Ricciardi, Gibbons said to be on the chopping block
The Blue Jays will fire their general manager and/or manager within a week.
That was information forwarded to me yesterday by sources close to club owner Ted Rogers.
They’re fed up.
The Jays have lost five consecutive games and languish in the cellar of the AL East. Manager John Gibbons appears to have run out of answers and general manager J.P. Ricciardi appears to have run out of excuses.
Possible replacements for Gibbons: Jays third-base coach Brian Butterfield or ex-Oakland A’s manager Ken Macha.
Possible replacement for Ricciardi: Former Jays president Paul Beeston, who’s retired, lives in Toronto and has never been involved in on-field operations. But, hey, that won’t necessarily make him any worse than Ricciardi.
• Ricciardi, incidentally, has foolishly initiated a bizarre war of words with, of all people, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Adam Dunn.
For details, read my latest MLB Report.
• Canada’s national cricket team is about to receive a major boost, courtesy of your tax dollars.
The Canadian government will announce funding at a news conference this morning and sources tell me that the team will pick up a nice chunk of cash. Mind you, any amount would be nice after what the team has received from the government in past decades – nothing.
Word has it that Scotiabank will also supply the team with between $200,000 and $300,000 through a sponsorship arrangement -- another first for Canadian cricket.
At cricket’s World Cup in Barbados last year, Canada won only one game. However, with significant finances behind it now, you can anticipate considerably better results at the next World Cup in India, in 2011.
• No NBA club is more active on the trade market, we’re told, than the Raptors, who’ll try to make a big splash before next Thursday’s draft. They’re dangling several players, none more aggressively than T.J. Ford. . .Ford isn’t the only point guard available, though. Others available include the Portland Trailblazers’ Jarrett Jack, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Mo Williams and the Indiana Pacers’ Jamaal Tinsley. . .The Denver Nuggets intend to deal ex-Raptors centre Marcus Camby and the $22-million US he has left on his contract.
• The CFL is now openly paranoid about an NFL invasion and is lobbying for government intervention.
“If I’m an American,” Argonauts co-owner Howard Sokolowski said, “I can’t own a radio station here.”
