Last Updated on: 1st May 2014, 09:46 am
So… Here’s something from the “I’m A Classless Ass” File for your dinner-hour enjoyment.
A few weeks ago J.P. Ricciardi, GM of the Toronto Blue Jays called up rookie pitcher, Scott Richmond, to fill as the 5th starter for the team as injuries had cost the Jays a few players and current 5th starter, Jesse Lytch, was being sent down to the minors to get his confidence back.
The thing is – Richmond was scheduled to go to the Olympics to pitch for Team Canada. Ricciardi downplayed this saying kids growing up wanting to play baseball dream of playing in the Majors – not in the Olympics.
This may very well be true.. but let’s look at the facts by asking a few questions.
Was Richmond the only option of pitchers in the minors that the Jays could have called up? No. Actually he was probably the 2nd or 3rd best pitcher down in Syracuse waiting for the call up?
Was Richmond likely to make a huge impact for the Jays? No. He is a 28 year old making his first Major League appearance. If he was a young up and comer you were anxious to get in then it would be one thing but when he’s a guy just being called up to mop up innings then maybe you could have used someone else.
Would Richmond have likely made a big difference for Canada at the Olympics? Yes! He was slated to be their number one pitcher. At the Olympics, due to the fact that Major Leaguers aren’t there, the competition isn’t quite as high and Richmond was to be the ace on Canada’s pitching staff and would have been of great use to the team when they played the Japanese, Cubans and Americans.
Speaking of the Americans… Did I mention that J.P. Ricciardi is an American with close ties to the American baseball federation. So close, in fact, that he has helped build their national teams in the past. Something about this starts to smell a little funny, if you ask me.
I’m not normally a conspiracy theorist but when a man who has ties to the competition calls up a Canadian pitcher that he didn’t need just a week before the Olympics it looks bad.
Wondering why I’m thinking about this now? Well it just came out an hour or two ago that the Jays have called back up Jesse Lytch to re-take his spot in the rotation and have moved Richmond to the bullpen about a day before Canada plays their first game in Beijing. Maybe you’re thinking ‘well get this fucker on a plane over there!” Ya, I thought that too. Unfortunately it is now too late to add players to your roster so assentially this kid got called up to help a team with no hope of going anywhere this year, just to be sat back down a day before he was supposed to pitch for his country.
Classy. Real Classy.
