A Look Back: The 2002 Blue Jays “Almost Fleece”
On Wednesday, we brought you the story of how Blue Jays GM J.P. Riccardi once tried to fleece the Reds for Johnny Cueto in 2006, courtesy of Tom Verducci of 
SI.com. That story led one Fleece Factor reader to remind us of another J.P. Riccardi move from the past. But this move is one that the Blue Jays GM is definitely not proud of.
I’ve located an article by Bob Elliot of the Toronto Sun written back in 2006 that confirms the details. Anyway, in Elliot’s words, here is the story of a 2002 “Almost Fleece” that probably still has Mr. Riccardi up at nights:
In late July of 2002 the Blue Jays were nearing the end of the line with outfielder Jose Cruz Jr.
Cruz owned a .227 batting average at the break with 13 homers and 45 RBIs.
Finally, they found someone with interest in Cruz.
The New York Mets said they would take Cruz, offering a minor-leaguer playing his first full season at class-A.
Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi decided against taking the minor-leaguer for Cruz. The Jays also refused the Seattle Mariners’ offer of prospect Rafael Soriano for Cruz, after the Mariners refused to move reliever Clint Nageotte. The Jays held on to Cruz, who finished the 2002 season with a .245 average, 18 homers and 70 RBIs. After the season the Jays decided not to tender Cruz a contract and he signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants.
That class-A kid? Well, it’s tough evaluating 19-year-olds as the kid was at the time.
That season at class-A Capital City the kid hit .266 with 11 homers and 93 RBIs. He had 76 walks, 114 strikeouts.
The kid? ….He grew up to be all-star third baseman David Wright.
Incredible, huh? But I bet you won’t hear Steve Phillips bring this up anytime soon on Baseball Tonight.
Filed under: New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, _A Look Back
Lol don’t think Riccardi will be bringing this one up anytime soon either. David Wright? Nah. Rafael Soriano? Nah. Clint Nageotte, now there’s some star potential.
John Kruk is a fat pig.
Sorry, reading about baseball tonight made me think that.
If Cruz’s last name was Zambrano, Phillips would have kicked in Reyes to close the deal.
Wow, another Kazmir/Zambrano reference. How funny, except for the last time, it was JIM DUQUETTE who made the Kazmir deal.
Anywho, thank god that the Jays didn’t accept that trade. I can’t imagine the Mets without David Wright…
Man do I wish that Wright trade had happened. I’m glad the Soriano one didn’t.
That said, I think this illustrates how difficult it is to assess talent in the lower minors especially. Obviously if J.P. had known then what Wright would become, this deal would have been a no-brainer. If the Mets knew what they had on their hands, they never would have even offered him.
Yeah, Wow, Steve Phillips tried to find another way to fleece the Mets, Thank God he found a stupider GM than him…
Just imagine if this had happened, Oh dear Lord it makes me sick to even think about it. I HATE STEVE PHILLIPS
Imagine if the Cueto AND Wright deals went the right way for Toronto?
Rotation:
Halladay, McGowan, Burnett, Cueto, Marcum
Lineup:
lf: Stewart
rf: Rios
3b: Wright
cf: Wells
dh: Thomas
2b: Hill
1b: Overbay
ss: Eckstein
C: Zaun
I know Duquette was behind the Kazmir for the Wrong-Guy-Named-Zambrano deal (and that Reyes wasn’t on the Mets in ‘02), but I can’t resist giving Philips another dig.