J. P. Ricciardi
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J. P. (John Paul) Ricciardi (born September 26, 1959 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is the current general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.
After playing baseball in college and for two years in the minor leagues, Ricciardi became a coach in the New York Yankees farm system in the early 1980s before joining the Oakland Athletics organization in 1986 as a minor league instructor and a scout. By the early 1990s he had risen to the ranks of East Coast Scouting Supervisor and later National Crosschecker. Ricciardi made his break into the front office in 1996, when he became special assistant to Athletics general manager Sandy Alderson. Under new general manager Billy Beane, hired in 1997, Ricciardi's role became Director of Player Personnel.
Impressed by the success Ricciardi and Beane were having with the low-budget Athletics, the Toronto Blue Jays, stuck with similar budgetary constraints, sought Ricciardi's services after firing then-general manager Gord Ash. On November 14, 2001, Ricciardi was hired as general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.
One of Ricciardi's first deals was to send hard-throwing reliever Billy Koch to the Athletics for upcoming thirdbaseman Eric Hinske and pitcher Justin Miller. Over the next few years Ricciardi would develop a reputation for coziness with his old team, making deals for starting pitcher Cory Lidle in November 2002 and fellow starting pitcher Ted Lilly in November 2003. Despite this aggressive activity, and Hinske's Rookie of the Year award in 2002, the Blue Jays have not enjoyed the same small-market success as Ricciardi's Athletics have over the same span. After a surprising 2003 campaign which saw the emergence of Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells, the team suffered its worst season since 1980 in 2004. They also lost star slugger Carlos Delgado to free agency in the off-season.
Ricciardi signed a five-year contract with Toronto after the 2002 season.
See also: sabermetrics