Blue Jays 2006 Rewind: Building Up the Bats

The second day of the 2005 Winter Meetings would see just how aggressive J.P. Ricciardi was willing to be in his efforts to revamp the Toronto Blue Jays.

The signing of A.J. Burnett was official, but not after a tiresome back-and-forth through the early morning hours, with the pitcher’s camp all but begging the St. Louis Cardinals to pony up a bit more money. Ricciardi raised his offer and provided Burnett with an opt-out clause, two concessions that helped Toronto's general manager secure the high-profile starter. With Burnett and fellow newcomer B.J. Ryan shoring up the pitching staff, Ricciardi quickly concentrated his full efforts on improving the lineup. 

Toronto had been linked to a few bats already in the offseason, most notably Brian Giles, who ultimately re-signed in San Diego. The Blue Jays were returning four productive outfielders, and their interest in adding to the group with Giles showed Ricciardi was entertaining all options for his team. One of those options was a player that Ricciardi called “an exorbitant amount of money for us” just weeks before, and now, he was having one more conversation with an old friend of ours. 

Pat Gillick arrived in Philadelphia with a mandate to do something. The Phillies had won 88 games the year before but missed the playoffs for the 12th straight season, costing Ed Wade his job running the team. Gillick got to work right away, sending Jim Thome to the White Sox, and left many wondering if Bobby Abreu was the next out the door. A mainstay in right field since arriving in Philadelphia in ‘98, Abreu was at the end of a costly extension, one that was now feeling like an anchor around the Phillies’ payroll. 

Having discussed Abreu earlier in the offseason, the two general managers decided to come back to the table on day two of the meetings. If Ricciardi was able to move past the salary concerns, he remained hesitant over Gillick’s asking price: Vernon Wells. Having just turned 27, Wells was in the midst of his prime, an All-Star who just captured his second straight Gold Glove. Gillick's demand was a non-starter. Ricciardi tried to counter with a package built around Alex Rios, but nothing more came of the talks.

When Wells’ costly extension became an anchor around the Blue Jays’ payroll after 2010, he was sent to Anaheim. He would push Abreu out of the Angels’ outfield and into the primary DH role, where he would enjoy the final productive season of his greatly underrated career. (photo credit: The Baseball Scholar)

After crossing out Abreu and moving down his list of targets, Ricciardi got the seed of an idea that would have surely ruined the upcoming season, a seed that eventually sprouted and stunk up a future season.

Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson.

Ricciardi would sign the pair two years later; they would produce a craptastic .226/.305/.341 in 323 platooned at-bats. The season prior, it was the buffalo-headed Mench that hit Roy Halladay with a comeback line drive, breaking Doc’s leg and ending his season in July. For Wilkerson, his numbers were down in 2005, but teams were interested, and Toronto offered a package to Washington involving by-then-obsolete closer Miguel Batista. The deal was promptly turned down by an unimpressed Jim Bowden days before the Nationals general manager sent Wilkerson to Texas in a trade for Alfonso Soriano. 

Ricciardi’s own talks with Texas about Mench were moving along. The Rangers were after two players: Rios and Brandon League, a pitcher that Texas general manager Jon Daniels admired. Rangers pitching coach Mark Connor was previously with the Blue Jays and had worked with League in the minors. The two sides kept exchanging names. Ricciardi asked for 23-year-old first baseman Adrian Gonzalez; Daniels wanted second baseman Orlando Hudson. Talks fizzled, and, fortunately for Blue Jays fans, the already-functioning platoon of Reed Johnson and Frank Catalanotto would have to do in left field for another year.

If Toronto truly wanted to contend in 2006, the team was going to need better production from its corner infielders. Eric Hinske had grown stale, and the first year of Corey Koskie’s contract showed little more than injuries and signs of decline. Shea Hillenbrand was an All-Star in his first season with Toronto and finished ‘05 as the primary first baseman, but Ricciardi wasn’t completely enamoured with bringing him back. Hillenbrand finished the season weighing over 230 pounds and admitted playing on the Rogers Centre turf took its toll, leading him to drop 18 pounds over 10 weeks after the season in hopes of remaining in the general manager’s plans for 2006.

