier, M. Stairs, J. MacDonald, S. Downs, and G. Zaun).

Despite his strengths, Ricciardi is not the right man to lead the Blue Jays back to the playoffs. The local media hounds J.P. to no end. Each and every move he makes is criticized, often very unfairly. Despite not deserving all of said criticism, it takes its toll on the organization to have each and every move, even when its the right one, criticized. I wont call out J.P. on his 5 year plan, because he did not make that claim. This has been overblown by the local media that will not let this man succeed. Neither will I fault J.P. for coming through on his promise of competing in the AL East on a $50 Million budget. Baseballs economics are far different now than they were when he was hired.

Those are not valid reasons to relieve a GM of his duties. That has to be based on his on-field work. While J.P. has not embarrassed himself, he is not among the cream of the crop in his field. It is unfair to judge J.P. before the 2005 season, as he had to cut a large part of the budget and make up his roster on the fly. So, this analysis will be based on what hes done since he has been given financial freedom.

Much of the teams success can be attributed to Gord Ashs drafting, and Ted Rogers money. The only real star on the team drafted by Ricciardi is second baseman, Aaron Hill. The three faces of the franchise, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells and Alex Rios were all Ash draftees. Most of the teams other stars B.J. Ryan, A.J. Burnett and until he was released, Frank Thomas were simply bought in free agency. None of those contracts have turned out particularly well, with Burnett being often injured, and having a two year player option at the end of his contract, B.J. Ryan having missed an entire year, and Thomas being cut a month into the second year of the contract. While the payroll has expanded to be in the middle of the pack, it can not support multiple free agent gaffes. Ricciardi has also not been a strong drafter. Of the members of the Jays opening day 25 man roster only Shaun Marcum, Brandon League and Jesse Litsch are Ricciardi draftees. The Jays also only had one player in Baseball Americas top 100 prospect lists coming into the season. He did not listen to the men he hired to advise him on the draft. This is evidenced by selecting Ricky Romero over Troy Tulowitzki in the 2005 draft, despite most of his scouts and advisors preferring Tulowitzki. The Blue Jays will not match the payroll of either the Yankees or the Red Sox in the foreseeable future, so as an organization they have to be smarter than the two goliaths of the AL East.

This is where I come in. I have followed the Blue Jays and baseball in general meticulously in the last 5 years. My thirst for knowledge on the subject is always growing and I have read and taken to heart what many brilliant men have written. Despite the fact I am just about to graduate high school I believe I am qualified for this job. I will try to hire the greatest minds in the business to assist me in the quest to return the Jays to the World Series After all Im 6 years older than Billy Heywood was in Little Big League.