Former Blue Jays general manager and Mets special assistant J.P. Ricciardi is finalizing a new contract to join the Giants’ front office as a senior advisor, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). It’ll be the first of what should be several front office additions for new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. Andrew Baggarly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported talks between the two sides (Twitter link).
The 59-year-old Ricciardi spent eight years as a special advisor to the general manager in New York played a prominent role in the front office between the time at which Sandy Alderson stepped down as general manager and Brodie Van Wagenen was hired as Alderson’s successor. Ricciardi, along with fellow advisor Omar Minaya and assistant GM John Ricco, shared the workload of overseeing the Mets’ baseball operations department for much of the summer following Alderson’s departure. The Mets announced last month that the two sides had “mutually” agreed to part ways.
Ricciardi is no stranger to the Bay Area, having come up through the ranks with the Athletics in the late 80s and early 90s. The veteran exec broke into the front office side of the game as an area scout with the A’s in 1986 and rose to the titles of scouting supervisor, national crosschecker and, in 1999, director of player development. The Blue Jays hired him as their general manager in 2001 — a role he’d hold for eight years before being replaced by Alex Anthopoulos in 2009. Ricciardi has worked extensively with both Alderson and current A’s executive vice president Billy Beane in the past and will bring more than three decades of scouting and player development experience to his new post if and when the organization makes the hiring official.
Lol why though?
What does this have to do with the Mariners?
Hahaha
Dipoto: OK, I’ll trade you three scouts for Ricciardi, but you have to take Jay Bruce’s contract
Zaidi: What this isn’t how baseball works
Adding experience in the scouting and player development is a solid move.
Predicted a few weeks ago Ricciardi might endup in San Fran due to the A’s connection. That’s the only reason he’d be hired. He’s one of the worst GM’s to ever grace the position in MLB history. Why he continues to land great jobs is a mystery.
Bad hire.
Billy Owens for Giants GM! Not the Billy Owens that played for the Warriors and came over in the Mitch Richmond trade lol
Whoa. . . Another voice can’t hurt. If they like him he sticks. If not. One year deal. . . I suspect the Giants go thru a few of these guys. . . . . . .
This cinches Harper coming to San Fran.
Why? What does this failure of a GM going to do for SF? This guy seems like a dumber Bobby Evans….
JP Ricciardi will show up each Spring Training with a new “five year plan” – how does this guy keep getting hired?
J.P. Ricciardi never once mentioned a five-year plan while the Blue Jays. This is a story that circulates in Toronto for some reason, but go track down a story where he is quoted as talking about a five-year plan. You won’t find it. He was a bad GM and he lied about B.J. Ryan’s injury, but he never talked about a five-year plan.
Ricciardi’s initial plan with the Jays was a “five year plan” – quoting from his first press conference. Let me guess, you think Jose Bautista was misunderstood, too?