Did You Know Adam Dunn Doesn't Like Baseball?

No matter your opinion of J.P. Ricciardi, you have to hold him in somewhat high regard for his willingness to take phone calls every Wednesday from fans who sound more depressed than suburban teenagers getting grounded on the same night that Fall Out Boy comes to town. While he may dodge certain issues and flat out refuse to delve into others, it does take some impressive gonads to give people a public forum to speak their minds on the job that you're doing.

There is absolutely no question that as frustrating as it is to watch this team as fans, it's even more aggravating for the person who actually constructed it. This disappointment and frustration almost boiled over tonight on Jays Talk when a caller phoned in to express his dismay with the Jays not going after Adam Dunn.

"What do you know about Adam Dunn? . . . Did you know the guy doesn't really like baseball that much? Do you know the guy doesn't have a passion to play the game that much? How much do you know about the player? . . . I don't think you'd be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn in here. I think you'd be one of the guys calling me up on Wednesday night complaining about all of the deficiencies that the guy has."

Ricciardi, walking a fine line of mentioning something he'd later regret, then went on to remind listeners that the Jays front office does their homework on many of the same ideas that we have as fans. He said that there is a reason why the Jays don't go after Adam Dunn. Just because Dunn isn't in a Jays uniform, it doesn't mean it hasn't been considered.

While I despise the attitude of the guy who watches six games all year and considers himself to be more knowledgeable than the general manager, the truth is that with every loss this season I'm reminded more and more of that game you played with your retarded cousin where you took a piece of paper and wrote "Retarded Cousin is an idiot. Flip the page to find out why." on both sides of the sheet.

Even Ricciardi himself admitted earlier in the show to wanting to have a prototypical stud in left field. When asked about Adam Lind, Ricciardi dodged the issue somewhat saying, "[The fans] haven't seen Adam Lind play, so he's the next best thing. And you ask for the things you haven't seen, not the things you have seen. It's just human nature. Eventually Lind will be up here to play and hopefully he'll take off and be what we expect him to be."

In my most cynical of assumptions, I'd read too much into Ricciardi's comments and come away with "the facts" that Adam Dunn uses steroids and Adam Lind lacks a level of maturity, but since we're trying to act a little more responsibly around these parts I'll maintain the cynical assumption caveat to that statement. Even if you don't want to make a cynical leap, Ricciardi's statements on Dunn and Lind reek of the type of intangibles that usually induce eyerolls from the Stoetilner set.

I find it highly amusing that Ricciardi uses this line of reasoning whenever it's convenient for him. Not that I'm complaining about his transactions, but according to the GM, Scott Rolen and David Eckstein bring grit, while Reed Johnson brings poor performances against right handed pitching.

The central theme that I gathered from tonight's chat with J.P. was that he is a man currently without answers. While normally the lack of answers have to do with his safekeeping of the Blue Jays inner secrets, this time the clueless shoulder shrugs over his team's recent performances were actually genuine.

The entire broadcast is available for your discerning ears on Mike Wilner's blog.