Well, this didn’t work. (photo credit: Toronto Star)

By then, Hillenbrand’s name had been shopped around half of the majors. The Dodgers had won 71 games the year before with no third baseman (seriously, Óscar Robles? Mike Edwards?), but even they passed on Hillenbrand and Koskie. Hillenbrand’s upcoming raise in his final year of arbitration would be enough that it made sense for Toronto to move off his contract to free up the money for another upgrade. So, in his pursuit of Milwaukee first baseman Lyle Overbay, Ricciardi first checked to see if the Brewers were interested in Hillenbrand.

Overbay was the upgrade Toronto sought at first base. Acquired by the Brewers in 2004, he led the National League with 53 doubles in his first full season as a starter and had a solid follow-up campaign. Ricciardi initially offered Hillenbrand and pitcher Dave Bush but really got Milwaukee’s attention by adding pitching prospect Zach Jackson to the deal. With talks on standby, Ricciardi got unsettling news on day three of the meetings. Overbay was going to be sent to division rival Boston for pitcher Matt Clement.

Placed in a corner, Ricciardi resorted to a tried-and-true front office trick of the ‘90s: waving the shiny side of something rusty at Gord Ash. Having been replaced by Ricciardi in Toronto, Ash was brought into the Milwaukee front office by Brewers GM (and fellow Canadian) Doug Melvin. Ash’s last first-round pick running the Blue Jays was Gabe Gross, who had impressed little in his first two seasons playing in the Jays’ outfield. When Boston chaffed at the amount of Clement’s contract Milwaukee wanted to be retained in a trade, Ricciardi swapped out Hillenbrand for Gross, and that offer made Overbay a Blue Jay.

Ricciardi left the Winter Meetings having improved his lineup with the addition of Overbay, but he also left with Hillenbrand, Koskie, and Hinske still on the roster. The infield picture was further muddled a few days before Christmas when Ricciardi struck a deal for his final offseason bang, Troy Glaus, who immediately became Toronto’s best option at third base. Adding to the complicated situation in the infield was that the Gold Glove-winning Hudson would head to Arizona in return, along with the condition that the D-backs please take Miguel Batista off our baseball team. 

In an offseason that had come fast with news, landing Glaus seemed to take an eternity. The third baseman had a no-trade clause and carried no fondness for Toronto’s turf from his time with the Angels. Glaus reached out to a former Little League rival in Blue Jays outfielder Reed Johnson, who offered assurance that the new playing surface was not like the old stuff. Glaus headed to Toronto to see for himself, was delayed in arriving, and when he officially signed off on the deal a day later, Arizona was running behind on finishing Hudson’s physical. The press conference to announce the deal was delayed over an hour, but by the end of the day, the Blue Jays finally acquired their power bat.

The loss of Hudson was mitigated by the emergence of Aaron Hill. Filling in for an injured Koskie early in 2005, Hill impressed and earned a look as an everyday player, an opportunity he would now get at second base. That still left way too many bodies on the corners. Hillenbrand offered some punch, and Hinske offered some versatility, which left the Koskie contract from a year before feeling even more regrettable. A few days into the new year, Koskie was sent in a salary dump to Milwaukee, a team that had gone after him a year ago in free agency.

Before sending Koskie to Milwaukee, Ricciardi reached out to the Twins to see if Minnesota was interested in a reunion. “We never heard back from them,” Riccardi said, and the Twins went with free agent Tony Batista, who was returning to the majors following a year in Japan. No good options here. (photo credit: The Athletic)

With an impressive offseason already compiled, Ricciardi looked at a few of his remaining options to fortify the roster. He would check in with Pittsburgh about the availability of Craig Wilson following the Pirates’ signing of Jeromy Burnitz. His interest in free agent catcher Bengie Molina would only be for the right price. Whatever else happened, the Blue Jays would be walking into Dunedin a better baseball team in the coming spring.