Two GMs Take Divergent Paths to Pink Slips

For Kevin Towers, a history of winning was no longer enough. For J.P. Ricciardi, a sterling reputation had lost its luster. For both GMs, currently on their way out of the big chair for the Padres and Blue Jays, respectively, a lack of results has resulted in a lack of a job. But for one of their teams, this firing may turn out to be an error.Being a “good guy” isn’t the point of the job of general manager: Being the guy who builds good teams is. And Towers was, for a while, doing just that, assembling Padres teams that won four NL West titles and went to one World Series in the ‘90s and keeping them competitive in recent years. The Padres haven’t lost 100 games in a season under his watch, as Towers has been excellent at building, tearing down, and rebuilding his small-market team.

But Ricciardi was just barely on the good side of awful.

Armed with the money to acquire big-name free agents, he grabbed A.J. Burnett, Carlos Delgado, B.J. Ryan, Vernon Wells, Alex Rios, and saw their deals turn into boondoggles as the Jays recorded four winning and four losing seasons in his eight years. His personal shots at players and mendacity about Blue Jays business made him a villain to Toronto fans, and his failure to trade Roy Halladay helped seal his fate. Crying foul about the competition in the AL East vanished as a possible excuse last year, when the Rays raced by the Jays (and the Red Sox and Yankees) to win the division. Making matters worse, Tampa Bay showcased the sort of smart management the Jays thought they were getting with Ricciardi, renowned as a Billy Beane disciple in the Athletics’ early-aughts heyday.

Ricciardi proved to be anything but, ignoring market inefficiencies with his big-money, long-term deals instead of exploiting them by hunting for cheaper and younger players. He is being fired for gross incompetence. Towers, on the other hand, has proved adept at finding gems, like Heath Bell, unheralded by other baseball brains, and his firing may have more to do with new Padres CEO Jeff Moorad wanting to install his own man in the chair. His firing is a testament to competence sometimes not being enough.

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