Sportsfrog.com

23 years later, the Yankees and Reds see their dream fulfilled on the South Side of Chicago. In 1976 baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided a deal that would have sent A’s ace Vida Blue to the Yankees. A year later, he did the same thing to a deal that would have sent Blue to to the Reds. Both times, Kuhn stated that the proposed deal would have strengthened already very strong teams without making them give up meaningful talent in return.

Fast forward to the last 48 hours when Toronto placed Alex Rios on waivers, the White Sox claimed him, and Toronto wished both parties well. The price of claiming Rios in terms of talent? Nothing. All Chicago is paying, and it is not insignificant, is money. The remaining $60 million dollars Rios is owed on the deal he signed back in 2007. In Toronto, Richard Griffin writing in the Toronto Star, is less than pleased:

All of those generous deals were negotiated with eyes wide open. Ricciardi had convinced Rogers he could build a contender to battle the Yankees and Red Sox by spending more money. Last year J.P. spent $100 million and finished fourth. This year he’s spending $80 million and will finish fourth. Ownership likely reasons they could finish fourth spending $60 million and maybe even with a different GM.

Ricciardi is feigning exactly the same disgust and disdain with bad contracts that he did eight years ago when he arrived and saw the bloated contracts his predecessor Gord Ash had left behind – Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado, Alex Gonzalez, Joey Hamilton and Billy Koch. The difference is that Ash was fired and Ricciardi somehow is still here. The last 55 days of the season will be tough for Jays fans, but even tougher for the Jays’ young starting pitchers. Jays’ ownership is in full retreat, clearing the decks of excess payroll in order for a GM to start rebuilding in the off-season. But which GM will it be?

The thought of a trade for Rios was not real. There was never any chance the Jays would receive anything from a team claiming Rios on waivers. If another team had ever been interested in value-for-value, would they not have proposed something before the deadline? The Sox claimed Rios not to offer primo prospects, but to steal a talented player away from a team desperate for saving payroll. The Jays had no leverage. According to Ricciardi, this Rios contract dumping is all about “financial flexibility and moving forward.” What a pile of manure. This is about Rogers giving up on a team and a GM and his eight-year-old blueprint for building a contender.

There is that.

And White Sox fans can be happy that their ownership still has the balls to put their money where their mouth is and strengthen their run at the pennant for nothing more than cash. And gives Ozzie Guillen the job of figuring out what to do with his line-up to accomodate Rios. Hint to Ozzie, it’s not that hard, I know Scott Podsednik has had a mini-bounce back season, but, Rios plays ahead of him. You’re welcome.