Is Rogers Communications Focused Only On Blue Jays' Bottom Line?

Many Fans Upset After Blue Jays Allowed White Sox To Claim Rios Monday

HOW DID JAYS GET TO THIS POINT? ESPN.com's Keith Law wrote Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi's tenure has "been marked not by bad baseball decisions, but by bad financial ones." While clearing Rios' salary from the books "will give Toronto more flexibility," if the contract is "that bad now, shouldn't we question why it was handed out in the first place?" (ESPN.com, 8/11). ESPN.com's Buster Olney wrote the Blue Jays allowing Rios to be claimed was the "largest pure salary dump in Major League Baseball history." MLB "has never seen anything quite like the Rios deal before, a sign of the times." It was "absolutely the right thing to do for the Jays," but it was "something we have never seen before, more than $60[M] being moved for nothing, the latest sign of the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots, and today the Jays are probably actually thankful for that" (ESPN.com, 8/11).

CHICAGO STYLE: Denver Post columnist Woody Paige said the acquisition of Rios was an "incredibly smart and shrewd move" by White Sox GM Kenny Williams. Paige: "Even though it's a long-term contract, (Rios) is now entering what should be the best five or six years of his career." Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan said Williams "is one of the most daring executives in baseball." Ryan: "He has taken a big chunk of money here, and he's taking a huge risk." Fanhouse.com's Jay Mariotti: "You can't call this team cheap anymore. They used to have middle-market payrolls. They are acting like a major market team." ESPN's J.A. Adande: "They're acting like a big-market team. Too often they acted like they were the North Indiana Sox" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 8/11). MLB Network’s Mitch Williams said of the Rios move: “Financially, absolutely it’s risky” (“MLB Tonight: Roundtripper,” MLB Network, 8/11). However, ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said, "It's no gamble to me if you can say, 'We can win and a couple of players can put us over the top and if we start winning games our fans will come in such numbers that it will balance out the cost of money to us'" ("PTI," ESPN, 8/11). 

Print This Article