Part 4: An offseason of poor pitching acquisitions

First of all, Yay no labor stoppage for five more years, when the details of the deal get announced, expect a breakdown here!

8th trade, to Oakland : minor leaguers Chris Mowday and Mike Rouse, Received Cory Lidle
J.P. thought that the late Cory Lidle could make a difference in the Blue Jay rotation and he acquired him from old buddy Billy Beane in exchange for two minor leaguers who would never have an impact at the major league level. Unfortunately, during his only season as a Blue Jay, Lidle received over $5 million and produced a VORP of –2.8. Not exactly what the Jays needed at that time and this comes off as a bad deal for Ricciadi although he did not give up a prospect of any consequence. It's a good time to pay our respects to Cory Lidle and his family.

9th trade: to Cincinatti: Felipe Lopez, Received: Jason Arnold
Ouch! First of all, it needs to be stated that this another of these trades where the numbers don't tell the whole story. Ricciardi has been quoted as saying that although Lopez is terrific on the field, he was not terrific off the field. But the numbers don't lie, Ricciardi had a love on for Arnold , the man a lot of us thought would be a difference maker in the Jays pitching staff. However, Arnold never made an impact at the major league level and retired from the game in 2006.
On the other hand, the middle infielder Lopez was earning near the league minimum when he was traded and after one below replacement level season put up seasons with VORPs of 8, 52.7 and then 16 in 2006 before being traded to the Nationals for what Reds' management thought were the missing pieces to their bullpen. All in all, this was a stinker of a deal for the Jays and one must wonder, what if Lopez had been the Jays' shortstop in 2006 instead of Adams/McDonald. They probably would not have been a playoff team considering Felipe Lopez had 16 Win Shares in 2006, but it could have been a step in the right direction.

Not exactly the success the new Blue Jays management wanted with these two pitching acquisitions.
Tomorrow's part will examine a three-way trade that took months to complete...