Tuesday, July 7, 2009

End of an era; Russ Adams bolts Blue Jays

Mercilessly, the Russ Adams experiment is over in Toronto. Forever linked with Jays General Manager J.P. Ricciardi's first draft pick with the club in 2002, Adams has been the perfect metaphor for Ricciardi's tenure with the team; disappointing.

Adams was tabbed to be the Blue Birds shortstop of the future after being selected with the 14th pick in the '02 draft, and he quickly rose up the ranks to the big league level. By 2005, he was the incumbent at short, but persistent fielding problems (26 errors in '05) that continued into 2006 saw him lose his job midway through the campaign. He toiled in the organization, bouncing back from AAA with brief stints in the major leagues in '07 and then again this year.

After giving Adams one more opportunity to prove he could at least be a utility man with the team Adams languished. In 8 games, Adams hit just .200 (for 4 for 20), and was designated for assignment to AAA Las Vegas to make room for David Dellucci. Adams had the option of reporting back to AAA or to declare free agency, and he chose the latter.

In 286 career games, Adams hit .247 with 17 HR and 113 RBI racking up 46 errors.

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